SOMArts is proud to partner with La Pocha Nostra performance company to produce a 10-day workshop culminating in an evening of performance on Saturday, August 4, 8–10pm. The 10-day interdisciplinary workshop hosted at SOMArts and facilitated by members of the legendary La Pocha Nostra performance group will explore the concept of the “city in ruins” and artist-driven responses to the predatory politics of urban land-use. Workshop participants were chosen through an open call process and will include local and [...]

¡Demasiado! Too much glamour. Too much fun. Too much art. Too much hope for the future. On Saturday, April 14, SOMArts will present ¡Demasiado! — an immersive art party, community meal and dance party to support the organization at the intersection of art and social justice since 1979. Featuring the artists and culture-bearers who are standing up for creative resistance in the Bay Area and honoring pioneering Chicano artist and curator René Yañez, the event will bring [...]

SOMArts is proud to present Something (you can’t see, on the other side, of a wall from this side) casts a shadow, a multi-disciplinary exhibition curated by Juana Berrío exploring the politics of space in the urban landscape. Opening with a free public reception on Saturday, July 14, 6:00–9:00 pm, the exhibition includes a selection of sculptures, videos, photographs, graphic scores, and paintings by a multi-generational group of artists from around the world. On Thursday, July 26 from 6:00–8:00 [...]

Opening with a reception and awards ceremony Thursday, August 16, 6:30–9pm, awards at 7:00pm, The San Francisco Foundation & SOMArts Annual Murphy and Cadogan Contemporary Art Awards Exhibition surveys new work from the 14 recipients of the competitive Jack K and Gertrude Murphy Award and the Edwin Anthony and Adalaine Boudreaux Cadogan Scholarships. The awards are designed to further the development of Bay Area MFA students and foster the exploration of their artistic potential in hybrid practice, installation, mixed media, [...]

Whether you fancy yourself an artist or have two left thumbs when it comes to creative production, you can try something new alongside some of the Bay Area’s most talented emerging artists. Join six exhibiting artists in The San Francisco Foundation & SOMArts Annual Murphy and Cadogan Contemporary Art Awards Exhibition for a free-to-attend afternoon of artist-led creative workshops with snacks courtesy of La Cocina Culinary Incubator from 1–4pm on Saturday, August 18. Regardless of your skill level, [...]

**TICKETS FOR THE EXHIBITION UNVEILING IS SOLD OUT** Limited tickets will be available at the door and we encourage guests to arrive early to increase chances of entry. Walk up entries will be based on building capacity, so please prepare for long lines and wait times.  Now in its 19th year, SOMArts’ Día de Los Muertos exhibition is one of the most internationally diverse Day of the Dead celebrations in the United States. Over the years, [...]

TechnoTichuacan combines live DJing and Video Art remixing into a living, digital mural exploring the intersectional story of Latinx contemporary life. This performance/video exhibition examines border politics, de-colonialism, queer sex, Afro Latinx visibility, pop culture, trans identity, and spirituality. These videos, a mix of original creations and curated works, will be synced with techno/cumbia/quebradita/salsa music remixes that aim to respond to and support the digital visuals. Produced by Rob Fatal and DJ Bianca Oblivion, TechnoTihuacan uses DJing, mixing, [...]

Now in its 19th year, SOMArts’ Día de Los Muertos exhibition is one of the most internationally diverse Day of the Dead celebrations in the United States. Over the years, this group exhibition has brought together a wide variety of perspectives to honor, remember, and celebrate the dead. Since its inception, Día de Los Muertos at SOMArts has offered a space for collective mourning, healing, and refusing to forget the people and places who have been [...]

Reorienting the Imaginaries presents a controversial study of the racialized and gendered form, insomuch that understanding the complexities of confronting one’s own (mis)representations becomes catalysts for subversion and creation of autonomous futures. This multidisciplinary exhibit brings together artists of color who are connected by complex histories, identity and power to disrupt the unwarranted representations imposed upon them by the Western gaze. We define the colonial imaginary as a romanticism of exotic places and people that through [...]

