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DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20180110T180000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20180110T210000
DTSTAMP:20260421T013114
CREATED:20181111T011429Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240404T225140Z
UID:2536-1515607200-1515618000@somarts.org
SUMMARY:Reclaiming Identity: A Dinner and Conversation
DESCRIPTION: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.\n\n\n \n\n\n\nTake part in an intimate community dinner and discussion examining the impact of culture and identity misrepresentation on food\, art\, clothing\, and health. Food will be provided by Oakland Bloom\, whose mission is “to provide resources for aspiring food business owners from the refugee\, immigrant\, and under-resourced communities\, to be part of the rapidly changing food culture of the Bay Area.” \nThis free event has limited capacity and RSVP is strongly encouraged. \n\n\n\nREORIENTING THE IMAGINARIES\nEXHIBITING ARTISTS\nAnum Awan\nJeffrey Cheung\nAdrian Clutario\nGina M. Contreras\nSofía Córdova\nSara Emsaki\nJamil Hellu\nKalahati\nViệt Lê with Jamie Maxtone-Graham\nDiana Li\nCathy Lu\nChristopher Martin\nNina Reyes Rosenberg\nShirin Towfiq\n\n\nCURATORS\nRobin Birdd\nAnh Bui\nShirin Makaremi\nRenae Moua\nLena Sok\n\nImage credit: Viêt Lê\, “Charlie’s Angel\,” from the “love bang!” series\, 2013. Image courtesy of the artist.
URL:https://somarts.org/event/reorientingdinner/
LOCATION:CA
CATEGORIES:Past Events,Public Program
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DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20170702T130000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20170702T160000
DTSTAMP:20260421T013114
CREATED:20180629T023952Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240404T225144Z
UID:1704-1499000400-1499011200@somarts.org
SUMMARY:The Black Lives Masquerade in Oakland
DESCRIPTION:SOMArts is proud to partner with the Global Street Dance Masquerade and Artistic Director Rashad Pridgen to present: \nThe Black Lives Masquerade & The Elevation of Black Men on East 14th in Oakland \nThis creative direct action is the closing installment of The Global Street Dance Masquerade’s partnership with SOMArts. The Black Lives Masquerade returns to Oakland accompanied by local black male dancers\, artist\, activists and leaders to creatively reflect on manhood\, survival and perseverance as a creative response to The Black Lives Masquerade. \nBeginning at 1:00 pm at the corner of Seminary and International in East Oakland\, this creative direct action will travel through the neighborhood to culminate in a performative photoshoot and remarks by Artistic Director Rashad Pridgen. \nPhotography with Jay Adams Photography \nPerformers & Leaders:\nChris Babingui\nRasika Govinda Das\nRashad Pridgen\nand others TBA. \nThe Black Lives Masquerade is a creative direct action\, performance ritual and community engagement project; come to life through a Pan-Afro-futurist inspired full body masquerade suit. The Black Lives Masquerade honors black lives lost to racial injustice\, police brutality and gun violence. \nPaying homage to the ancient tradition of masquerading worldwide\, The Global Street Dance Masquerade (GSDM) recognizes the root of this multi-dimensional ritual coming from the African continent and its diaspora. The (GSDM) seeks to present and transform this ancient practice for the 21-century through public art presentations and street processions.
URL:https://somarts.org/event/blacklivesmasqueradeoakland/
LOCATION:CA
CATEGORIES:Past Events,Public Program
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://somarts.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/GSDM-July-2.jpg
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20170327T190000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20170327T210000
DTSTAMP:20260421T013114
CREATED:20180622T034648Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240404T225146Z
UID:1728-1490641200-1490648400@somarts.org
SUMMARY:Star Amerasu Hosts The News
DESCRIPTION:On the first Tuesday of each month\, SOMArts Cultural Center presents The News\, featuring new\, queer work by Bay Area artists. The News is a monthly cabaret evening that spotlights 10-minute or less performance pieces\, experiments\, and works in progress by pre-selected solo artists\, groups\, or troupes. \nOn Tuesday\, March 7\, Star Amerasu presents “The Girls”\, a night showcasing the amazing works of transfemmes of color in our community. This version of the “The News will bring together our rage\, our resilience and our magic. Around the world trans femmes have fought to be heard\, to be recognized\, we no longer wait for permission. We take over. \nDon’t miss this night of celebration featuring incredible artists Princesa\, Luna Merbruja\, Lexi\, Ab Infinit and Star Amerasu. \nCurator