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Art and Culture Programs
Our goal of bringing art and culture to the community was met by:
Our 5th annual Art in the Convent art show held in December, 2003. The curator was TheArthur Wright, local artist famous for his bleach etchings, had a theme of Queen Calafia, mythical Amazon Queen of California. Honored during the show was Jonathan Eubanks, noted African American photographer of Oakland. Over 300 people attended this show. The show had docent tours for local school children and Saturday art classes. Artists participating on the show were the docents.
In March, 2004, our third annual all women’s show was held in March and April. It had the theme Ordinary Miracles . The curator was a local artist, Anna Edwards. Honored during the show were Tomye Neal Madsen and Jeannete Madden, local African American artists.
In May, we opened the exhibit, West Oakland Senior Citizen Oral History Project. The oral histories were done by Opal Palmer and the photography by Jonathan Eubanks. On three weekends during this exhibit, we had senior teas entitled Tales of Lost Glories. Invited guests who lived in West Oakland before 1950 told stories of their lives in West Oakland. We averaged 20 guests at these teas and we plan to do it annually.
January, 2004 we hosted a one man show by Hal Brightcloud, Native American and one of our artists in residence. Hal’s work featured etchings and sculpture of Native American
People. He played the meditation flute and told stories of the people depicted in the exhibit during his reception.
Our theatre season actually opened in October, 2003, when we did the third annual production of Shakespeare in the Yard, William II, Monlogues and Soliloquies, from Shakespearean plays. An up and coming young actor, 13 year old Stanley Hunt, did a monoloque from Othello. He did very well. Our company, The Lower Bottom Playaz, (the Prescott area is the lower bottom of West Oakland), is made up of 40% community residents, adults and children. This show was funded in part by The San Francisco Foundation.
In June and July, 2004, we did Raisin, an adaptation of Raison in the Sun. This play was well received.
Computer Training
The DUSTY program(Digital Storytelling Underground for Youth) was in full swing in 2003-4 with about 100 kids, mostly middle school, participating in the after school program including homework and tutoring help. This program was done in conjunction with the Graduate School of Education at U.C. Berkeley.
Thanks to a grant from the Philanthropic Ventures Foundation, Prescott-Joseph Center will start computer training in Spanish for Spanish speaking community residents.
Health and Wellness
The Immunization Clinic run by the Alameda County Public Health Nurses did 375 immunizations last year. 50 flu shots were given. One of our goals this year is to increase that number, especially for asthma patients. Asthma is a major problem in West Oakland.
The Asthma Education Center of the West Oakland Asthma Coalition housed at the Center and directed by W. Burns M.D. was very busy. In addition to adult asthma clubs, teams worked at in five local schools teaching children how to control their asthma. A total of__ children were seen. The Coalition received a grant of $50,000 from the California Endowment to fund part of this work.
A Forum for Change
Periodically and especially in February we have programs addressing social issues such as the death penalty, violence and social and environmental justice issues.
We have several tenants, other non-profits, serving the people of West Oakland. They are the Environmental Indicator Project, The Environmental Institute, The Mandela Farmers Market, The West Oakland Community Collaborative, The West Oakland Asthma Coalition, The Institute for Leadership Enrichment. These organizations and others in the community that use our facility for meetings bring focus to the issues that confront this community, environmental, education, health, economical, food, political and so on.
About our Name and Logo
Many people ask about our name and some think that there was a Mr. Joseph Prescott. Some people have even called me Mr. Prescott. The name evolved in 1995 when we were organizing. This area of West Oakland is the Prescott area. It formerly was called Oak Point. Our building served as a former convent, 1913-1988, is historic, circa 1876. The building is actually two houses put together. The front half belonged to a German merchant named Detels, who was thought of as the “mayor of West Oakland” in his hey day.The front house was purchased from Detels by The Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondolet who lived in the convent from 1913 , taught in the school across the street. The rear half is the former St. Joseph’s Academy which was where Prescott Elementary School, is now. Piano lessons were taught in the front parlor of the convent. There is evidence that the nuns were way ahead of the times in that they were computerized and had international computer communications before the internet became what it I today.This site including the Parish across the street has always been prominent in education and social change in this area serving the multicultural population in this area over the years starting with the Irish immigrants that worked on the railroad, followed by the Italians, Portuguese, Latinos, African American and others over the years. We wanted to tie our organization to this history, hence the name. Our logo is an abstraction of a sketch of the convent building made by one of our former artists in residence.
As you review some of our programs, we are emulating this history very well.
Washington Burns M.D.
Executive Director