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  • Reclaiming Our Image through Muralism and Photograpahy

    SOMArts Cultural Center 934 Brannan Street, San Francisco, CA, United States

    On Friday, February 9, 6–9 PM, join Palestinian artists Lara Aburamadan, Chris Gazaleh, and Roula Seikaly for a free, all ages film screening, conversation, and artwork presentation. Reclaiming Our Image through Muralism and Photography is presented by SOMArts in collaboration with Bay Area Palestinian artists. This program is intended to affirm the role of the arts in collective liberation. Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People (Sut Jhally, 2006) serves as a starting point to [...]

    Free

  • Dancing the Afrofuture Book Launch

    SOMArts Cultural Center 934 Brannan Street, San Francisco, CA, United States

    Dancing the Afrofuture: Hula, Hip-Hop, and the Duhman Legacy. Published with the University Press of Florida, the book is forthcoming in February 2024 and will be available for purchase at the event. The launch features a book reading by Dr. Osumare and performances by PUSH dance company. Dancing the Afrofuture: Hula, Hip-Hop, and the Dunham Legacy is the sequel to Dancing in Blackness, A Memoir (2018). It chronicles the next stage in Halifu Osumare’s life and [...]

    $10
  • Mary Lovelace O'Neal

    The Black Woman is God: Assembly of Gods Opening Reception

    SOMArts is proud to present The Black Woman is God: Assembly of Gods, a multidisciplinary exhibition with free admission from August 30–October 2, 2018, celebrating the Black female presence as the highest spiritual form. More than 50 intergenerational artists working in sculpture, painting, new media, and photography create new myths to challenge Eurocentric notions of God. Now in its third year at SOMArts, the exhibition’s theme represents the various spiritual traditions of the African diaspora that encourage members of the Black [...]

  • HOMIES & HOMOS: SOMArts Dance Party Fundraiser

    SOMArts Cultural Center 934 Brannan Street, San Francisco, CA, United States

    Kick off 415 Day weekend with HOMIES & HOMOS: SOMArts Dance Party Fundraiser on Friday, April 12, 7–11 PM PST! This all-ages, intergenerational celebration raises crucial funds for SOMArts’ René Yañez Legacy Fund, which supports artist fees for emerging and mid-career artists as well as the renovation of the garden that René so lovingly tended. Yes, I'll be there! Hosted by Per Sia and curated by Muni Raised Me’s Meymey Lee, Sasha Vu, and Celi Tamayo-Lee, [...]

    $20

  • Climate Cabaret: A Fundraiser for Climate Defiance

    SOMArts Cultural Center 934 Brannan Street, San Francisco, CA, United States

    Welcome to the Climate Cabaret, which features a night of entertainment and awareness at SOMArts Cultural Center on Friday, April 20, 7:30–8:30 PM PST. Organized by Ceci Walken, get ready for a fun and impactful evening filled with circus arts, laughs, and awe-inspiring aerialists all centered around saving our planet. Come together with like-minded individuals to enjoy performances that will inspire you to take action and make a difference. Don't miss out on this unique event [...]

    $10 – $45

  • Computer Ambiences with Chia Amisola

    SOMArts Cultural Center 934 Brannan Street, San Francisco, CA, United States

    With a phone or laptop, experience a beginner-friendly workshop-performance that emphasizes the interdependent and intimate networked ecologies that can emerge with our computers. We'll learn light coding to modify, maintain, and steward programs that activate computers as flowers, clouds, containers, and vessels - interacting with each other in a situated, contextual, and temporal sense. Our relationships with our devices will be nurtured symbiotically, reimagining more agentic & environmental ways of thinking about computers, networks, and code. [...]

  • soft alchemy with Kelsey Chen

    SOMArts Cultural Center 934 Brannan Street, San Francisco, CA, United States

    Please join us for a tea service, tattooing performance, and guided movement practice in an open space of meeting. soft alchemy invites you into communion with the closest planets of our bodies; to feel the gravitational conversations between; and, through the gentlest of practices, to seep through and with the people, art, and space of the gallery. Chris Giang will offer tea service from handmade ceramics during the event. RSVP required. soft alchemy is part of APICC’s [...]

  • In Solidarity: Queer and Trans Artists for a Free Palestine Opening Reception

    SOMArts Cultural Center 934 Brannan Street, San Francisco, CA, United States

    Join the Queer Cultural Center on Friday, June 7, 6–9 PM PST for the opening reception of In Solidarity: Queer and Trans Artists for a Free Palestine.  As part of their 27th Annual National Queer Arts Festival, this year’s installation affirms that queer and trans liberation are fundamentally intertwined with Palestinian and Indigenous liberation, and global land back movements. This collaborative mural offers space to gather in solidarity and mourning to remember, honor, and call the names [...]

