Pitching in with boxes, sorting, labeling and helping with moving smaller items to the center's temporary home — the Malonga Casquelourd Center for the Arts on Alice Street — would be most appreciated, says Johnette Morton, center director for the past 19 years.

"We are estimating that we will operating from the Alice Street location for the next year and a half," says Morton.

Some $10 million in bond funds from voter-approved Measure DD, passed in 2002, will be used to upgrade the facility, say members of Friends of Studio One, a community group dedicated to preserving the building and maintaining and promoting the dozens of classes offered throughout the year. Art class fans should be able to find many offerings at the new location while the old building is closed.

The friends group maintains a Web site — www.friendsofstudioone.org — with Studio One's history, class schedules and other helpful information. The site is publicizing the progress of a public art opportunity at the center, which will enhance the facility when it reopens.

A Request for Qualifications was issued earlier this year and as of the March 15 deadline, 50 responses had been received, says city Cultural Arts staffer Christin Hablewitz, project manager for Measure DD public art projects. She said $100,000 has been allocated for a public art project for Studio One from the DD funds. "The next step in the process is for a review panel to go through the responses and select five team finalists, who will then go on to present their vision for the actual project."

The project timeline calls for the artist team to be selected by June.

According to history files, the concept for a city-run arts and drama center was first realized at nearby Bushrod Park in 1948, following the passage of another bond measure. The funds pumped thousands of dollars into recreational facilities in response to post-World War II calls for more activities for adults as well as children. Originally opened in 1910 as the second city-sponsored recreational center, 17-acre Bushrod Park had been willed to the city by the estate of a Dr. Bushrod Washington James of Philadelphia, say the files.

Oakland was the second city in California to establish public playgrounds (following Los Angeles which opened its first playground in 1905).

The popularity of the new arts and drama center at Bushrod was immediate, and Parks and Rec directors soon had to start looking for a new, larger site. They located at the former Children's Home operated by the Ladies' Relief Society, a charitable group with ties to many of Oakland's early prominent families. The orphanage had been in operation since 1894, but had closed during the war years.

With the help of a citizen's group, the North Oakland Area Council, which raised funds from neighborhood residents and businesses to buy the home, the city was able to acquire the property in 1947. A public pool was installed next door. Two years later after time spent remodeling the building (which had housed girls and boys in separate wings), the arts classes were transferred from their cramped quarters at Bushrod. There was space for the many hundreds of costumes and props used at various city-sponsored pageants and dramatics held during the years (and fondly remembered by many long time Oaklanders).

Art instructors from nearby California College of Arts and Crafts, as well as others proficient in ceramics, jewelry making, glass blowing, photography and a host of other arts disciplines, taught at the center. Class costs were kept low and many a budding, successful artist launched his or her career at Oakland's Studio One, say the files.

For more information on helping Studio One move to Alice Street, call the center at 597-5027. An exhibit of city youth artwork, organized by Studio One instructors in conjunction with the Alameda County Office of Education, is currently on view in the lobby of the Dalziel Building, 250 Frank H. Ogawa Plaza, next to City Hall through Friday.

The panel sessions to review the artist teams for the Studio One public art project will be held at City Hall, Hearing Room 3, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. March 25. The sessions are open to the public.

"We are excited to have such a tremendous response to this RFQ," says Steven Huss, public art coordinator for the city's Cultural Arts Department. "This is the first of a series of Measure DD projects that eventually will be transforming our public places."

To find out about future projects, call 238-2105.

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