Biography: Ah-Mer-Ah-Su is a multidisciplinary artist. She showcases the spiritual and physical evolution of what it means to be human. Her ancestral connection is strong. She is a Siren Witch Poptronic Princess. \nPerformer Biographies: \nLexi (Managing Director of Peacock Rebellion) is a fierce\, fat\, and femme TransLatina woman\, trouble maker\, and ground-breaker. Lexi has been a part of many groundbreaking projects including but not limited to: Founding the Queer Yo Mind Conference at San Francisco State University\, Producing Brouhaha: Trans Women of Color Comedy-Based Storytelling\, and Co-Founding and Co-Coordinating the International Trans Women of Color Network Gathering. Lexi has also been featured on Autostraddle for her article “24 Things You NEED To Do To Help Trans Women of Color Survive” and Salon for her article “Stonewall is in Our Blood”. \nPrincesa\nEn mis propias palabras:\nsoy una creative intersectional y interdisciplinario.\nMe gusta la hxstoria.\nLa pornografia.\nLa Cultura.\nEl cine y el teatro.\nEn los fines de semana me encanta tener picnics en la playa con el sol\, la arena y mi sombra.\nUnos me dicen el Diablo otxs Princesa.\nNo importa\, que al final me Amarás. \nXoxo\,\nTu otro yo. \nLuna Merbruja is a multidisciplinary artist whose mediums include music\, writing\, spoken word and drag. He has performed regularly on the West Coast since 1995 with such acts as The Swelling Clock (theater troupe)\, Muñecas (band)\, Cocktailgate (drag show)\, Cubcake (DJ residency)\, and Nerdbastards (contributing author). He’s a Pisces-Pisces-Cancer that enjoys sativa\, dragons and long walks to the taqueria. \nAb Infinit is a bad bish serving you bitchy sad gurl/mad gurl vocals over manic yet melancholy pop electro and house beats
URL:https://somarts.org/event/thenewsmarch2017/
LOCATION:CA
CATEGORIES:Past Events,Public Program
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DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20170225T150000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20170225T170000
DTSTAMP:20260421T013114
CREATED:20180618T040335Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240404T225146Z
UID:1741-1488034800-1488042000@somarts.org
SUMMARY:The Black Lives Masquerade
DESCRIPTION:SOMArts is proud to partner with Global Street Dance Masquerade artistic director Rashad Pridgen to present The Black Lives Masquerade on Saturday\, February 25. Beginning at Zaccho Dance Theatre (1777 Yosemite Ave\, San Francisco) at 3:00 pm\, this site-specific performance will travel through the Bayview neighborhood to remember and honor San Franciscans who have been lost to police brutality and injustice. The performance procession will finish at the Bayview Opera House (4705 3rd St) with a community celebration and reception. \nThe Black Lives Masquerade was developed by Pridgen and an ensemble cast of performers as part of a year-long residency at SOMArts and will culminate in the creation of a full-body masquerade suit made specifically for the performance. \nIncorporating contemporary street dance practices from around the world into the ancient tradition of masquerading\, the Global Street Dance Masquerade reveals the influence of the African diaspora in traditional and contemporary dance techniques. The Black Lives Masquerade will honor lives lost in San Francisco and across the country due to police brutality and will inspire and challenge audience members to recommit to the struggle for racial justice. \nGLOBAL STREET DANCE MASQUERADE\nBLACK LIVES MASQUERADE PERFORMING ARTISTS\nChinaka Hodge\nAntione Hunter\nRashidi Omari\nChrisitian Pepin\nLantanya Tigner\nErica Wilson \nArtistic Director\nRashad Pridgen \nThe Black Lives Masquerade is part of a series of performances made possible in part by a grant from the Kenneth Rainin Foundation. Subsequent Global Street Dance Masquerade performances presented in partnership with SOMArts will include a site-specific masquerade in San Francisco’s Central Market neighborhood in April 2017 and a final performance at SOMArts in May 2017. \nThe Black Lives Masquerade is free to attend and will begin at 3:00 pm at Zaccho Dance Theatre (1777 Yosemite Ave\, San Francisco). Volunteers will be stationed along the performance route to direct audience members. This traveling performance requires walking and standing for up to 1 hour on public sidewalks. Audience members with mobility concerns are encouraged to attend the community celebration starting at 4:00 pm at the Bayview Opera House (4705 3rd St\, San Francisco). \nStreet parking is available near Zaccho Dance Theatre on Mendell St and Yosemite Ave\, as well as near the Bayview Opera House on 3rd Street. \nZaccho Dance Theatre is also accessible via public transportation by taking the KT Metro line to Third St and Williams Ave. More detailed directions to Zaccho are available here.
