Many local artists are watching the re-launch of the Oakland Museum of California carefully.

With its doors opening Saturday, May 1, after a two-year $62 million capital improvement campaign, the museum is expected to have a significant impact on both the city and the local art community.

To attract more interest from the public, said Lori Fogarty, Oakland Museum executive director, the museum will launch "a whole new stream of adult public programs during the evening hours. And (we) plan to include artist projects of various kinds, from film to music to artist talks in the galleries."

Since the museum’s early days, it has worked with several community advisory councils to map out its strategies and showcase the state and Oakland. And, over the years, it has held a variety of local events, from its Lunar New Year celebration to its Black History events, and the annual Days of the Dead Community Celebration.

"The Oakland Museum has always functioned as an institution that connects with a broad aspect of our community through its public programs and events," said Steve Beal, president of the California College of the Arts. "It’s constantly engaging different Oakland communities."

But the museum’s greatest impact may come in the area of the arts.

"The museum has always played a large role in the Oakland arts community," he said. "And now they are poised to play an even larger role with the redesign."

The museum has several programs specifically for local artists in its pipeline, Fogarty said.

Using a grant from the James Irvine Foundation Arts Innovation Fund, it will create a new program called "M.E.," for "Museum Experience," to involve local artists "working with us in a kind of blended space between the traditional exhibition, on-line projects, and live programs and performances" she said. "We expect to commission emerging artists for projects as part of this initiative in the next few years."

Many expect the museum’s opening to add to an already strong Oakland arts scene that some have called a renaissance.

"In Oakland in particular, the growth of the gallery scene, Art Murmur, The Great Wall, Open Studios, Eastside Arts Alliance, and ProArts are all real demonstrations of the flourishing art scene in Oakland," said Fogarty. "The museum is very much a part of this growth and hopes to be a catalyst and meeting ground for all of Oakland's various creative communities."

Many artists said the museum’s greatest impact can come from reaching out to established artists and youth.

"The museum needs an ongoing campaign to rally their (artists') support," said long-time Oakland artist Tomye Neal-Madison. "It’s going to be very important to reach out to our artists from different areas of the community."

But some say the museum needs to try a little harder to make those connections.

Art Murmur co-director Sarah Lockhart said her group’s experience with the museum has been uneven, with the museum doing little to help either emerging artists or artists ready for the next level.

"The Oakland Museum isn’t just an art museum," said Lockhart, who also is the programming director of art gallery 21 Grand. "It’s a government institution that has issues and priorities that can be different from the art community's."

Others were more optimistic.

Historically, for example, the museum has done a good job tapping young artists.

"They seem like they’ve been reaching out to the youth in the city," said Ara Jo, 22, who has been working at the Rock, Paper, Scissors Collective on Telegraph Avenue for a year and a half. "And that’s definitely appreciated, because that’s what we’re all about."

Favianna Rodriguez, an Oakland artist who has worked with the museum for about five years, including as curator of the museum’s art sidewalk mural on Oak Street, said the museum is committed to working with local artists.

"I’m excited because there’s always been a real commitment to engage the community," she said, "but now it seems as if the museum has taken that vision and integrated it into how they operate as a staff and organization."

Check back with Oakland Local for daily stories and photographs about various aspects of the museum relaunch. See the slideshow here.

And if you're planning to attend the party, tweet about it with #OMCA or see what other people are saying about it. Follow the Oakland Museum on twitter here.