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Film - Illustration von Kinoticket, Filmrolle, Kamera© Goethe-Institut. Illustration: Katta Rasche

THE ARTS & CULTURE - DIGITALLY PRESENTED AND SHARED IN THE BAY AREA & BEYOND

Although patrons are not able to physically enter cinemas, concert halls, bookstores or museums, cultural institutions started quickly to share content with their audiences through technology as they shifted their program into the digital sphere. Streaming content has never been more important – whether for the survival of cultural institutions and to keep each other safe, or for their audiences. The variety and breadth of these offers in the Bay Area are impressive: The offers range from archival materials like recordings of former productions, virtual tours through exhibitions, courageous experiments of so far little tested online formats, live-streamed conversations and (musical) performances from different living rooms, workshops as well as classes held online to help our community to maintain continuity.

To not overwhelm you, our cultural department decided to present you a small selection (in alphabetical order) of these offers with a focus on locally produced contents, save the dates and calls for submissions for artists complemented by productions coming from the Goethe-Institut. We will vary this list and keep you to date over the course of the next weeks regarding more cultural offers coming from our valued partner organizations in the Bay Area.

Virtual Fest @ Bay Area Book Festival UNBOUND

The Bay Area Book Festival is presenting a slate of stellar virtual programming on the weekend of May 1-3 featuring top authors and speakers in conversation about topics that urgently matter. They have distilled a slate of programming that beautifully represents key themes of the original 2020 Fest (from the 130 in-person sessions they’d originally planned), fine-tuned for the current moment: voting rights; wellness and health; family, children's, and young-adult literary fare; and, of course, meaty and stirring conversations about literature, art, and the life of the mind and imagination. #UNBOUND launches on May 1, the original 2020 Festival weekend (plus one extra day), on the Festival's YouTube channel.

A Virtual Reading Series @ City Lights LIVE! A Virtual Reading Series

“Books are a repository for human knowledge and creativity, and a bookshop is like a storehouse for our collective soul. Though it’s dark now, City Lights is there, quietly waiting for us, and when the doors can be opened once more to welcome everyone back inside, the bookstore will become a home again, a place to gather and celebrate together.”
(Elaine Katzenberger, Publisher and CEO of City Lights Booksellers & Publishers)

City Lights isn't letting the pandemic get US down! In the month of April City Lights inaugurated a new live stream series featuring many of the authors previously scheduled to read at the store.

Creative participation and the museum

The Getty, Metropolitan Museum, and Rijksmuseum have challenged their followers to creatively recreate famous works in their collections while Museums Are Closed. “We challenge you to recreate a work of art with objects (and people) in your home,” the Getty museum said in an announcement on Twitter on March 25. It followed with these instructions: “Choose your favorite artwork; Find three things lying around your house; Recreate the artwork with those items; And share with us.” Many people got wildly creative already, for example by recreating Joseph Ducreux’, “Self-Portrait, Yawning” from 1783 or Hans Hoffmann’s “A Hare in the Forest” from 1585 by replacing the hare with a dog.

Our Walls, Your Artwork  - de Young museum welcoming submission from the local community till June 14, 2020 @ The de Young Open

In celebration of the de Young museum’s 125th anniversary, the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco is hosting The de Young Open, a juried community art exhibition welcoming submissions by artists from the nine Bay Area counties: Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano, and Sonoma. The de Young Open continues the museum’s longstanding tradition of engaging the local community and showcasing the talent of Bay Area artists, who will be able to offer their pieces for sale and retain 100 percent of the proceeds.

Email to your future self @ Futureme

This website allows you to send an email to your future self. Futureme.org works like a simple webmail service, but lets you specify the date when the message will arrive - be it a warning, advice, or simply a ‘Hello!’ from the past. This website is based on the principle “that memories are less accurate than e-mails”. Especially in this unusual and challenging times, Futureme could be a good way to reflect on your current thoughts and emotions or share your future goals and plans you have once everyone can go back to normal life.

Online Learning Resources @ KQED for Educators

The nonprofit public media station KQED provides a free media literacy teaching and learning hub for educators and students, where you can find professional development courses, classroom resources and unique tools that allow students to practice critical thinking, media making and civil discourse.

