KQED Arts Videos

Filmmaker Leo Herrera Imagines an Alternate World Without AIDS LGBT history is full of brilliance and beauty, and shadows too, the darkest being the AIDS epidemic, which claimed over 18,500 San Franciscans between the 1980s and 2000. What if AIDS never happened? What if queer heroes had lived? Who would we be?

Leo Herrera, a Mexican/ American activist and filmmaker, in collaboration with queer artists and the GLBT Historical Museum, imagines that parallel universe with The Fathers Project, a “sci-fi documentary” that he likens to a mix of Cruising, Black Mirror, and Beyoncé’s Lemonade. If that description doesn’t get your pulse racing, see a doctor.

Herrera’s interest in LGBT history started at a young age. After his family left Ascensión, Mexico for Phoenix, Arizona, he quickly found that his new home wasn’t an easy place to be a gay immigrant. Herrera found solace in gay bookstores, where he tore through queer biographies and became enamored with the 1970s Gay Liberation movement. This passion exploded when he and his gay brother moved to San Francisco’s Mission district and found their own tribe of brown people, queers, drag queens, and others.

“We were just like, ‘I can’t believe we get to live this life!’ We knew how much sacrifice our family made to come over here, so me and my brother were going to enjoy the sh*t out of it and work really hard, and that’s where all the film stuff happened.”

Herrera’s latest piece imagines lost heroes like Robert Mapplethorpe and Keith Haring as they would be today (a process that Herrera found therapeutic and akin to talking to ghosts), and quilts together glimpses of a queer utopia populated by real people at Pride in San Francisco, and in Provincetown and Fire Island in the summer.

Herrera hopes that the final product serves as an antidote to fear. “The world we live in was shaped by [AIDS], but we’re still okay. We’re going to be good. Being able to document this incredible community has been just beautiful. I love it so much. [It’s what] makes me get up. I love it. I love it.”
Young Oakland Superheroes Fight for Their Mural When the third and fourth graders of Oakland’s Hoover Elementary School started creating superheroes to creatively address the problems in their community, they had no idea they would have to become their own heroes -- and fight a battle against Caltrans.

The Oakland Super Heroes Project, a classroom curriculum and mural series led by Attitudinal Healing Connection, worked with Hoover students to invent themselves as superheroes. Fantastic Girl has water powers to stop floods and fires and to clean community ; Lava Girl and Lava Boy melt guns with their lava vision; Golden Boy has an electric force field to fight crime; and D-Bow Jalapeño uses magical cheese to transform the community.

Even though the Hoover students’ design would be the project's fourth superheroes mural on a wall under an Oakland freeway overpass, Caltrans suddenly required the artists to sign over the copyright, halting progress on the mural.

Unwilling to back down, the project curriculum expanded to include poster-making, letter writing, and protest chants. What would normally take about a year -- from concepts to designs to completion -- became a two-and-a-half year crash course in taking on the California Department of Transportation.

“I learned I can do anything I put my mind to,” says student artist Daijon Kelly. "Nobody can stop me."

Watch the now fifth and sixth graders of Hoover Elementary over the course of their unexpected journey to bring art and beauty into their community.
The Year We Wouldn't Keep Quiet | KQED Arts It was a year of small gains and unrelenting setbacks, but the Bay Area held strong in 2017: making inspired art, expressing ourselves and leading the national resistance. Against a backdrop of often-overwhelming crises, individual artists showed us how to keep moving forward.

A day after the presidential inauguration, an estimated 300,000 people linked arms and merged voices in women’s marches across the Bay Area, joining nearly 5 million marchers worldwide. Distributed at many of these marches were copies of "Resist", a 40-page newspaper featuring political cartoons and graphics capturing “women’s voices” in response to the new administration. Among those voices was work by 14-year-old political cartoonist and Oakland 8th-grader Quinn Nelson.

In answer to the president’s attempts at initiating a travel ban on citizens from seven Muslim-majority nations, Sudanese singer Salma Al Aasal joined Aswat Ensemble and other guests at Oakland’s Islamic Cultural Center of Northern California to perform "Notes Against the Ban," music from Libya, Yemen, Iran, Syria, Somalia, Sudan and Iraq.

