Feedback comes in many forms including praise, support, questions, and everyone’s favorite, “constructive criticism”. This month The Crucible received a wonderful letter from Yelp! with a very specific kind of feedback: congratulations!

Working with our community has always been a large part of the DNA of The Crucible. We continually strive to match our curriculum to the needs of our students, and take time in each class to make sure each person who walks through the door has the experience they’re looking for. This month, Yelp! let us know that it’s been working.

Across the board we’ve received great reviews from folks who’ve taken the plunge and attended our classes and workshops. The comments range from simple and fun to lengthy and thoughtful. Here are a few:

“I can now eat fire. Thanks, The Crucible.”

“I don’t know how to give The Crucible anything less than five stars because where else can you learn glass blowing, wood working, arc welding and neon making? This is as good as places that do all that get!”

“I couldn’t think of any line save the opening one from Shakespeare’s Henry V better to describe my experiences at the Crucible. To say that the artwork here is incredible is like saying the Sistine Chapel is pretty. The words fail.”

“The Crucible is like another world. Inside the large Oakland space, exists a world of fire, glass, wood, metal, and creativity.”

The Winter 2013 Course Catalog is now available! There are several ways to look through our winter class catalog and sign up for your dream schedule today:

• Download a copy of the PDF and give us a call.
• Visit our online store to sign up right away!

Peralta Junction’s Pop-Up Creative Commons has become a hive of weekend activity in West Oakland. Movies, music, dancing… Each weekend as the doors open up inquisitive visitors are treated to art, food trucks, performances and a special booth of artists from The Crucible showing (and selling!) their wares.

A few of the artists showing off their craft include:

• Lauren Ekman with handmade glass beads and jewelry (etsy.com/shop/redredmelt)
• Cliff Bohm, blacksmithing and beautiful knives
• Sam Waller and his leather work
• Ben Cowden with kinetic sculpture (twentysevengears.com)
• Rob Nehring with metal sculpture (rustynoodlestudios.com)

Sound like fun? To learn more about Peralta Junction, visit www.PeraltaJunction.com.

The Crucible would like to give a special thanks to SmartyStreets (www.smartystreets.com) for their donation of address verification services.

As with most non-profits, our amazing programs and events are supported in a large way by things we send through the mail. Catalogs, invitations, fundraising appeals… The Crucible maintains a community of roughly 20,000 people, many of whom receive multiple mailings each year. It’s a time-tested system that works wonderfully… Until people move without letting us know, and drop of the face of the planet, forever.

At least that’s what used to happen. By helping to update our data using Change of Address information, SmartyStreets’ address verification services help us maintain the most up-to-date mailing lists possible. Their amazing service helps keeps our members in touch, our donors up to date, our classes full, our events roaring and our lights on. Thank you SmartyStreets.

We’re  proud to announce the expansion of our Community Partners program. In 2011 the program offered tuition discounts to educators, and in 2012 we’ve expanded the program to include discounts for public educators, firefighters, police officers, active military, veterans, City of Oakland employees  and senior citizens.

Participants in the Community Partners program receive 50% discount off tuition on classes at The Crucible. Available classes include welding, glassblowing, blacksmithing, jewelry-making and woodworking, offering participants opportunities to learn skills to enrich their lives and train for the future.

Sound interesting? We invite you to discover and become part of our learning community. Emphasis is placed on community partnerships and on creating an open learning environment. At The Crucible forges roar, sparks fly, glass bends, neon glows and creativity explodes.

• Valid for Pre-K to 12th grade classroom teachers and principals in a California School District, for active firefighters, active police officers, active military, veterans, City of Oakland employees and seniors age 65 and older in California.
• Proof of active status in California is required at time of payment.
• Discount is non-transferable and is limited to one discount per community member per quarter.
• Available in person or by phone only.
• Class cost comprises tuition and studio costs; discount is on tuition only. Discount cannot be applied retroactively. There is limited space for discounted tuition available in each class, and this offer cannot be combined with any other offers, volunteer/intern hours, or coupons. Not good for Family Fun Weekends, Tasters, Youth Camps or Youth Classes, Labs or CREATE access.

The National Endowment for the Arts’ Five-Year Research Agenda, with a System Map and Measurement Model

A little over five years ago, a group gathered at The Crucible for a formative workshop to talk about Art and it’s place in our society. That workshop sparked a study, which lead to this report. How Art Works is the culmination of five years of work, serving as a summary of progress so far and an outline for further research.

The full document and it’s appendices are available for download here: 

• How Art Works
  
• How Art Works: Appendices A & B
  

A Pop-Up Creative Commons in West Oakland featuring Art, Food Trucks, Performances, People & Pumpkins.

Beginning October 4, 2012, the 24,000 square-foot vacant lot full of weeds at the corner of Mandela Parkway and West Grand will be transformed into a creative community space filled with art and commerce. For three months this fall, The Peralta Junction Project will change the nature of weekends in West Oakland, utilizing the strong local opportunities for our often-challenged neighborhood. The project team will clean up and activate the space through art installations, creative workshops, local performing arts programming, micro retail shops featuring local artisans, Oakland-based food trucks, and a tented creative commons.

As we’re an integral part of the West Oakland Industrial Arts Cooridor, The Crucible will be hosting workshops for West Oakland youth on several of the Thursdays and Fridays while the space is open. These workshops will feature copper metalworking as well as learning how to work with light emitting diodes (LEDs). We’ll be tayloring our programming in conjunction with the many other organizations running workshops.

In addition to the workshops, we’ll also be taking over one of the 25 canvas tents to create The Crucible Artist Pop-Up Store, open every Saturday and Sunday 10-6pm. At the Pop-Up Store you’ll be able to browse through works by artists at The Crucible, all of which will be for sale!

Grand opening is this weekend, October 6th & 7th, with a host of installations and performances to kick off the project.

To learn more visit www.PeraltaJunction.com.