FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Dara Katrina Del Rosario
Communications & Partnerships Manager
415-863-1414 x103, [email protected]

SOMArts Cultural Center Presents

RUBY: A CABARET AND DANCE PARTY EXTRAVAGANZA

MAY 9, 2019, San Francisco, CA – On Saturday, June 8, 2019, SOMArts Cultural Center brings together the Bay Area’s most provocative arts leaders, artists, and community members at RUBY: A Cabaret and Dance Party Extravaganza! The evening honors pioneering artist, director, and SOMArts founding board member Rhodessa Jones with a building-wide art party and awe-inspiring performances by the Bay Area’s most coveted acts.

In the last four decades, SOMArts Cultural Center has been a vital hub to the San Francisco Bay Area creative community. The 40th anniversary is represented by the bold ruby gemstone, which is said to glow crimson due to its eternal inner flame. No other stone could better encapsulate SOMArts’ four decade long legacy, as this blood-red jewel embodies our lasting  commitment to San Francisco’s intergenerational creative community.

“As a community-based arts organization celebrating forty years of inclusion, resistance and creativity, SOMArts exists to foster connections between artists and communities — providing a platform to exchange ideas that will change the world tomorrow,” says Maria Jenson, SOMArts’ Executive Director.

RUBY showcases Rhodessa Jones’ tremendous impact on the Bay Area arts ecosystem. As co-artistic director of Cultural Odyssey and founding director of the Medea Project: Theater for Incarcerated Women, Jones brings performance workshops to incarcerated women and women living with HIV. Jones has won numerous awards for her art and activism, including the Theatre Bay Area Legacy Award, the Non-Profit Arts Excellence Award, and the San Francisco Community Leadership Award. Through her stewardship, SOMArts continues to collaborate with local artists, providing organizational support to develop socially relevant and responsive work.

“Rhodessa’s creative impact within and beyond the Bay Area is extraordinary! She is one of the foremost authorities in working theatrically with a variety of disenfranchised populations and marginal communities,” shares Idris Ackamoor, Executive Director of Cultural Odyssey.

Featuring a silent auction curated by Rio Yañez, a catered community meal, and cabaret and musical performances, RUBY highlights artists who continue to work at the intersection of art and social justice. Chulita Vinyl Club DJs Hella Breezy, Sin Amores, and Marvelouz kick off the dance party, spinning Soul, Funk, Cumbia, New Wave, and more! Emcee and performance artist Rocky Rivera graces the SOMArts stage with songs that celebrate “the spirit of resistance in the form of loud bass and energetic feminist anthems.”

Through building-wide activations and performances, RUBY: A Cabaret and Dance Party Extravaganza, will be an awe-inspiring experience. Proceeds from this fundraiser will help ensure that SOMArts Cultural Center is able to continue supporting artists, curators, and community members for another 40 years to come! As Maria Jenson asserts, “Your support of SOMArts is an investment of hope in the future of San Francisco, as we continue to provide a creative home for cultural game changers like Rhodessa Jones, who constantly push the boundaries of creativity to reveal new potential for community healing and transformation.”

PROGRAM SCHEDULE AND TICKETS
ALL ACCESS, 6–7 pm, $250 | Everything below and All Access Happy Hour with specialty champagne, intimate cabaret performances and silent auction preview

DINNER PARTY, 7–9 pm, $175 | Everything below and catered dinner, silent auction, authentic cabaret experience, and celebration of Rhodessa Jones

DANCE PARTY, 9:30–12 am, $30 | Admission to the Dance Party with musical performances by Chulita Vinyl Club and Rocky Rivera. This dance party is 21+ only.

DANCE PARTY PERFORMER BIOS
CHULITA VINYL CLUB is made up of women, gender-non-conforming, non-binary, LGBTQ+ and self-identifying people of color. CVC launched in 2014, with the context of providing a safe space for empowerment, togetherness and to utilize music and vinyl as a form of resistance against the erasure of culture. Each Chulita identifies with their own identity. They are not to be classified as one nationality or culture. Within CVC they individually identify with the following: Latinxs, Tejanxs, Chicanxs, Xicanx, Afro-Latinx and many more. The unifying denominator is that they come together over the belief that EL DISCO ES CULTURA and they believe that is worth preserving and perpetuating.

ROCKY RIVERA is an emcee and performance artist from San Francisco.  She has released two mixtapes, three albums and seven joint projects with DJ Roza under the Rock & Roz series on Soundcloud. Rocky’s music is a journey into the spirit of resistance in the form of loud bass and energetic feminist anthems. Her latest album, Rocky’s Revenge,  was created in collaboration with Women’s Audio Mission and is available now for streaming and purchase on all digital platforms.

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