Mission-based band Soltron brought their Afro-Cuban sound to the streets of San Francisco, challenging local gentrification and national politics with horns, drums and snappy beats.

Throughout the year, the Bay Area met hate and prejudice with song, dance and celebration. In this video, we highlight some of the many artists who helped us navigate the heartbreaks and disappointments, and celebrate the moments when the Bay Area’s creativity, resilience, and collective strength shined bright.

With cinematography by Claudia Escobar, Kelly Whalen, Elie Khadra, Benjamin Michel, Peter Ruocco, Mike Seely, and Omid Zoufonoun, editing by Kelly Whalen, and music by UC Berkeley alumna Connie Lim, aka MILCK, and her breathtaking song "Quiet," we close out 2017 remembering we can’t and won’t be quiet.

Hit that SUBSCRIBE button!
http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=kqedart

Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kqedarts
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/KQEDarts
A Boombox Procession Honors Lives Lost in Ghost Ship | KQED Arts While the Dec. 2 anniversary of the Ghost Ship fire was a solemn occasion, some artists in Oakland’s underground music scene chose to honor the lives lost by dancing in the streets. Most of the 36 people who passed away in the warehouse fire were active in the underground arts and music scenes. To celebrate their lives, musicians and event producers Amber Royal and Lucas Smithey teamed up to throw a boombox procession – where friends and loved ones marched through Oakland with speakers blasting music created by artists who died in the fire. The bittersweet occasion provided the opportunity to commemorate the deceased in a way that felt authentic to their community, and served as a reminder of the strength and resilience of Oakland’s creative scene in the face of disappearing arts spaces.

Hit that SUBSCRIBE button!
http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=kqedart

Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kqedarts
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/KQEDarts
A Ballet About Homelessness Wants You to See People, Not Look Away | KQED Arts Can a ballet make an audience more empathetic? San Francisco-based choreographer Marika Brussel hopes her new piece, "From Shadows," will do just that.

Brussel’s ballet tells the story of a family ripped apart by addiction -- and of a young girl searching for her father in the faces of those who live on the streets. For Brussel the dance carries both local significance -- she regularly passes homeless encampments on her way to and from the ODC dance studios -- and personal weight. She, too, loved someone who lost several years of their life to homelessness.

“It’s much easier just to close down, and to not look at other people’s pain,” Brussel says. “I don’t want to not have those feelings, so I made this dance.”

Watch dancers transform the pain of invisibility and neglect into a beautiful dance in, "From Shadows."

Hit that SUBSCRIBE button!
http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=kqedart

Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kqedarts
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/KQEDarts
A Gravity-Defying Dance for Girls Everywhere | KQED Arts Choreographer Jo Kreiter created the aerial dance "The Right To Be Believed" long before #MeToo, before the recent outpouring of stories from women who have endured harassment and sexual assault.

Now Kreiter’s vision -- of women taking over an Oakland city block to perform a dance about the credibility of women’s voices -- takes on new poignancy as Harvey Weinstein, Roy Moore, and too many other powerful men attempt to deflect allegations by discrediting their accusers.

“We need to start believing women, believing that our experiences have value,” says Krieter. “Belittled, pushed aside and assaulted, all these things that every women goes through, we’ve had enough of that.”

Watch Flyaway Productions' dancers Bianca Cabrera, Sonsherée Giles, MaryStarr Hope, Yayoi Kambara, Megan Lowe, and Sonya Smith in a moving display of women’s vulnerability and strength, with music by FR333, including the song “Emily Doe,” inspired by the woman who survived a brutal sexual assault in 2015 by Stanford freshman Brock Turner.

Hit that SUBSCRIBE button!
http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=kqedart

Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kqedarts
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/KQEDarts
A Santa Rosa Cartoonist’s ‘Fire Story’ Comes to Life | KQED Arts While meeting with artists who lost their homes in the Northern California fires, a common refrain we've heard here is that they're stymied, stuck, unable to create — hoping the spark will return once the shock and confusion passes.