URL:https://somarts.org/event/gsdmbayview/
LOCATION:CA
CATEGORIES:Past Events,Public Program
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20161206T190000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20161206T210000
DTSTAMP:20260421T013114
CREATED:20180613T005008Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240404T225146Z
UID:1801-1481050800-1481058000@somarts.org
SUMMARY:Yves Saint Croissant Hosts The News: Futurism and Avant–Garde
DESCRIPTION:On the first Tuesday of each month\, SOMArts Cultural Center presents The News\, featuring new\, queer work by Bay Area artists. The News is a monthly cabaret evening that spotlights 10-minute or less performance pieces\, experiments\, and works in progress by pre-selected solo artists\, groups\, or troupes. \nOn Tuesday\, December 6\, The News is guest-hosted by Yves Saint Croissant\, and promises a night of interdisciplinary and experimental queer performance by Bay Area artists. This special night is themed Futurism and The Avant-Garde: \n“Step into a psychedelic world exploring the sights and sounds of futurism and the avant-garde. Yves Saint Croissant has curated a showcase of some of her favorite Bay Area queer artists who are all weird AF in the coolest way possible and promises to have you roaring in your seats for more!” \n— curator Yves Saint Croissant \nDon’t miss this night featuring incredible artists Lady Fair Cigarettes\, Persia\, Skin\, Derrierykah Badu\, Pseuda\, and host Yves Saint Croissant! \nAdmission is FREE! SOMArts is offering free admission in hopes that if you can afford to donate\, you will support the artists onstage when the hat passes. \nCURATOR BIOGRAPHY: \nContrary to her picture perfect exterior Yves Saint Croissant is a rebel heart who’s always romping around with the punks\, queers and club kidz. She’s immersed herself in a culture-making crowd both past and present and is headed straight to the top with them right by her side.  \nARTIST BIOGRAPHIES: \nDerrierykah Badu is a New York born-and-bred loaf Afrofuturist drag duchess. You’ve seen her at The Stud\, the Edge\, SoleSpace\, Qulture Collective\, Oasis\, and all over tumblr\, if you’re naughty. She won’t take group selfies\, but she is avid about giving private body autographs. Her brother\, Gabriel Christian\, is also out here hustling\, teaching\, and performing around the Bay.  \nLady Fair Cigarettes r 2 monster witches bleep blooping on some hardware. “Twice the taste in half the time for the gal on the go.” \nPersia was born from the burgeoning creative mind of a child in South Central Los Angeles. With degrees from the University of California\, Santa Cruz and the San Francisco Art Institute in one hand\, and a few pairs of heels in the other\, she set out to conquer and revolutionize the drag community. Persia began performing weekly at Esta Noche\, the recently closed Latino gay bar in San Francisco. Whilst performing at events around the Bay Area\, in Los Angeles\, and Mexico—including a few quinceañeras—Persia has also curated art shows\, done stand-up\, appeared on a few television shows\, modeled\, and has represented SFMOMA by transforming into Matisse’s “Woman with a hat.” \nPseuda is a performer birthed from San Francisco’s drag scene. They create visceral\, climactic\, narrative and character driven experiences\, informed by cultural tropes and mythos\, pop culture\, horror and the sublime. Using a mash of these influences\, they play with themes of identity\, fantasy\, technology\, gender\, sex\, death and the resultant emotional impact of their entanglement. \nSkin is the glitch in your dreams that makes you question the verity of your perceived reality; it’s the distortion grazing your eardrums on the dim dance floor. The artist is based in San Francisco and creates kaleidoscopic melodies blending elements of noise\, house\, and nu-disco. \nImage Credit: The News\, December 2016 photo by Kelly Wu.
