Oakland Tech unveils $1.4M auditorium update, reviving performing arts program

"The nonprofit that ran an after school drama program needed funds to continue for another semester. The parents had a grander idea: What if they could rally enough support to revive the entire performing arts program at Tech? "By the end of the night, we had a performing arts committee," said Katrina Brekke-Miesner, a parent of two Oakland Tech alumni and a member of the committee."

"What began as an effort to raise money for some part-time drama and music teachers became a 20-year endeavor to give the program modern facilities to perform in. The group of parent volunteers, which morphed over the years as their children graduated and moved on, ultimately raised $1.4 million to outfit the school's auditorium with state-of-the-art sound and lighting systems and new seats, Brekke-Miesner said. Last week, the school held a ceremony to commemorate the work and unveil the upgraded digs."

"The state takeover and austerity measures of the early 2000s in Oakland Unified School District decimated the performing arts program at Oakland Tech. At the time, Oakland Tech could only afford to pay a choir director by seeking grant funding, said Sheilagh Andujar, who served as the school's principal from 2003 to 2013. 'We all thought, 'This is ridiculous. Here we are in Oakland, such a center of creativity, and we don't have a performing arts program,' Andujar told The Oaklandside."

Parent volunteers at Oakland Technical High School began fundraising in 2004 to support an after-school drama nonprofit and soon formed a performing arts committee. The group raised $225,000 early on to hire music, dance, and drama teachers and continued fundraising over two decades. Volunteers ultimately raised $1.4 million to modernize the auditorium with state-of-the-art sound, lighting, and new seats. The school held a ceremony to unveil the upgraded auditorium. The performing arts program had been decimated by a state takeover and austerity measures in the early 2000s, leaving the school reliant on grants to pay a choir director.

Read at The Oaklandside