Search Grantees

Abstract or Project Description

Abstract or Project Description

A month-long series of interactive vertical dance, music and intergenerational social art practice that enlivens a Flight Path for birds and people in the heart of Oakland. Supported by a production support grant, “Somewhere To Land” invites artists and the public to engage personally and socially in themes of migration, belonging and ecological inter-being.

Abstract or Project Description

A multi-media, site-specific dance that supports the transformation of 111 Taylor Street from a carceral stronghold owned by GEO Group into a trans-centric space that honors the building’s legacy of resistance. Supported by a production support grant, Flyaway Productions and TurkxTaylor Initiative will create a public art project in San Francisco’s Tenderloin that unites transgender visibility with prison systems change.

Abstract or Project Description

Seeking to help revitalize San Francisco’s Little Saigon neighborhood, this project will use a development suport grant to devise a community process and support dialogues with current and former residents. Led by first and second generation Vietnamese artists, the project aims to shine a light on the historical and cultural importance of the Little Saigon neighborhood by gathering oral histories and lifting up the voices of the Vietnamese community in San Francisco.

Abstract or Project Description

An LED mobile sculpture and performance project aimed at reducing pedestrian-vehicle collisions in San Francisco. Merging public art with social advocacy, “The Junction Keep” will address the critical issue of pedestrian safety in high-incident intersections by illuminating crosswalks with vibrant LED sculptures and engaging the community through interactive performances. This project is supported by a production support grant.

Abstract or Project Description

A site-specific outdoor dance project by Megan Lowe Dances connecting San Francisco’s Chinatown and Oakland’s Chinatown. Funds from a development support grant will go toward investigating shared and divergent cultural practices between the two neighborhoods, as well as free outdoor workshops and community conversations with Asain American and Pacific Islander residents.

Abstract or Project Description

A monument to queer and trans creative expression in the Bay Area designed by lead artist Evan Favela, also known as the Drag performer Evian. Oaklash will use a development support grant to identify a location, prototype designs and invite community feedback through focus groups and community events.

Abstract or Project Description

Supported by a production support grant, “CRANE” transforms the iconic Hunters Point Shipyard crane into a canvas for community storytelling using advanced projection mapping and soundscapes created from histories contributed by local residents. Visible from multiple vantage points, “CRANE” will feature a year-long geo-tagged audio tour and a two-week illumination with live performances, offering a powerful tribute to the complex intertwined history of the Shipyard and the Bayview Hunters Point community.

Abstract or Project Description

“Native Seed Aflame (K)now” aims to deepen connections between traditional California Native knowledge holders and transform our collective relationship with fire from one of fear to one of respectful tending. Funds from a development support grant will be used to convene artists with fire stewards, parks officials and community members through fire-knowledge workshops and narrative skill shares.

Abstract or Project Description

In partnership with Black Cultural Zone and Asé Arts, Afro Urban Society will create a series of townsquare-style performances, outdoor workshops, cross-cultural community conversations, visual installations and a short spoken word dance film at Liberation Park. They seek to highlight the journey and unique experiences of diverse Black populations in Oakland, provide space for artists of African descent to create and develop work in intentional and supportive settings, and strengthen bonds across various Black communities in the Bay Area.

Abstract or Project Description

This two-year oral history and performance project will center Oakland’s Swan’s Market, a culturally vibrant and historic venue at the intersection of four diverse Oakland neighborhoods. The project’s first phase will begin with a nine-month workshop with Oakland high school students to build skills and develop performances. That will be followed by live and self-paced performances and exhibits that engage themes of the importance of identity and place in creating a sense of belonging, and the multiple roles youth can play in designing urban landscapes.

Abstract or Project Description

This project engages multilingual and multiracial Chinese and Latinx immigrant communities through the creation of flags representing power and resilience. The flags will be unveiled as a procession in San Francisco’s Lunar New Year Parade to illuminate immigrant culture in the public sphere. Communities will be engaged through multilingual workshops co-developed with community partners, drawing on their memberships and tenants.