URL:https://somarts.org/event/thenewsdecember2016/
LOCATION:CA
CATEGORIES:Past Events,Performance,Public Program
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20161101
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20161102
DTSTAMP:20260421T013114
CREATED:20180609T005923Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240404T225147Z
UID:1888-1477958400-1478044799@somarts.org
SUMMARY:Amanda and Natalia Vigil Host The News
DESCRIPTION:On the first Tuesday of each month\, SOMArts Cultural Center presents The News\, featuring new\, queer work by Bay Area artists. The News is a monthly cabaret evening that spotlights 10-minute or less performance pieces\, experiments\, and works in progress by pre-selected solo artists\, groups\, or troupes. \nOn Tuesday\, November 1\, The News is guest-hosted by Amanda and Natalia Vigil\, and promises a night of interdisciplinary and experimental queer performance by Bay Area artists. This special night is themed Legacy\, in honor of Día de los Muertos. \nDon’t miss this night of legacy featuring incredible artists Tanea\, Mason J\, mai đoàn\, wildcard Guta Galli and Izidora Lethe\, and hosts Amanda Vigil and Natalia Vigil! \nAdmission is FREE! SOMArts is offering free admission in hopes that if you can afford to donate\, you will support the artists onstage when the hat passes. RSVP on EventBrite to guarantee a seat. \nThe nature of The News is to give artists access to critical space for risk-taking in performance. Artists interested in performing as a “wild card” at The News in the future can find more information here. \nCURATOR BIOGRAPHIES: \nNatalia M. Vigil is a queer Chicana writer\, multi-media curator\, and big sister born and raised in San Francisco. Her multi genre writing arises from the voices and stories of the people around her. Her work has appeared in numerous publications and shows around the Bay Area. She is a 2016 Lambda Literary Fellow and the proud co-founder of Still Here San Francisco\, a performance and community dialogue project centering the experiences of Queer/LGBTQI people raised in S.F. \nAmanda Vigil is a Chicana San Francisco born and raised filmmaker\, educator\, Installation & Performance  Artist. Amanda’s performance work has been seen internationally and locally in San Francisco\, Los Angeles and Berlin\, Germany. She began working as a video artist at the age of 17 with the Young Artist At Work program (YBCA) and now holds a BFA in Film/Video from the California Institute of the arts (CALARTS). She has proudly focused her talents as a Video Production Educator for the last 8 years and now works as the Media Art Director and Marketing teacher at Mission High School. \nARTIST BIOGRAPHIES: \nTanea is a third generation San Franciscan on both sides. Tanea is a Columbia University graduate and Restorative Justice Practitioner. She is the child of an incarcerated parent. She is an abolitionist. When Tanea is not writing or dancing in the mirror she organizes for justice and freedom with The Last 3% of Black San Francisco. \nMason J. is a Multidisciplinary Artist\,  Afro-Xicano SF Native\, Genderqueer/Two Spirit/Trans* Man\, Disability Advocate\, and Activist. Born and Raised in SF’s Western Addition during the end of the crack and AIDS epidemics his work bends grit\, tenderness\, and critical flippancy to give unapologetic first person accounts of navigating his now unrecognizable hometown. \nmai đoàn is a dreamer\, poet\, and heartworker living in oakland\, ca. she is the author of transgression: things i have learned from my body. mai is committed to poetry that is necessary and responsive and finds comradery in works by women\, queer\, and trans writers of color enacting radical uses of language to create and complicate the telling of our rage\, bodies\, histories\, and desires. \nGuta Galli is an Afro-Brazilian multimedia artist pursuing her MFA at SFAI (2017). Guta Galli’s artistic research sheds feminist light—and shades—on how the cultural misrepresentation of women leads to rape culture and symbolic and physical violence. In her performances and video art\, she faces the photographic lens or the audience in an attempt to experience and expose the vulnerability\, violence and ambiguities she discusses through her work. She has done performances at the San Francisco Art Institute\, Fort Mason and Berkeley Art Museum. \nBorn in former Yugoslavia (Croatia)\, Izidora Lethe grew up in Zürich\, Switzerland and is currently living and working in Oakland and San Francisco\, CA. The artist’s work is informed from a personal stance of hybrid identity in her own biography regarding national and linguistic belonging\, the differences between east and west\, sexuality/gender normativities\, histories of immigration and involvement in various sub/cultural movements.  She finished her BFA at ZHdK\, Zurich School of the Arts in Zurich\, Switzerland with honors. Currently\, she is pursuing a MFA in New Genres at the San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI). \nImage Credit: The News: November 2016.Photo by Kelly Wu
