About
Youth Classes & Camps at The Crucible include Summer Camp options and classes in visual arts. The program takes place within a larger art school that offers activities such as welding, blacksmithing, glass flameworking, ceramics, and other hands-on art forms through its eighteen departments.
• Ages: 5–18 years old
• Price: The Crucible offers private instruction at a rate of $125/hour for one person or $200/hour for two people with a minimum required time investment of 8 hours.
The Crucible was founded in 1999 by Michael Sturtz and first opened on January 15, 1999, in a rented 6,000-square-foot warehouse in West Berkeley before moving to a 56,000-square-foot facility in West Oakland in 2003. Its mission is to inspire creative exploration and expression through welcoming, hands-on arts education and experiences for people of diverse ages and backgrounds, and to serve as an innovative hub built around the industrial arts. The organization centers its work in Oakland and the East Bay, offering classes in glass, metal, clay, wood, and more to thousands of people each year, and each year it engages with over 20,000 people through its programs. It provides over $100,000 in scholarships and free programming annually, prioritizing residents of West Oakland, and offers paid leadership opportunities for local youth and adults who otherwise could not participate.
The Crucible runs over 900 classes each year, including multi-disciplinary courses, continuing classes, and hard-to-find offerings, and its industrial art classes welcome all levels from absolute beginners to experienced artists and craftspeople. The average student-to-teacher ratio is 6:1. The Crucible is widely recognized for its learning experiences, varied arts programs, faculty, and facilities, and is the largest nonprofit industrial arts education facility in the United States. The Crucible offers Studio Access Labs for members in departments where they have taken or are enrolled in a class, and it runs the CREATE Program (Crucible’s Expanded Access to Tools and Equipment) for members who have taken departmental prerequisites and completed a safety check out. Studio Access Labs require members to provide their own materials, and in the Enameling Department’s open studio hours, some supplies are provided and additional materials are available for sale through the facilitator.
Crucible Memberships are fully tax-deductible donations that provide benefits based on the donation amount and are valid for a full calendar year. The Crucible admits students and participants of any race, religion, color, sex, sexual orientation, national or ethnic origin to all programs and activities and does not discriminate on these bases in the administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, programs, and activities.
Last updated March 22, 2026.
• Ages: 5–18 years old
• Price: The Crucible offers private instruction at a rate of $125/hour for one person or $200/hour for two people with a minimum required time investment of 8 hours.
The Crucible was founded in 1999 by Michael Sturtz and first opened on January 15, 1999, in a rented 6,000-square-foot warehouse in West Berkeley before moving to a 56,000-square-foot facility in West Oakland in 2003. Its mission is to inspire creative exploration and expression through welcoming, hands-on arts education and experiences for people of diverse ages and backgrounds, and to serve as an innovative hub built around the industrial arts. The organization centers its work in Oakland and the East Bay, offering classes in glass, metal, clay, wood, and more to thousands of people each year, and each year it engages with over 20,000 people through its programs. It provides over $100,000 in scholarships and free programming annually, prioritizing residents of West Oakland, and offers paid leadership opportunities for local youth and adults who otherwise could not participate.
The Crucible runs over 900 classes each year, including multi-disciplinary courses, continuing classes, and hard-to-find offerings, and its industrial art classes welcome all levels from absolute beginners to experienced artists and craftspeople. The average student-to-teacher ratio is 6:1. The Crucible is widely recognized for its learning experiences, varied arts programs, faculty, and facilities, and is the largest nonprofit industrial arts education facility in the United States. The Crucible offers Studio Access Labs for members in departments where they have taken or are enrolled in a class, and it runs the CREATE Program (Crucible’s Expanded Access to Tools and Equipment) for members who have taken departmental prerequisites and completed a safety check out. Studio Access Labs require members to provide their own materials, and in the Enameling Department’s open studio hours, some supplies are provided and additional materials are available for sale through the facilitator.
Crucible Memberships are fully tax-deductible donations that provide benefits based on the donation amount and are valid for a full calendar year. The Crucible admits students and participants of any race, religion, color, sex, sexual orientation, national or ethnic origin to all programs and activities and does not discriminate on these bases in the administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, programs, and activities.
Last updated March 22, 2026.
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