Visual and Performing Arts (VAPA) Director

Phil Rydeen has been a music educator and administrator for three decades, supporting the creative lives of Oakland Unified School District students. As the Director of Visual and Performing Arts, he has been responsible for rebuilding visual and performing arts programs and moving the OUSD towards the goal of a quality arts education for every student. Mr. Rydeen provides instructional supervision for the 24 Itinerant music specialists, professional development support for arts teachers, and plans and implements student events including the OUSD Jazz Festival, OUSD Orchestra Festival, Elementary Music Festival, and the Summer School Jazz Camp. Additionally he oversees the Arts Incentive Grant, a three-year funding program to catalyze innovative arts programs in Oakland schools in partnership with community organizations. With a focus on quality instruction in the arts programs Mr. Rydeen has assembled a leadership team to expand arts equity and teacher leadership throughout the district. Past initiatives that Mr. Rydeen has supported include: The Arts Learning Anchor Schools; the Music Integration Literacy Enhancement, a US DOE grant-funded project; Orff Levels training for all music teachers; the Dance Infrastructure project, and numerous others.

Teacher on Special Assignment, Dance

Emily Ban is a dancer, an educator, and a resolute advocate for constructivist dance education for every child. She teaches TK through 5th grade Dance at EnCompass Academy, where her program nurtures students as creators, focusing on dance literacy, dance-making, and spotlighting culturally relevant forms and artists. This year she is excited to step into a new role as Teacher on Special Assignment for Elementary Dance, where she'll support the development of the district's elementary dance programs and its growing roster of passionate dance teachers. Originally from the Bronx, NY, Emily previously developed and directed dance programs in public elementary schools in Minneapolis and Brooklyn before joining OUSD in 2021. Emily is a Dance Education Laboratory (DEL) Facilitator and a Teacher Leader with NDEO’s Connected Arts Network (CAN) project. She holds an EdM in Arts in Education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, a BA in Dance from Carleton College, and K-12 Dance Teaching Credentials from NY and CA.

Teacher on Special Assignment, Visual Art

Crystal "Crys" Barajas Barr has been a tinkerer all their life. They studied art with an emphasis in metal fabrication/sculpture, and is experienced in welding and casting bronze and aluminum. Until recently, Crys was UPA's Art & Making Teacher and the GSA (Gender and Sexualities) Liaison in a school community that encourages social-justice education, self-reflection, innovation, and imagination. In addition to their role as a teacher and liaison, Crys is a middle school Culture and Climate coach and facilitator with Agency by Design Oakland. They find joy in fabricating wearable sculptures out of cardboard and drumming with their Two-Spirit & Indigequeer Community. They live in Huichin (Fruitvale) with their partner, cat, and all their plant friends. 

Teacher on Special Assignment, Secondary Performing Arts

I have been the director of bands at Edna Brewer Middle for seventeen years. At Brewer, I teach three levels of Concert Band, and two Jazz Bands.  I have taught general music classes through an Orff-Schulwerk lens, focusing on the creative practice of ensemble music making and learning by ear.  I also direct the Oakland Eastside All-Star Ensemble (OEASE) and currently serve on state board of directors for California Music Educators Association as Urban Schools Programs Representative. My podcast, "Teacher Voice" lifts up issues around teaching music in an urban district. In 2013 I was recognized as the Oakland Teacher of the Year and in 2022 I was semifinalist for the Music Educator Grammy Award. In addition to being an educator, I am a professional woodwinds instrumentalist and I perform regularly with the Brazilian instrumental choro ensemble Grupo Falso Baiano and Oakland Samba Revue.  I have also performed with other local big bands, such as the Electric Squeezebox Orchestra, Morchestra, and Kyle Athayde Dance Party.

Teacher Leader, Elementary Visual Arts Teachers Network

Aracely was born in Berkeley and raised in Oakland, where she still lives today. She is a life-long learner, maker and artist. Her earliest memories of art-making are as a little girl, sitting at her grandma’s kitchen table drawing bowls of fruit. Though art was always central to her life, she didn’t know that she could pursue studies and a career in art, instead focusing on the social sciences. In 2013, after volunteering in a friend’s 3rd grade class, she decided to contribute to the educational experience of Oakland students by training in arts education. After earning her credential from SF State in 2016 she started her career at Melrose Leadership Academy TK-8 and is now teaching visual arts and making at Grass Valley Elementary. She can still be found making art at the kitchen table, now with her son. 

Teacher on Special Assignment, Music and VAPA Support

Sarah specializes in culturally relevant pedagogy and arts integration with students and teachers of OUSD. Sarah was faculty of the Integrated Learning Specialists Program of Alameda County, and is a past President of N. CA Orff Association, presenting at local and National Conferences. Sarah has studied and performed the music of Bali since 1988, with Bay area’s Gamelan Sekar Jaya, and with many revered teachers in Bali, specializing in traditional and modern music for shadow theater (gender wayang). She also performs with the contemporary shadow theater troupe, ShadowLight Productions in large-scale original works that have toured to major U.S. venues. Currently she is a member of a project of  OUSD teachers, Indigenous Voices in the Music Classroom. 

Consultant, Arts Incentive Grant Program Officer

Aimee Espiritu, M. Ed (she/they) launched Espiritu Consulting in October 2017 based on her 10 years of experience providing Management in the Arts as well as Strategic Planning and Partnerships for non-profit organizations and school districts. Prior to this, Aimee was an Arts Educator and Administrator for 14 years with a primary focus of engaging young people in classrooms, museums and arts programs through creative youth development, curriculum design, exhibit development, and peer-to-peer training.

Consultant, Arts Incentive Grant Program Officer

Consultant, Communications

Indi McCasey (they/them) is a creative facilitator and community catalyst who believes that the arts can transform education. They have spent the past 15 years working at the intersection of arts, education, and community health with non-profit organizations and school districts in Boston, Santa Fe, Seattle, and throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. As a Creative Education Consultant, Indi facilitates professional learning communities of local, national, and international educators, thought leaders, and organizations. They are a former faculty member of Alameda County Office of Education's Integrated Learning Specialist Program and Harvard’s Project Zero Classroom and currently serve as the Executive Director of the Arts Education Alliance of the Bay Area.