News & Events

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Media Contact and High Res Images
Robynn Takayama, San Francisco Arts Commission
Tel: 415/252-2598 Email: robynn.takayama@sfgov.org

*** PRESS RELEASE ***

ART IN STOREFRONTS PILOT PROGRAM LAUNCHES IN CHINATOWN’S WENTWORTH ALLEY
FRIDAY, JUNE 11 FROM 5-7 PM

San Francisco Artists Reinvigorate Chinatown with Four Unique Site-specific Storefront Installations and Two Murals

SAN FRANCISCO, May 12, 2010—The fourth installment of the Art in Storefronts pilot program will launch in Wentworth Alley in Chinatown with a lively community event on Friday, June 11 from 5-7 p.m. The pilot program engages San Francisco-based artists to reinvigorate neighborhoods that have been hard-hit by the economic downturn. The program was initiated by Mayor Gavin Newsom and represents a partnership between the Office of Economic and Workforce Development (OEWD), the San Francisco Arts Commission (SFAC), and neighborhood based cultural and economic development organizations. The new installment follows on the heels of three highly successful launches last fall in Central Market, Tenderloin, Bayview, and Mission neighborhoods. To experience the excitement generated by those launches, listen to the Arts Commission’s Deep Roots podcast (http://www.sfartscommission.org/deeproots) featuring visitors to the lively street celebrations and four Art in Storefronts artists. The Chinatown installations will remain on view through September 18, 2010. A community discussion with the artists will be held on Saturday, July 17 at 2 p.m. at the Chinese Culture Center of San Francisco.

“The first round of Art in Storefronts was a huge success and I’m happy to have the program grow into Chinatown,” said Mayor Gavin Newsom. “Vacant storefronts with boarded up windows became destinations for vibrant contemporary art. The increased foot traffic made neighbors feel safer and stimulated the local economy. The participating artists shared their work with a diverse new audience. Visitors and locals gained a better understanding and appreciation for San Francisco’s tremendous creative community, which is one of the things that makes our city so special.”

The Chinatown launch event will kick off in Wentworth Alley, (between Kearny and Grant, Jackson and Washington), with a community celebration featuring live music by two groups: Diskarte Namin and the San Francisco Pacific Chinese Folk Music Group, and refreshments provided by local restaurants Z&Y, Four Seas, and Charles Phan of the Slanted Door (who grew up in Chinatown), as well as tea tasting provided by Vital Tealeaf. The public will have the opportunity to meet the artists who will be stationed at their installations giving impromptu art talks throughout the event. The event is sponsored by the Office of Economic and Workforce Development, which supports the improvement of business conditions in Chinatown through their Neighborhood Market Initiative.

“Art has always been a critical element of San Francisco’s economy,” stated Supervisor David Chiu. “Art in Storefronts, paired with other neighborhood events such as the recent Chinatown/North Beach Noodle Fest, will help foster the nexus of art and economic development and go far in revitalizing this important and historic neighborhood.”

Since the project launched, San Francisco has been recognized as a pioneer in activating vacant storefronts. People from city agencies, arts organizations, and citizens groups from Eugene, Oregon; New Haven, Connecticut, upstate New York; Washington DC; Austin, Texas; Fayetteville, Arkansas; Scottsdale, Arizona; Berkeley, Concord, Palm Springs, and Pasadena, California; and several San Francisco merchant associations have sought advice from Arts Commission staff on how to establish their own program.

“We established an online toolkit as a service to our peers in other cities to demonstrate how they might execute an art in storefronts project in their neighborhood,” said Director of Cultural Affairs Luis R. Cancel. “Cities have historically flourished whenever creative individuals are encouraged to share their vision with their fellow citizens and promote dialogue and social interaction. Art in Storefronts brings together the creative community and the business community transforming those spaces for all to see.”

Chinatown Project Descriptions

Niana Liu transforms an empty storefront into a simulated Chinese restaurant offering an ironic menu of only three entrees: 1) Cheap and good (slow), 2) Cheap and fast (crappy), and 3) Good and fast (expensive). Celebrating a famous Chinese poem titled “Eulogy on My Humble Abode,” Hui-Ying Tsai’s installation recreates a simple living space covered with multi-colored artificial flowers and surrounded by a painted mountain scene. Yumei Hou and Xueman Jiang’s collaborative storefront installation combines Hou’s intricate paper cut-outs of traditional Chinese symbols illustrating good fortune with Jiang’s scrolling video of a refashioned Chinese lunar calendar. Cynthia Tom invites the Chinatown community to share their childhood experiences at her Childhood Memories Shop, which will present a changing installation of donated photographs and written memories along with paintings and sculpture by the artist. For his mural project, Leland Wong presents the traditional Chinese folk art subject of 100 children, using images of local Chinatown students playing, running, standing, and sitting. Working with volunteer youth to conduct interviews with Chinatown residents about their relationship to Wentworth Alley, Robert Minervini’s project includes an audio installation in conjunction with a mural reflecting themes from the collected stories.

For more information, please visit www.sfartscommission.org/storefronts

To download Deep Roots, please visit www.sfartscommission.org/deeproots

About the Art in Storefronts Team
Established by charter in 1932, the San Francisco Arts Commission is the City agency that champions the arts in San Francisco. Led by the belief that a creative cultural environment is essential to the City’s well-being, the Arts Commission programs permeate all aspects of City life. Programs include: Civic Art Collection, Civic Design Review, Community Arts & Education, Cultural Equity Grants, Public Art, SFAC Gallery, Street Artist Licensing, and summer in the City Concert Series.

SFAC’s Community Arts and Education Program started in 1967 when a group of artists and activists brought a radical notion to the San Francisco Arts Commission: fund artists and arts organizations to work in neighborhood and community settings. The program was called the Neighborhood Arts Program and the total budget for the first fiscal year was $25,000. Today, the Community Arts and Education program continues to nurture art for and by the people where they live and work, in our neighborhoods and online.

The Office of Economic and Workforce Development is dedicated to enhancing San Francisco’s economic vitality. OEWD’s programs are responsible for strengthening San Francisco’s many diverse neighborhoods and commercial corridors, creating a business climate where companies can grow and prosper, and ensuring a continually high quality of life for all San Franciscans.

Kearny Street Workshop (KSW) is the nation’s oldest Asian American multidisciplinary arts organization. The mission of KSW is to produce, present and promote art that empowers Asian Pacific American artists and communities. KSW envisions a more just society that fully incorporates Asian Pacific American voices informed by our cultural values, historical roots, and contemporary issues.

The mission of the Chinatown Community Development Center is to build community and enhance the quality of life for San Francisco residents. Based in the Chinatown neighborhood, Chinatown CDC also serves other San Francisco neighborhoods, including North Beach and the Tenderloin and serves as neighborhood advocates, organizers, planners, and as developers and managers of affordable housing.

The Chinese Culture Center of San Francisco is a major community-based, non-profit organization established in 1965 to foster the understanding and appreciation of Chinese and Chinese American art, history, and culture in the United States. The mission of the Chinese Culture Center of San Francisco is to preserve, promote, and influence the course of Chinese and Chinese American culture.

** Please note: Interviews with participating artists can be arranged through Robynn Takayama at 415-252-2598**