How Funds are Used

As both our signature community event and only fundraiser, the annual Holiday for the Arts show and sale plays a key role in our Guild’s sustainability each year.

Your support of that event makes it possible for the Olive Hyde Art Guild to contribute in the following ways:

• Capital improvements at the Olive Hyde Art Gallery & Center.
• Cost of printing and mailing of publicity postcards announcing each exhibit at the Olive Hyde Art Gallery, and for banners publicizing the events.
• Special exhibits at the Olive Hyde Art Gallery.
• Scholarships for high school seniors and Ohlone students and classroom art supplies for the first place scholarship winner’s art teacher.
• Serra Center Art Workshop for developmentally disabled adults and for framing of their artwork.
• Funding to the Alameda County Fremont Library for purchase of children’s art books.
• Funding to Abode Services for children’s art supplies.
• City of Fremont Human Services Youth & Family Services awards for Children’s Mental Health Awareness Day Art Competition.
• Funding for Ohlone College’s Annual Juried Student Art Awards Exhibition.
• Funding for other key programs supporting the arts, including the Intergenerational Art Competition to Promote Mental Health Awareness and Older Americans Month, and the Afghan Elderly Association.

Below, Serra Center artists celebrate completion of their 2026 class.
Photo courtesy of Scott Capen

Roger Anglin, Steven Arruda, Cary Bell, George Cotts, Donald Dimenco, Joanne Elizarrey, Donald Fields, Maurice Kaasa, Stevenson Jones, Jennifer Lee, Jen Mellow, Michelle Nachmias, Roseann Pinto, Kelly Rommelfanger, Lori Santos, Jennifer Sullivan, Patrick Tracey, Ryan Vevoda, Holly Zeman. Art Instructor Richard Clark; Assistant Richa Priyanka

All 2026 Serra Center Artists contributed to this 3-panel class mural.
Photo courtesy of Scott Capen

We are thrilled to celebrate an incredible milestone 15 years of the Serra Center Art Workshop! This year, 19 inspiring artists with developmental disabilities spent 10 Wednesday evenings bringing their visions to life in the historic Olive Hyde Mission Room.

Here’s what COF Art Instructor Richard Clark had to say.

“When I was asked to teach the Serra Center’s 2026 Art Workshop, I felt honored and grateful for the trust placed in me –especially for the opportunity to build relationships with the disabled community over the ten-week course. As their instructor, I wanted to encourage their authenticity. Inspired by Picasso’s belief that every child is a creative genius who loses their openness when they, in order to present as more adult, pretend to know all the answers, I aimed to help these students move from striving for perfection to expressing authentic, intuitive creativity. I reminded them that such creativity dates back 10,000 years to the first cave paintings at Lascaux, France, discovered in the 1940’s, and similar drawings appear globally – in the Americas, Asia, and Australia. These artists used basic tools for mark-making: sticks, rocks, and their hands. The students soon trusted my approach and engaged with this creative play-based process, surprising themselves with satisfying results.

I am deeply thankful to the board and this remarkable community for allowing me to participate in this creative collaboration and for trusting me with this opportunity.” Richard Clark

With Richard’s encouragement, SC students created exciting works on small-size paper which were ultimately collaged and transformed into individual 18”x24” masterworks! 

The Serra Center Art Workshop is a thriving success story, made possible by our partnership with City of Fremont Recreation Services and the Serra Center. As a Guild, we proudly sponsor and fully fund this program—covering instructors, art supplies, and framing to give these talented artists a vibrant space to create.