  • In Solidarity: Teach-In for a Free Palestine

    SOMArts Cultural Center 934 Brannan Street, San Francisco, CA, United States

    As part of QCC's National Queer Art Festival visual exhibition, BLOOM Collective and xtal azul will host In Solidarity: Teach-in for a Free Palestine on Sunday, June 16, 12–5 PM PST. Featuring a day of intensive workshops, participants will learn how to collectively fight intersecting oppressions by building power, strategy, and creating art.  Mx. Yaffa, Executive Director of the Muslim Alliance for Sexual and Gender Diversity (MASGD), will lead the first hour followed by breakout sessions [...]

  • In Solidarity: Queer and Trans Artists for a Free Palestine Closing Reception

    SOMArts Cultural Center 934 Brannan Street, San Francisco, CA, United States

    Join the Queer Cultural Center on Thursday, June 27, 6–8 PM PST, all ages for the closing reception of In Solidarity: Queer and Trans Artists for a Free Palestine. Performances will start at 7 PM PST. Guests are required to wear K/N95 masks indoors and are available on-site. Food and nonalcoholic beverages will be provided in the garden patio. Event ticket information: The closing reception is free for Palestinians and others directly impacted by the ongoing [...]

  • A Soft Place to Land Opening Reception

    SOMArts Cultural Center 934 Brannan Street, San Francisco, CA, United States

    Across the country, we’ve witnessed an unprecedented number of legislative actions threatening trans, immigrant, and reproductive rights, the growing criminalization of dissent, and the continued funding of genocide abroad. As many brace themselves for another politically charged election year, A Soft Place to Land defiantly centers joy as a relational and embodied practice worthy of archiving and passing on. Join us on Friday, July 19, 6–9 PM PST for the free, all ages opening reception of A Soft Place to Land, [...]

    Free

  • A Soft Place to Land Community Day

    SOMArts Cultural Center 934 Brannan Street, San Francisco, CA, United States

    Across the country, we are witnessing an unprecedented number of legislative actions threatening trans, immigrant, and reproductive rights, the growing criminalization of dissent, and the continued funding of genocide abroad. As many brace themselves for another politically charged election year, A Soft Place to Land defiantly centers joy as a relational and embodied practice worthy of archiving and passing on. As part of the exhibition programming, join us for Community Day on August 3, 1–5 PM [...]

    $10

  • Bearing Witness Exhibition Unveiling and Opening Reception

    SOMArts Cultural Center 934 Brannan Street, San Francisco, CA, United States

    Join us for the all-ages exhibition unveiling and opening reception on Friday, October 11, 6–9 PM PST. As the world watches and responds to the genocide of the Palestinian people, this year’s exhibition theme, Bearing Witness: An Expression of Love, Solidarity, and Justice for the People of Palestine, reflects on the impact of this ongoing trauma on personal, national, and international levels. Participating artists center creation as resistance by mounting traditional and contemporary altar installations that [...]

  • Huesitos y Recuerditos: Dia de Los Muertos Drag Show

    SOMArts Cultural Center 934 Brannan Street, San Francisco, CA, United States

    As part of Día de Los Muertos 2024: Bearing Witness' exhibition programming, join us for a sepcial evening of drag and remembrance. Curated and hosted by beloved nightlife and community icon Per Sia, Huesitos y Recuerditos: Día de Los Muertos Drag Show features new and returning drag artists as they embody their experiences of queer resilience, love, and individuality through a night of tender, powerful performance. Tickets: $15 suggested donation Drag Performers https://somarts.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Atlaca-de-Mictlan-240x300.png Atlaca de Mictlan [...]

  • 2024 Murphy Cadogan Art Awards Ceremony and Opening Reception

    SOMArts Cultural Center 934 Brannan Street, San Francisco, CA, United States

    SOMArts is proud to partner with the San Francisco Foundation to present the 2024 Murphy and Cadogan Contemporary Art Awards Exhibition, a focused look at the future of the Bay Area visual arts. Join us for the opening reception and awards ceremony on Friday, November 1, 6–9 PM. Murphy Awardee Elina Frumerman, Stanford University Cadogan Awardees Gabrielle Anderman, California College of the Arts Damon Casarez, Stanford University Priyanka D’ Souza (Resting Museum), University of California, Berkeley [...]

  • Día de Los Muertos 2024 Bearing Witness Closing Reception

    SOMArts Cultural Center 934 Brannan Street, San Francisco, CA, United States

    Join us on Friday, November 8, from 6–9 PM PST, for the closing reception of Bearing Witness. This all-ages event marks your final opportunity to experience this powerful expression of love, solidarity, and justice. The evening includes a Día de Los Muertos artist market and more. Tickets $12 Suggested donation Free for youth 16 and under No one turned away for lack of funds at the door Accessibility SOMArts is wheelchair accessible and in proximity to [...]