URL:https://somarts.org/event/thenewsnovember2016/
LOCATION:CA
CATEGORIES:Past Events,Public Program
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://somarts.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/30144204194_075facfa72_o.jpg
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20160723T203000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20160723T235900
DTSTAMP:20260421T013114
CREATED:20200925T000557Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240404T225128Z
UID:1921-1469305800-1469318340@somarts.org
SUMMARY:Night Light: Multimedia Garden Party 2016
DESCRIPTION:One-night-only\, Saturday\, July 23\, 2016\, Night Light: Multimedia Garden Party blankets SOMArts in luminous art installations\, including audiovisual performances and performative interventions by 22 artists\, and digital and cinematic projections and multimedia installations by 44 artists. The galleries open at 8:30pm and performances begin at 9pm and last until the event ends at midnight. \nIMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT TONIGHT’S EVENT:\nAdvance tickets are officially sold out! \nDoors open to ticket holders at 8:30pm. We will be selling a limited number of walk-up tickets at the door for $15. \nIf capacity permits\, we will release a limited number of tickets at the door each hour until the end of the event for cash purchasers–– no one will be turned away for lack of funds. We may need to turn people away during times when the building is at capacity. \nIf you don’t get a ticket online\, the later you come\, the better your chance of getting in as crowds tend to thin as it gets late & there’s more space for others to join. \nSOMArts is wheelchair accessible\, but not scent free. There will be MANY flickering lights tonight. Bike parking is available. Our restrooms are multi-stall and all-gender. There is a cash bar & pupusa vendor on site. Directions are here. \n*************************** \nNight Light is presented in conjunction with The Black Woman is God: Reprogramming that God Code\, on view in SOMArts’ Main Gallery July 7-August 17\, 2016. The Black Woman is God and Night Light will present a combined total of over 100 Bay Area visual and performing artists from a variety of cultural backgrounds exploding expectations for identity-based work. \n“Night Light takes on the theme of code-breaking in order to reinvent\, deconstruct\, reshape or reclaim identity-based codes that determine how we are perceived or expected to behave\,” said co-curator Carolina Quintanilla\, who worked with Melorra Green and Karen Seneferu to select a curatorial theme that expands the conversation begun by The Black Woman is God to artists of other identities. \nQuintanilla\, Green and Seneferu worked together to curate SOMArts’ sixth annual Night Light event. \nThis year Night Light centers a series of robust\, sometimes overlapping performances and site-specific art installations that activate SOMArts’ post-industrial space with the spirit of activism\, embodying the idea of “code-breaking” in opposition to the status quo and unifying artists and audience in pursuit of liberatory self-determination. Night Light invites audience members to engage an artistic conversation about the relationship between identity\, behavior\, and lived reality. As with The Black Woman is God\, Night Light exhibiting and performing artists proudly set the scope for their own existence. \nA total space activation of the Center at 934 Brannan Street\, Night Lightutilizes SOMArts’ indoor space and grounds\, including the garden path\, street-side loading bay\, theater\, Bay Gallery and Main Gallery to display a multitude of applications of light in art. \nCurated by Karen Seneferu and Melorra Green\, The Black Woman is God: Reprogramming that God Code celebrates the Black female presence as the highest spiritual form and challenges viewers to do the same. Over 60 Bay Area artists refocus the audience on the vital contributions of Black women as artists and social change-makers throughout history. For more information about The Black Woman is God\, as well as a distinct list of visual artists whose work will also be on view in that exhibition during Night Light\, visit www.somarts.org/theblackwomanisgod. \n \nNight Light musician Zakiya Harris. Photo by Bethanie Hines. \nMain Stage MC Zakiya Harris\, along with her dynamic band Elephantine\, will rock the Night Light stage with their mix of soul\, hip hop\, electronica and afro-beat music. A veteran of the East Bay music scene\, Harris has shared the stage with Talib Kweli\, Dead Prez\, Digable Planets\, Gil Scott-Heron\, and Tatiana Ali. She’s also been featured at Art Basel\, Life is Living\, The New Parish\, Brick and Mortar\, Cafe Du Nord and The Legendary CBGB’s Gallery. A shapeshifter herself\, Harris brings her genre-blending and code-breaking music and performance to the Night Light stage. \n \nYetunde Olagbaju’s