Virtual Author Conversation and Celebrations @ Litquake on Lockdown

The literary organization Litquake, whose annual festival is still slated for Oct. 8-17, reacted very quickly by hosting a series of online events from March 31 through April 10, called “Litquake on Lockdown.” The series features virtual author conversations and celebrations, including the ZYZZYVA’s 35th anniversary issue release on April 7. You can still listen to this very entertaining and vivid conversations as well as readings or - find out about their latest plans on their website.

Innovative Education and Cultural Programs @ PATCH from Gray Area

With Patch, Gray Area is recommitting its effort to reimagine how artists can cultivate profound connections through experiential technology. Building on their unique position as a nexus for interdisciplinary arts, Patch wants to open up greater access to learning and present new ways of preserving intimacy through live streaming, online education, and virtual spaces.

Hybrid Series Quarantine Edition and CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS @ Pro Arts 

The Hybrid Series Quarantine Edition is an extension of the Hybrid Series at Pro Arts Gallery & COMMONS. The Hybrid Series merges experimental and punk sensibilities with performance art, film screenings, artist talks and special events that foster community engagement and mutual-aid.

Library Access from home and Virtual Programs now available @San Francisco Public Library

While the SFPL is closed, you can experience their robust digital services to ebooks, audiobooks, movies, and more as well as join their online program for storytimes, book clubs, classes, and other virtual events.

Live Q&As, Archival Footage and Teaching Tools @ SSFILM at Home

Amid these unprecedented circumstances and since the Bay Area is a great film-loving community, SFFILM is making sure that “social distancing” doesn’t keep us from connecting with the community and stories we love. They are inviting patrons to gather virtually to celebrate great films and filmmakers together. Besides recordings of onstage conversations hosted by SFFILM in recent years, they have scheduled live-streamed conversations with filmmakers from the 2020 Festival program and beyond.

Come to Your Census: Who Counts in America? A Digital Art Civic Experience @ YBCA and Art+Action

Every 10 years, the US Census Bureau counts everyone in the US and its territories. Census results impact political representation as well as our fair share of federal funding. Those resources support schools, hospitals, roads, and social services for San Francisco’s communities. Come to Your Census: Who Counts In America? is an art and civic experience designed to mobilize the Bay Area around the urgent, long-term impact of the 2020 Census. To underscore that the Census is an essential service which ensures our communities’ long-term health and strength, they will amplify the Come to Your Census campaign and its artists on digital platforms. The Come To Your Census digital engagements will take a variety of forms, including interactive video games, virtual gatherings, newly commissioned written and filmed artist responses, and more.

Podcast Your Undivided Attention by the Center for Humane Technology

In this podcast from the Center for Humane Technology, hosts Tristan Harris and Aza Raskin are exposing the hidden designs that have the power to hijack our attention, manipulate our choices and destabilize our real world communities. They’ll explore what it means to become sophisticated about human nature, by interviewing hypnotists, magicians, experts on the dynamics of cults and election hacking and the powers of persuasion.

Short Videos of Artists navigating Life during the Pandemic @ ifyouwereherenow.art

Here you can find daily five-minute videos of artists navigating life during the COVID-19 pandemic. Born of these times of uncertainty and disconnection, they’re sharing 5-minute live and instructional art therapy videos of artists doing projects they find to be therapeutic, using simple tools they have around the house or in their studios. Join Nathaniel Russell in his sketchwork called “Comfortable Being Uncomfortable”, Hannah Perrine Mode in drawing contours of plants in her backyard or Ben Venom working on his sewing machine. This platform’s concept is about creating simple daily connections and sharing ideas to uphold and champion in times of both disruption and normalcy.

SHORT FILMS @ Films for Isolation 

“Ever since society’s respective shut down, I have been constantly reminded of the importance of community. Our presence is vital and this series is a representation of that notion. Films for isolation includes time-based works of four Black queer artists and their exploration of the self as it is perceived internally. Investigation themes of visibility and home, every piece aims to bring us all closer to the source; remembering what truly matters.“ - Alima Lee

This platform is featuring Short Films by Rikkí Wright, Clifford Prince King, Sydney Canty, and Alima Lee. The focus lies on contemporary Black queer artists, exploring the meaning of home in Films for Isolation. The films are curated by Alima Lee, who is a filmmaker, designer, artist, curator, and DJ from New York, currently based in LA. Also, the webpage is provided by the “Women’s Center for Creative Work”, which cultivates L.A.’s feminist creative communities and practices.

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