  • SOMArts presents Artist As Witness

    SOMArts Cultural Center 934 Brannan Street, San Francisco, CA, United States

    NOTE: This event is sold out; Tickets are required for entry. SOMArts presents Artist As Witness, showcasing the works of filmmakers of color followed by an artist conversation moderated by A-lan Holt, Director of Stanford's Institute for Diversity in the Arts on Saturday, January 25, 7:30 PM PST. Hosted by Adrian L. Burrell with introductions by SOMArts’ Creative & Executive Director Maria Jenson and Jonathan Carver Moore, and a poetry reading by Mimi Tempestt, the featured [...]

  • From the River to the Bay Opening Reception

    SOMArts Cultural Center 934 Brannan Street, San Francisco, CA, United States

    Join us in celebrating the opening reception of From the River to the Bay, Thursday, January 30, 6–9 PM PST! Curated by Chris Gazaleh, a San Francisco-based Palestinian visual artist, musician, writer, organizer, and educator, this multidisciplinary exhibition features the works of 11 Palestinian and solidarity artists. The exhibit delves into the Bay Area’s enduring legacy of social movements, affirming that everyone—from community organizers to studio artists—has a role in the struggle for freedom. The opening [...]

  • From the River to the Bay Artist Conversation

    SOMArts Cultural Center 934 Brannan Street, San Francisco, CA, United States

    Join us for From the River to the Bay Artist Conversation on Thursday, February 20th, from 7–9 PM PST. This free, all-ages event invites you to dive into the creative process behind this thought-provoking exhibition. Chris Gazaleh kicks off the evening with curatorial remarks followed by an artist conversation moderated by Kathy Zarur and featuring Asma Ghanem, Tarik Kazaleh, and SPIE.

  • From the River to the Bay Closing Reception

    SOMArts Cultural Center 934 Brannan Street, San Francisco, CA, United States

    Join us in community and celebration as we close From the River to the Bay on Thursday, March 27, 6–9 PM PST. The closing reception is a free, all ages event featuring performances by A-1, Lara Aburamadan, and The Shadow Band, and an artist vendor market. Featured Performers https://somarts.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/1-300x300.png A-1 A first generation American, half Italian, half Senegalese, Bay Area rap phenom A-1’s roots run deepest in San Francisco. But his lyrics—social critique set to a [...]

  • BODY HIGH Dance Party

    SOMArts Cultural Center 934 Brannan Street, San Francisco, CA, United States

    Joy is resistance. Celebration is power.We believe that making space for joy is a radical act—one that strengthens both our individual and collective resolve. That’s why we’re thrilled to partner with BODY HIGH, a house music party where everyone, in every body, is celebrated.Join us Friday, April 11, from 9 PM–2 AM for an electrifying night of music and movement, featuring DJ sets by DJ Lady Ryan, VARSHA, and Blu Moon. Together, we’ll honor the resilient [...]

  • Brown Palms, Yellow Balms Opening Reception & USAAF 2025 Kick-off Celebration

    Featured
    SOMArts Cultural Center 934 Brannan Street, San Francisco, CA, United States

    Meet some of the 35+ gallery and 21 virtual Asian and Asian American artists involved in the exhibition and the AAPI producing artists of this year’s United States of Asian America Festival: Critical Refuge! The evening also features an artist activation by Kimberly Acebo Arteche and poetry reading by Nellie Wong. The AAWAA Merch Shop will be open with products for sale benefitting the artists in the exhibition alongside a pop-up by health and wellness company [...]

  • Brown Palms, Yellow Balms Closing Reception

    SOMArts Cultural Center 934 Brannan Street, San Francisco, CA, United States

    To close out the exhibition, join us for a culinary ritual of serving daal chawal by artist Zara Ahmed. ASL interpretation will be provided during the program. The AAWAA Merch Shop will be open with products for sale benefitting the artists in the exhibition alongside a pop-up by health and wellness company Malaya Botanicals. Other light refreshments will be provided and includes a cash bar. Free and open to the public with registration. The gallery will [...]

  • 2025 SF Open Studios Exhibition ArtLaunch

    SOMArts Cultural Center 934 Brannan Street, San Francisco, CA, United States

    Celebrate the abundant creativity of the SF Bay Area, connect with the ArtSpan community over light bites and drinks, enjoy words from the ArtSpan Team, and have the opportunity to purchase art that directly supports our nonprofit’s mission and exhibiting artists. The SF Open Studios Exhibition features the work of 300+ participating SF Open Studios artists, providing a preview to help guide your studio visits. As you browse work of diverse mediums, begin planning your weekend [...]