Reorienting the Imaginaries presents a controversial study of the racialized and gendered form, insomuch that understanding the complexities of confronting one’s own (mis)representations becomes catalysts for subversion and creation of autonomous futures. As part of the exhibitions programming, the Makers' Market moves beyond representational identity politics to highlight makers and organizers in a variety of industries. Participating vendors are taking control of their own means of production and redefining the business model that is rooted in [...]

Reorienting the Imaginaries presents a controversial study of the racialized and gendered form, insomuch that understanding the complexities of confronting one’s own (mis)representations becomes catalysts for subversion and creation of autonomous futures. Artist Shirin Towfiq will be facilitating a free community banner making workshop open for all ages. Participants can write or sew messages of resistance on their shirts, wear them, and then sew the shirts to one another’s creating a banner. This banner of sewn [...]

On Saturday, June 8, 2019 join SOMArts for RUBY: A Cabaret and Dance Party Extravaganza Celebrating 40 years of SOMArts an immersive art party, community meal and dance party to support the organization at the intersection of art and social justice. Honoring legendary performer and director Rhodessa Jones, this celebration features jaw-dropping cabaret performances and musical sets by Chulita Vinyl Club, and Rocky Rivera! The 40th anniversary is represented by the bold ruby gemstone, which is said to glow crimson due [...]

SOMArts is proud to present Something (you can’t see, on the other side, of a wall from this side) casts a shadow, a multi-disciplinary exhibition curated by Juana Berrío exploring the politics of space in the urban landscape. Opening with a free public reception on Saturday, July 14, 6:00–9:00 pm, the exhibition includes a selection of sculptures, videos, photographs, graphic scores, and paintings by a multi-generational group of artists from around the world. The opening reception will feature [...]

Doors open at 7:00pm Performances start at 7:30-10:30pm Rebooting the Future: Multimedia & Performance Arts Festival, is a free, all ages two day festival curated by Sian Morson and Kolmel W. Love.  As part of SOMArt's 40th-anniversary program, the festival brings together Bay Area artists who leverage technology and new media in order to access the imagination, Futurity, and the Divine. Rebooting the Future kicks off with a total space activation and visual arts opening reception on Friday, August [...]

Curated by Rio Yañez and Carolina Quintanilla, Día de Los Muertos 2019: City of Souls features special altar structures to honor and manifest founding curator Rene Yañez’s vision for his final Día de Los Muertos exhibition, titled City of Souls, a reference to his 2001 exhibition City of Miracles. City of Souls invites artists who are most directly impacted by gentrification and displacement to engage audience members in dialogue on the future of San Francisco’s cultural identity. [...]

Future Relations: A Resource for Radical Teaching presents F.T.P. is the first exhibition of SOMArts 2019-20 Curatorial Residency season. With a combined 30 years of teaching experience, curators Fred Alvarado, Thomas Jones, and David Petrelli reimagine SOMArts’ Main Gallery into a site for collective liberation and hope for educators, community organizers, and youth alike. Critically engaged teachers work collaboratively with young people in confronting and subverting systemic oppression. Through an Ethnic Studies, social justice oriented lens, [...]

Future Relations: A Resource for Radical Teaching presents F.T.P. is the first exhibition of SOMArts 2019-20 Curatorial Residency season. With a combined 30 years of teaching experience, curators Fred Alvarado, Thomas Jones, and David Petrelli reimagine SOMArts’ Main Gallery into a site for collective liberation and hope for educators, community organizers, and youth alike. Critically engaged teachers work collaboratively with young people in confronting and subverting systemic oppression. Through an Ethnic Studies, social justice oriented lens, [...]

Curated by Vanessa Chang and Lindsey D. Felt, Recoding CripTech reimagines enshrined notions of what a body can be or do through creative technologies, and how it can move, look, or communicate. As the term “crip” reclaims the word for disability culture and recognizes disability as a cultural and political identity, so too do artists hack technologies to dismantle barriers to access. By creating new kinds of social and sensory interactions with technology, these artists portend [...]