NUTRITIVE/POUR #1. Digital video still. Image courtesy of the artist. \nYetunde Olagbaju’s NUTRITIVE/POUR #1 explores the intersections of race and gender with notions of care-giving and tenderness through site-specific video installation and performance. Connecting to the themes of The Black Woman is God exhibition\, Olagbaju said\, “My drive to create connects to exploring the godliness within myself and those who have often— whether through oppression or lack of self-understanding— been stripped of connection to their own godliness.” \nThe Bay Area Light Brigade is part of a national coalition of artists formed during the 2011 Wisconsin protests to create bold and luminous messages for social justice. Believing in the power of the arts as a tool to galvanize social change\, The Bay Area Light Brigade focuses on raising awareness of the violence faced by Kurdish people in Turkey today. For Night Light\, The Bay Area Light Brigade will utilize SOMArts’ post-industrial space to project text and images to provoke conversations around human rights and the power of artful activism. \nPerformance and visual artist Julz Hale Mary will bring their stereotype-exploding photography to Night Light with “The Routine of Forgetting.” A veteran of the San Francisco drag scene\, Hale Mary uses fashion\, performance and self-portraiture to explore their high femme and boi genders and to expose the absurdity of polite society. \n \nJulz Hale Mary\, “Patron Saint of the Gaslit: He Will Protect Them He Will Grope Them\,” digital photography. Image courtesy of the artist. \nInspired by the natural world and her engagement with environmental art and activism\, multimedia artist and photographer Minoosh Zomorodinia describes her code-breaking work as\, “somewhere between performances\, photography\, site-specific installation and video.” \nFlorida Waters and Dezi Soléy’s interactive\, multimedia installation “Femmetopian” will invite audience members into a collective cleansing ritual to envision the possibility that liberation isn’t somewhere far away but something that can be created together every day. \n\nDezi Soley and Florida Waters\, “Femmetopian\,” digital video still. Image courtesy of the artist. \nNIGHT LIGHT EXHIBITING ARTISTS:\nAAU Architecture/Agglab\nBushmama Africa\nbárbara alexandra\nOnyinye Alheri\nBay Area Light Brigade\nAna Bedolla with Aaron Grobler\nLorraine Bonner\nAndrea Castillo\nChristy Chan\nToshia Christal\nIrina Contreras\nIan Davis & Sotheara Yem in collaboration with Dom Jones\nBronwyn Dexter\nCarmina Eliason\nWill Erokan\nBalitronica Gomez\nShylah Pacheco Hamilton\nJazz Monique Hudson\nRipley Jene\nMelissa Koziebrocki\nzàira lee\, Aidan Bosanko\, and SPELLING\nJulz Hale Mary\nKristine Mays\nKathleen McDonald and Jay Ruland\nGabby Miller\nYetunde Olagbaju\nLala Openi\nAnnah Anti Palindrome\, Ariel Springfield and Malic Amalya\nYuri Pop\nFrida Precariat\nRenee Rodriguez\nSophia Ronen\nSafety First\nMalik Seneferu\nTosha Stimage\nSunshine Velasco & Sultry Lapel\nBlue Wade\nFlorida Waters & Dezi Soléy\nLeila Weefur\nRenee Yanez\nKit Young\nMinoosh Zomorodinia \nNIGHT LIGHT PERFORMING ARTISTS:\nSharmi Basu and Alexander Brown\nBlue:Bawl (zàira lee\, SPELLLING and Gabriel Christian)\nLeland Bronson and Alexander Brown\nDROUGHT SPA\nLisa Evans and Sabaa Zareena\nGlobal Street Dance Masquerade\nZakiya Harris and Elephantine\nMonica Hastings–Smith and Yafeu Tyhimba\nSea Heikes\, Michael Gendreau and Chris Musgrave\nJazz Monique Hudson\nDom Jones\nImpuritan and Maso Tachibana\nRipley Jene\nLeVICE\nKolmel W. Love\nMelYel\nRayla Meshawn\nOsunfemi Wanbi Njeri\nNuance the Vicarious\nQuiet Lightning\nSadusssa\nDJ Sake One \nNight Light was curated by Melorra Green and Carolina Quintanilla with support from Karen Seneferu. The Black Woman is God was curated by Karen Seneferu and Melorra Green. \nVodka\, beer + kombucha for Night Light provided by Tito’s Handmade Vodka\, Ninkasi Brewing + Clearly Kombucha. \n \nCALENDAR LISTINGS \nNight Light: Multimedia Garden Party\nSaturday\, July 23\, performances 9pm–midnight\, galleries open at 8:30pm\nSOMArts Cultural Center\, 934 Brannan St. (at 8th)\nTickets are $12 in advance\, $15 at the door. Tickets: http://nightlightparty2016.eventbrite.com\nMore info: https://somarts.org/nightlight2016 \nThe Black Woman is God: Reprogramming that God Code\nExhibition July 7–August 17\, 2016.\nGallery hours: Tues–Fri\, 12–7pm and Sat\, 12–5pm. Opening reception with performances and artist talks July 7\, 2016\, 6–10pm.\nSOMArts Cultural Center\, 934 Brannan St. (at 8th)\nFree admission during gallery hours and opening reception\nMore info: https://somarts.org/theblackwomanisgod \nSOMArts’ exhibition programs are generously supported by the San Francisco Arts Commission and The San Francisco Foundation\, and are sponsored in part by a grant from Grants for the Arts. \nCommunity partners include Frameline\, Museum of the African Diaspora\, Brava Theater\, and San Francisco International Arts Festival.
