Arts and Culture

SF Will Invest $7 Million to Support the Arts

Published

8 years ago

June 11, 2015

San Francisco, CA — Mayor Edwin M. Lee has announced that over the next two years the city will contribute and invest $7 million in programs supporting the arts.

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This represents 14 percent growth over previous budgets and includes a $2 million enhancement (a 50 percent increase) to the city’s groundbreaking Cultural Equity Endowment Fund and $1 million to Grants for the Arts to support small and mid-sized arts nonprofits, individual artists and historically underserved communities through grants and capacity building.

Mayor Lee’s Shared Prosperity for the Arts Package includes a $3.8 million capital investment over the next two years in the City’s Civic Art Collection and Cultural Centers and an additional funding for arts education.

Mayor Ed Lee

“Artists have played an immeasurable role in shaping San Francisco into the City it is today. The arts and culture sector also helps fuel our economy, drawing $1.7 billion in tourism each year,” said Mayor Lee. “That is why we must act now to keep artists here so that they can continue to contribute to the vitality of our City. This increase in arts funding will help ensure that artists can share in the prosperity of this rapidly growing economy.”

“On behalf of the Arts Commission, we are grateful to the mayor for taking steps to protect the city’s arts and culture ecosystem through these budget enhancements,” said Director of Cultural Affairs Tom DeCaigny. “With an historic increase to the Cultural Equity Endowment Fund and this overall commitment to artists in San Francisco, we are setting an example for other municipalities on how to preserve and support artist communities.”

“This is wonderful news for the arts,” said Director of Grants for the Arts Kary Schulman. “This increase in funding comes at a critical time when artists are struggling to maintain their foothold in the City. There is no better way to help arts organizations than by increasing crucial general operating support for their work.”

In collaboration with the Mayor’s Office, the Arts Commission will also explore exciting new opportunities to build housing for the artists who contribute so much to San Francisco’s diverse neighborhoods.

The city-owned cultural centers, which include the African American Arts and Culture Complex, Bayview Opera House Ruth Williams Memorial Theatre, the Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts and SOMArts provide accessible arts and culture programming for all San Franciscans by offering low-cost performances and space rentals, gallery exhibitions and classes. With an increased capital budget over the next two years, the centers will be able to address critical maintenance needs and make significant improvements for greater accessibility to their sites.

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Activism

Emil Guillermo: ‘Strong Like Bamboo’ Stories of AAPI Resilience at Oakland Asian Cultural Center

The name from the project came from the husband and partner of Nancy Wang, a psychotherapist as well as an ASIA member and a founder of Eth-Noh-TEC, Robert Kukuchi-Yngoho, who came up with ‘Strong Like Bamboo.’ “There’s an ancient anecdote that a single bamboo piece can be bent and eventually broken,” said Kukuchi-Yngoho. “But when you put together many bamboos, they are strong like iron. As Asian Americans that’s who we are as a community.”

Published

1 week ago

May 27, 2023

Oakland Post

Oakland Asian Cultural Center, 388 9th St, Oakland, CA 94607

By Emil Guillermo

During the pandemic, I was in a group of Asian American storytellers based in the Bay Area on a weekly Zoom call when six Korean American women were killed in what has come to be known as the Atlanta Spa killings in March of 2021.

From that point on, the storytellers of Asian American Storytellers in Action (ASIA) realized we all had stories of discrimination and hate worth sharing.

The group’s discussion through the pandemic has resulted in “Strong Like Bamboo: Stories of Resilience for Healing in the Era of Anti-AAPI Violence,” a community event Sunday May 28 at the Oakland Asian Cultural Center from 2:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m.

“I asked myself ‘how do we heal?’ How do we respond to the crises we’re going through,” said Nancy Wang, a psychotherapist as well as an ASIA member and a founder of Eth-Noh-TEC, a storytelling theater based in San Francisco.

“I thought it would be great to gather to hear other people’s stories about discrimination they have experienced but came through it somehow as an inspiration for others to also find solace and support and strength in dealing with what’s going on.

“We all need to know we’re not alone,” she added. “That we have each other and we have allies.”

The name from the project came from Nancy’s husband and partner Robert Kukuchi-Yngoho, who came up with “Strong Like Bamboo.”

“There’s an ancient anecdote that a single bamboo piece can be bent and eventually broken,” said Kukuchi-Yngoho. “But when you put together many bamboos, they are strong like iron. As Asian Americans that’s who we are as a community.”

The free, three-hour event will feature storytelling from six professional storytellers (including yours truly) and others from the national AAPI community like Alton Takiyama Chung from Portland, Ore., MJ Kang from Los Angeles, and Linda Yemoto from the Bay Area.

Afterward, Russell Jeong, professor of Ethnic Studies at San Francisco State, will lead a group discussion of the stories. Jeong is also the co-founder of #StopAAPIHate which recorded more than 14,000 instances of self-reported hate transgressions during the pandemic.

Some say it was the remarks of former President Donald Trump scapegoating Asians for the spread of the virus that led to the violent reaction toward AAPI.

The audience will then break into groups where people can share their stories.

The afternoon will also include two short movies on the Asian American experience. The event closes with a reflective song by Kukuchi-Yngoho, and a number by a well-known group of rappers made up of senior women known as the Follies.