Abstract or Project Description

This project will culminate in a large-scale outdoor Drag performance event, celebrating the living oral, dance and embodied tradition of the queer community from which Drag arises. The Show will be specifically committed to examining the ways that institutional white supremacy and racism are manifested, mimicked, enacted and/or complacent within the Drag community. The project will take place adjacent to CounterPulse’s facility in San Francisco.

Abstract or Project Description

This project honors the blocked and soil-filled waterways that once flowed through Mission Dolores and the 5,700 Indigenous ancestors buried in the cemetery. In collaboration and solidarity with local Ohlone culture bearers, Latinx and Indigenous dance artists, and the American Indian Cultural District, sii agua sí is symbolically re-filling the site with water (sii) to bring awareness and healing to a painful history of genocide that seeps beneath the streets of the Mission District. This collaboration will culminate in a street mural project by local muralists and students from Mission High School. Videos of water and the names of the 5,700 native ancestors will be projected onto the front of Mission Dolores.

Abstract or Project Description

To lift up Ohlone language restoration, culture and identity, sculptures will be created in Peralta Hacienda that represent the words for Sun (Gismen), Moon (Kormey) and Water (Sii), in Chochenyo. These sculptures will be bordered by sedge, ferns and willow plantings in the creek area to later harvest for Ohlone basketry. Over two years leading up to the unveiling of the art works, Calpulli Coatlicue and Friends of Negro Spirituals will hold eleven cultural festivals to engage community participation in Ohlone language revival, foodways, craft and storytelling.

Abstract or Project Description

This project invites and reflects on community responses to history and stories from the cityscapes of Bayview Hunters Point neighborhood of San Francisco and NOW Hunters Point. Through a live, outdoor dance performance, the lead artists will explore how communities inhabit space, how spaces influence bodies, how design can bring communities together, and how history is held in individual and collective bodies. The process and performance will excavate and express those stories to enliven the location and augment community ownership, as community members will be invited to perform alongside Kristin Damrow & Company dancers.

Abstract or Project Description

Pieces of Home. In collaboration with Marina Fukushima, Surjit Nongmeikapam and Mercy Housing, this project will create an intergenerational and multi-disciplinary performance that engages questions of transforming and repurposing urban spaces for affordable housing in San Francisco’s Mission Bay neighborhood. The project takes place within context of Mission Bay’s history as both “terrain vague” (empty, abandoned, marginalized and ambiguous space) and the site of immense industrial, commercial and residential development. With the participation of residents of 691 China Basin apartment complex, the development phase will begin with outdoor environmental research and indoor movement workshops.

Abstract or Project Description

In partnership with artists and the Oakland community, this project will illuminate, explore and celebrate the contributions of the Black Panther Party and African American community to Oakland’s Temescal neighborhood. This project’s development will begin with a series of community gatherings and conversations to elevate the voices of the Black Panther Party and Black business owners, residents, former residents and artists. Artist team-building workshops and collaboration events will build upon and help co-create the historical memory, cultural knowledge and public understanding of the Black Panther Party and Temescal’s identity and community.

Abstract or Project Description

Within the David Ireland House, this project will create a physical space to gather intergenerational stories, images and visual ephemera focused on trans joy and creative resilience. Primarily serving the trans Latinx community in San Francisco’s Mission district, the development process will include hosting weekly conversations with community organizations, artists and community members around trans self-representation, reaching out to the wider translatinx community and prototyping expansion into the production phase.

Abstract or Project Description

This immersive artistic experience will include site-specific, multimedia performances at and around the Ping Yuen housing complex in San Francisco’s Chinatown. Through performances, community programming and exhibitions, And the Community Will Rise will explore the legacy of and significant role that residents in Chinatown public housing play in ensuring the social, political and cultural integrity of San Francisco in the face of gentrification and displacement.