San Francisco: Art Here, There and Everywhere This Month
Through June 5, 2011 San Francisco will have an art “avalanche” in the form of two fairs, a hotel-based art fair, a week-long celebration of student creativity in Golden Gate Park and the return of the San Francisco International Arts Festival.
May 14-22; closed Monday, May 16, 2011Young at Art Festival de Young Museum, Golden Gate Parkwww.youngatartsf.comHeld annually at the de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park, Young at Art is a week-long showcase for student creativity across all disciplines. This annual collaboration between students in San Francisco and the de Young is celebrating its 25th anniversary. More than 11,500 students will be participating as artists, performers and audience members. On May 20 at 6 p.m., Vernon Davis, 49er tight end, will join the celebration at an evening event hosted by the de Young Museum where he will announce the winner of the Vernon Davis Scholarship, which provides tuition support to a San Francisco youth interested in pursuing a career in the visual arts. Media contact: Kate Patterson, 415-252-4638 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 415-252-4638 end_of_the_skype_highlighting, kate.patterson@sfgov.org.
May 19-22, 2011artMRKT San FranciscoConcourse Exhibition Center, 635 Eighth St.www.art-MRKT.comFeaturing 65 contemporary and modern art galleries from around the world including many exhibiting in San Francisco or on the West Coast for the first time, artMRKT San Francisco will bring some of the art world’s most intriguing artists to the Bay Area. Co-founded by Max Fishko and Jeffrey Wainhause, artMRKT Productions is a new Brooklyn-based organizer of art fairs. This new marketplace for contemporary and modern art will debut with a two-tiered preview party on May 19. Proceeds from the first half of the evening will benefit the art program for the University of California’s new children’s, women and cancer hospital in Mission Bay. A VIP preview party will follow. Directly benefitting the Bay Area, an online and live auction, MRKTworks, will pair local arts nonprofits with participating artMRKT galleries who will each donate one work to the auction. Media contact: Wendy Norris, 415-307-3853 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 415-307-3853 end_of_the_skype_highlighting, wendy@norriscommunications.biz.
May 19-22, 2011ArtPadSFPhoenix Hotel, 601 Eddy St.www.artpadsf.com Zeroing in on emerging and contemporary galleries based in the Bay Area, this independent hotel-based art fair and beyond will debut at San Francisco’s legendary Phoenix Hotel, 601 Eddy St. Featuring some 30 select galleries as well as four days of contemporary art programming, ArtPadSF will utilize the Phoenix’s pool for live art performances such as “Swimming Pool Social Sculpture,” created by MFA students from California College of the Arts and a suspended art installation by Alexis Laurent, Leila Taghinia-Milani Heller Gallery artist. Speakers’ panels are scheduled for Friday and Saturday, May 20-21. Evening programming for ArtPadSF includes live bands and DJs; access to Chambers eat + drink, the Phoenix Hotel’s new restaurant and bar; and “No Dialogue,” a series of outdoor video art screenings. Media contact: Wendy Norris, 415-307-3853 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 415-307-3853 end_of_the_skype_highlighting, wendy@norriscommunications.biz.
May 19-22, 2011San Francisco Fine Arts Fair Festival Pavilion, Fort Mason Centerwww.sffineartfair.comThe San Francisco Fine Arts Fair, now in its second year, has become a highlight of the Bay Area’s cultural calendar. Presented in Fort Mason’s 50,000-square-foot Festival Pavilion overlooking San Francisco Bay and the Golden Gate Bridge, the fair will include more than 5,000 significant works of art, primarily post-war and contemporary pieces, from 400 internationally-acclaimed artists represented by 60-plus galleries worldwide. Richard L. Greene, vice chair of the SFMOMA Board of Trustees, will be honored with a “Lifetime Achievement” award. Steven Winn, considered the “dean” of Northern California arts journalists, will lead a lively exchange between the directors of San Francisco’s leading art schools on the closing day of the fair, May 22. As part of the fair’s community partnership program, every day of the fair a different Bay Area nonprofit or educational institution will be highlighted. Throughout the fair’s three-day run, the West Coast Art Collectors Conference will present 11 one-hour educational sessions, free to all attendees. In its inaugural year, the fair drew more than 15,000 attendees who purchased some $5 million in art. Media contact: David Perry, 415-693-0583 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 415-693-0583 end_of_the_skype_highlighting, news@davidperry.com.May 18-June 5San Francisco International Arts Festivalwww.sfiaf.org Now in its eighth year, the San Francisco International Arts Festival (SFIAF) annual multi-disciplinary festival brings together the world community of artists and audiences to present and commission innovative, collaborative projects and performances. More than 40 performances presented by 23 arts organizations and ensembles will feature leading artists from the Bay Area performing alongside their peers from around the world. With its annual theme, “Truth in Knowing/Now: Threads in Time, Place Culture,SFIAF includes dance, music, theater and visual arts with events taking place at the Herbst Theater, Yoshi’s San Francisco, Mission High School, Z Space at Theater Artaud, the Southside Theater and counterPULSE. Among the performers are Iraqi Bodies, making their U.S. debut; the Barak Marshall Company from Israel, and Dancing Earth, a Native American contemporary dance ensemble. Teatr Zar, the resident theater company at the Grotowski Institute in Wroclaw, Poland, will make its Northern California debut, and Omar Sosa and John Santos, backed by the multi-talented Afreecanos Quintet, will make their first festival appearance in three years. Media contact: Siwei Tang, 415-399-9554 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 415-399-9554 end_of_the_skype_highlighting, siwei@sfiaf.org.
For general information on hotel packages and reservations; events; activities and transportation in San Francisco, visit www.sanfrancisco.travel. For lodging reservations, call 800-637-5196 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 800-637-5196 end_of_the_skype_highlighting within North America or 415-391-2000 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 415-391-2000 end_of_the_skype_highlighting or 415-392-0328 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 415-392-0328 end_of_the_skype_highlighting (TTY/TTD) elsewhere. The San Francisco Visitors Planning Guide is available at the Visitor Information Center, 900 Market St., at the corner of Powell and Market streets, lower level, Hallidie Plaza. A virtual edition of the guide is also available online: http://guides.weaver-group.com/sf/ovg2/2010/ A visitor’s kit may also be ordered online at www.sanfrancisco.travel, by phone at 415-391-2000 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 415-391-2000 end_of_the_skype_highlighting or 415-392-0328 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 415-392-0328 end_of_the_skype_highlighting (TTY/TTD), by written request to the San Francisco Visitor Information Center, 900 Market St., San Francisco, CA 94102, or via email to vic1@sanfrancisco.travel. Domestic and international shipping charges apply.
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