I look forward to sharing my stories and hope to see you all at the free event.

JOIN IN PERSON:
Date: Sunday May 28th, 2022
Time: 2:00-5:00 pm PDT
Where: Oakland Asian Cultural Center, 388 9th St, Oakland, CA 94607
Register to attend this Free live, in-person event: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/strong-like-bamboo-tickets-509561551317
*Recording of the live event will be made available for those unable to attend.

– or –

JOIN ON ZOOM:
This event will be livestreamed on Zoom and recorded, same date and time!
To register for the live virtual event on Zoom, please visit:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZwpceyrpjIoHtGozoJo7reCVDGg2PRXkGKi#/registration
*Our Zoom links have not worked in past emails, so let us know if our long link doesn’t work.

If you have any questions, please reach out to contact@ethnohtec.org.

The program is funded in part by the California Arts Council.

Art

Artist Highlight: TJ Walkup “Iconoclast, Cartoon Illustrator, Filmmaker”

Born in 1970 in Napa, California, TJ has studied and practices in multiple creative and technical disciplines, MIDI and Sound Design, Stagecraft, Art and Graphic Arts in LA, Napa, Central Coast and San Francisco. TJ is a solo artist and a contributor and collaborator in various forms from art shows, published in activist rags advocating for homeless with Street Spirit, Street Sheet and Homeless in the Homeland.

Published

1 month ago

April 27, 2023

Oakland Post

Today TJ and his wife Christina own and operate a small production company Omnific Pictures. He is actively illustrating zines, books and re- imagining classic literature as graphic novels, and makes experimental music under a secret moniker in the top 10 of the genre for 8 years.

TJ recalls “I had a one-man painting show at the last club with a cabaret license in SF and Edward Snowden was in attendance”. Locally TJ produced the Punk and Edge Arts Festival “Mocktoberfest,” the first of its kind in Vallejo.

Children received instruments and lessons free of charge in their chosen genre. This was in partnership with the Mira Theater and included 2 stages at the Empress and Mira theaters with 13 bands as well as a showing of “Afropunk” and an art show. Former museum director Jim Kern’s set list sheets from “The Cramps” appeared in the art show as well as an “Otaku Patrol Group” Cyberpunk leather jacket as artifact displays.

Klaus Flouride of the Dead Kennedy’s was in attendance and a presenter through Schroom Custom Guitarworks, Consumer music and Ernie Ball were sponsors.

Today TJ and his wife Christina own and operate a small production company Omnific Pictures.

He is actively illustrating zines, books and re- imagining classic literature as graphic novels, and makes experimental music under a secret moniker in the top 10 of the genre for 8 years.

This Artist Highlight was brought to you by the Vallejo Commission on Culture and the Arts.

Arts and Culture

Vallejo Juneteenth Invites Auditions for Individual and Group Performers

Aspiring singers, dancers, musicians, orators, and other types of performers are invited to audition for Vallejo’s Juneteenth Festival & Parade onstage entertainment. Auditions will be held virtually, and applicants must send a video of the selection they would perform if chosen for the entertainment lineup. The Juneteenth event will be held Saturday, June 17 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Martin Luther King, Jr. Park downtown behind City Hall at Mare Island Way and Capitol Street. The celebration will also feature a parade through downtown Vallejo.

Published

1 month ago

April 21, 2023

Oakland Post

Event planners are also seeking merchandise and food vendors, and exhibitors, in addition to corporate, business, and community sponsors. The online application is available at www.vallejojuneteenth.com. The application deadline is April 30.

Festival seeks to showcase local, homegrown talent

Vallejo, Calif. | Aspiring singers, dancers, musicians, orators, and other types of performers are invited to audition for Vallejo’s Juneteenth Festival & Parade onstage entertainment. Auditions will be held virtually, and applicants must send a video of the selection they would perform if chosen for the entertainment lineup. The Juneteenth event will be held Saturday, June 17 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Martin Luther King, Jr. Park downtown behind City Hall at Mare Island Way and Capitol Street. The celebration will also feature a parade through downtown Vallejo.

“We’re looking for people of all ages with exceptional talent but have not performed professionally,” said Gwendolyn White, president of the African American Family Reunion Committee which organizes the Juneteenth festival. “There are a lot of local residents who are singing or playing music in their church choir and gatherings with family and friends or doing solo or choreographed dance routines and other types of performing. We’d like to give them some exposure in front a large, live audience which could help jumpstart a career in the industry.”

Anyone interested in submitting an audition video should send an online link to their performance to aafrc@vallejojuneteenth.com by May 5 and include their contact information. Performances should be no longer than 10 minutes and must be appropriate for all audiences.

Juneteenth became a federal holiday in 2021 which is recognized on June 19 to commemorate the emancipation of enslaved people in the United States. It was on that date in 1865 in Galveston, Texas, when enslaved people were declared free in the aftermath of the Civil War under the terms of the 1862 Emancipation Proclamation.

Event planners are also seeking merchandise and food vendors, and exhibitors, in addition to corporate, business, and community sponsors. The online application is available at www.vallejojuneteenth.com. The application deadline is April 30. Anyone interested in participating in the parade should submit the application on the website by June 2. Information is available at aafrc@vallejojuneteenth.com.