URL:https://somarts.org/event/night-light-multimedia-garden-party-2016/
LOCATION:SOMArts Cultural Center\, 934 Brannan Street\, San Francisco\, CA\, 94103\, United States
CATEGORIES:Past Events,Public Program
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20160503T190000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20160503T210000
DTSTAMP:20260421T013114
CREATED:20180531T030900Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240404T225148Z
UID:1990-1462302000-1462309200@somarts.org
SUMMARY:The News Features an Evening of Wild Cards Hosted by Brown Meshugana
DESCRIPTION:On the first Tuesday of each month The News\, presented by SOMArts Cultural Center\, features new\, queer work by Bay Area artists. The News is a monthly cabaret evening that spotlights 10-minute or less performance pieces\, experiments\, and works in progress by pre-selected solo artists\, groups\, or troupes. \nOn Tuesday\, May 3\, The News will feature an evening of “wild cards” – performers who we have wanted to share the stage with but haven’t had a chance…until now! In addition to artists selected by a guest curator\, a “wild card” performer appears in each line-up at The News. “Wild cards” are artists who may not have been selected by the guest curators\, but join in the evening to share new work. We’re excited to present an evening composed entirely of “wild card” performers at The News in May! \nAdmission is FREE! SOMArts is offering free admission in hopes that if you can afford to donate\, you will support the artists onstage when the hat passes.  \nThe nature of The News is to give artists access to critical space for risk-taking in performance. Artists interested in performing as a “wild card” at The News in the future can find more information here. \nHost Biography: \nThe alliterative taglines of Brown Meshugana: \nThe Chocolate Chosen One.\nThe Half Black Heeb.\nThe Sapphic Semitic\, Sepia Sista.\nThe Mildly Melanated Misfit Mensch.\nAll attempts to describe a being who uses boisterous bouncing of a bountiful booty as a greeting\, entertainment\, and\, most importantly\, a distraction. \nARTIST BIOGRAPHIES: \nGabriel Christian (t(he)y;(t)him) is an unholy performer\, poet\, and archivist from NYC who currently lives and works in the East Bay. Apart from four regional and Off-Broadway productions\, he has supported and performed in works from WePlayers (2015)\, artist Tamar Ettun’s The Moving Company (2014) and The Workcenter of Jerzy Grotowski and Thomas Richards (2013-2014). As of 2015\, they have primarily served as their femme ego-companion Derrierykah Badu (IG: derrierykah.badu) at The Stud and Aunt Charlie’s in San Francisco\, CA\, as well as having exhibited in the collaborative show “Property Laws” at Madame of the Arts in Minneapolis\, MN. Most recently\, they were one of the nine flagship queer performance artists in residence at the Destiny Arts Center. Their upcoming appearances include a staged revisualization of Anne Carson’s Autobiography of Red\, Conjuring Roots at Flight Deck on June 30th as part of the National Queer Arts Festival\, and citywide as Eartha Kunt. \nHow Spirit Moves Us presents “Confronting the Ghost of Willie Lynch\,” an interactive performance piece that follows queer black couples through their process of expelling self hate and centuries old anti-black sentiment- facilitated and highly generated from the Willie Lynch speech. “Confronting the Ghost of Willie Lynch” explores the healing power of love and the erotic using theater depiction\, dance\, and spoken word. Their trail will be experienced with the audience using interactive methods of inclusion. \nEshe Shukura is a graduate of Hampshire College\, where they focused in Theater. They co-directed and starred in their original play\, “Fat. Black. & Ugly.” which won the James Baldwin playwright award at the Five College Word Festival in Amherst\, MA. Eshe uses movement and the jazz aesthetic/ fragmented language in their work. New to performance art\, they use their theater background to structure their voice and performance style. \nSPELLLING (Chrystia Cabral) is an artist\, composer\, teacher\, queer who has been residing and creating in the Bay Area for the past 6 years. She works as an educator for Oakland Unified\, teaching music\, technology\, and gardening to K-5th grade youth. She plans to continue her journey as an artist/educator/performer and explore the power of communal performance as a tool for re-education. SPELLLING is a newly birthed entity/identity. SPELLLING is a sonic ritual honoring itself as the object of faith. SPELLLING creates musical loops of synergies within real and imagined space using sound\, repetition\, material and body. \nYula Paluy has lived and worked in the Bay Area as a researcher\, writer\, and performer for the past 15 years. Trained in theater and filmmaking in Israel\, and in Euro-Japanese clowning in San Francisco\, she has performed original material in a style that merges spoken word and embodied performance. In addition to staging her new play\, Nothing is Sacred?\, she is currently translating Kay Ryan’s poetry and writing a nonfiction book on unorthodox communities of healing in the Bay Area. Previously\, Yula researched embodied metaphors and the humanizing effects of humor as a graduate student at Stanford University\, and taught psychology and research methods at Stanford and San Quentin State Prison. \nImage credit: The News: May 2016. Photo by Chani Bockwinkel
URL:https://somarts.org/event/thenewsmay2016/
LOCATION:CA
CATEGORIES:Past Events,Public Program
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://somarts.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/26336110133_6590b9c744_o.jpg
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20160202T190000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20160202T210000
DTSTAMP:20260421T013114
CREATED:20180601T001800Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240404T225147Z
UID:1962-1454439600-1454446800@somarts.org
SUMMARY:Baruch Porras–Hernandez Hosts The News
DESCRIPTION:On the first Tuesday of each month The News\, presented by SOMArts Cultural Center\, features new\, queer work by Bay Area artists. The News is a monthly cabaret evening that spotlights 10-minute or less performance pieces\, experiments\, and works in progress by pre-selected solo artists\, groups\, or troupes. \nOn Tuesday\, August 2\, The News is guest-hosted by Baruch Porras Hernandez\, and promises a night of queer/punk culture-fucking liberation with sonic beats\, 6 inch heels and colorful explosions! \nDrawing from personal stories and experiences\, the artists writhe all over the map with Bollywood inspired dance\, machismo resistance\, comedic storytelling\, sonic mantras\, femme fierceness\, and kink infused poetry. Don’t miss this night featuring the legendary and the soon to be legendary performers: Fiera!\, Kohinoorgasm\, SNJV\, Porras-Hernandez\, and Wonder Dave. \nAdmission is FREE! SOMArts is offering free admission in hopes that if you can afford to donate\, you will support the artists onstage when the hat passes. RSVP on EventBrite to guarantee a seat. \nThe nature of The News is to give artists access to critical space for risk-taking in performance. Artists interested in performing as a “wild card” at The News in the future can find more information here. \nCURATOR BIOGRAPHY: \nBaruch Porras Hernandez has organized live spoken word and storytelling shows all over San Francisco for the past 7 years. He is a regular KQED Arts host and curator. He’s the Voice of Shipwreck SF Erotic Fan Fiction Competition\, currently the Muni Diaries’ reigning Muni Haiku Champion. In San Francisco he’s won Literary Death Match\, WriteClub SF\, has won the Moth in LA and represented San Francisco in their LA Championship. He’s the founder of ¿Donde Esta Mi Gente? which was created in part by the REGEN Artist grant from Galería de la Raza. His solo play currently titled ¡Agárrate! is being developed for production by a grant from the San Francisco Arts Commission for Individual Theatre Artists. He was a Lambda Literary Poetry Fellow in 2014\, and will be a Lambda Literary Playwriting Fellow in 2016. His poetry can be found in several anthologies\, he’s featured at Radar Productions\, Writers with Drinks\, LitCrawl\, Queer Rebels Fest\, The International Flor y Canto Literary Festival\, and is the head organizer for The San Francisco Queer Open Mic. Recently he was named a NALAC Latino Leader in the arts and took part in the NALAC leadership Institute. Read his work online at The Tusk\, and with Drunk in a Midnight Choir. For more. \nARTIST BIOGRAPHIES: \nFiera! was born as a form of resistance to deeply rooted and entrenched machismo ideals and highly conservative values. This queer femme latinX artist started performing at the legendary Aunt Charlie’s Lounge about a year and half ago. With little experience in front of an audience\, she became a regular\, putting on a new show every week for almost a year. Fiera’s yearning for queer liberation within her native Mexican culture drove her to put on 6-inch heels\, dresses\, wig\, while painting a fierce face as a protest to her perceived decadent lifestyle. At the same time\, she continues to explore the beautiful art of illusion and drag. In the process of doing so\, she has become very successful in the club scene\, making appearances at such popular night clubs as The Stud\, Oasis\, Moby Dick\, The Lookout\, and other venues. She also enjoys collaborating with much more established drag artists and Djs. Recently\, she has begun to evolve her art towards a new trajectory\, incorporating counter-culture and queer-punk elements or any other abstract elements that she feels help to relay her message. \nAs a mixed race and queer artist\, Kohinoorgasm (one word: ko-hee-noor-gasm) seeks to expand the dialogue around multicultural\, ambiguous identity-based experiences. Her music blends and layers hypnotic beats and sounds\, with vocals in Hindi and English. Her lyrics are often repetitive and pensive\, forging mantras and phrases into a sonic thought-scape and encouraging the listener to reflect on such things as self-love\, resilience\, anxiety\, and agency. She is currently experimenting with the quality of her live performances\, and she hopes to incorporate many styles of movement and expression! \nSNJV creates provocative and attention grabbing stage moments. His performances tell complex stories through dance while providing the audience with a colorful explosion of energetic movement. He is dedicated to intertwining the performance into everyday life with messages of compassion and unconditional love embedded in every move. He is an enigma wrapped in a riddle and so are his performances. \nWonder Dave is a writer and performer from Minneapolis\, MN\, now living in California. He has toured the country performing at poetry venues\, comedy shows\, schools\, cabarets\, science fiction conventions\, burlesque shows\, and bowling alleys. He is the host of Oakland’s Story Showdown and San Francisco’s Literary Pop. He is a fixture at the underground variety show Tourettes Without Regrets. Find him online at WonderDave.org. \nImage credit: Baruch Porras–Hernandez
URL:https://somarts.org/event/thenewsaugust2016/
LOCATION:CA
CATEGORIES:Past Events,Public Program
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