Not Brian Fies. Just one day after his house and everything in it burned to the ground, the Larkfield cartoonist bought some cheap paper, Sharpies, and highlighters, and got to work reporting what he and his wife had seen the night of the fires. The resulting cartoon came quickly, with more raw edges than Fies' usual standards, but it was undeniably, unflinchingly honest.

The response was massive. In the week after the fire, an online version of Fies' comic, 'A Fire Story,' was viewed by over half a million people. Now, KQED Arts bring his story to life. With moving animation, and with narration straight from Fies and his wife, Karen Fies, 'A Fire Story' now also includes an epilogue from artist about the long process of recovery, and the stability of home. Hit that SUBSCRIBE button!
http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=kqedart

Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kqedarts
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/KQEDarts
How Daly City’s Filipino Mobile DJ Scene Changed Hip-Hop Forever | KQED Arts Apollo Novicio, Ken Anolin and Dino Rivera weren’t trying to change the world. Growing up in Daly City in the 1980s, they just wanted to rock parties for their friends, families and fellow Filipinos. Hauling mobile DJ setups from houses to garages to church auditoriums, the two were part of a booming scene of DJ crews and dancers who created their own subculture in a mostly forgotten corner of the Bay Area while grandma cooked the rice and adobo.

Fast-forward to the present day, and the turntable innovations of people like DJ Qbert, Mix Master Mike and others who sprung from Daly City’s mobile DJ scene are felt everywhere in hip-hop and beyond — whether in pure technical scratch wizardry, the off-kilter production styles of J. Dilla and Madlib, or the prominence of the turntable as an individual instrument. Inspired by Oliver Wang’s essential history "Legions of Boom: Filipino American Mobile DJ Crews in the Bay Area," KQED recently caught up with Novicio, Anolin and Rivera for a look into the roots of their musical revolution.

Read more at http://bit.ly/MobileDJsFB

Hit that SUBSCRIBE button!
http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=kqedart

Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kqedarts
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/KQEDarts
‘Moses’ Documentary Changes Lead Character and Filmmakers’ Lives | KQED Arts Alvin Carbins, otherwise known as “Moses,” an artist who spent nearly two decades struggling with addiction and homelessness on the streets of San Francisco, is also a movie star.

He’s the subject of Moses, a feature-length documentary made by director Fran Guijarro and producer Diya Guha over the course of 10 years. They both met Carbins in his “office,” the corner of New Montgomery and Jessie streets, and what started as a short student film turned into a long-term project that transformed all of their lives.

This is the first installation of 'Behind the Lens,' a series of web videos featuring independent Bay Area filmmakers and their work.

Read the story: https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/2017/10/12/moses-documentary-changes-lead-character-and-filmmakers-lives/

Hit that SUBSCRIBE button!
http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=kqedart

Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kqedarts
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/KQEDarts
For Two Immigrant Artists, American Dream is Uncertain | KQED Arts What would our local arts communities look like without DACA?

Just ask Johan, a standup comedian, and Lauren, an actress and musician, whose emerging careers are a direct result of the freedom and stability afforded by the program.

Implemented in 2012, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) granted individuals who entered the United States as minors temporary protection from deportation — along with work permit eligibility.

Johan was born in Peru and grew up in San Francisco’s Fillmore District, not even knowing he was undocumented until he was a teenager. Simple freedoms his friends enjoyed in high school were unavailable to him -- like getting a driver’s license and making plans for college.

In Los Angeles, Lauren, whose family came from Korea when she was a child, remembers the helplessness of being stuck between the only country she's known and the impossibility of living a full life here. “Why was I in this country, if I can’t fulfill my dreams?” she says.

Then DACA was announced in 2012, and their lives were filled with possibility.

Able to drive, work, receive loans and attend college, Johan and Lauren pursued their artistic goals, performing and gaining career momentum. But now that their immigration status is once again in question, they stand to lose it all. Watch above as Lauren reflects between performances and teaching music lessons, and Johan uses his place behind the mic to convey the enormous uncertainty that they – and 800,000 others – face at this moment.

Hit that SUBSCRIBE button!
http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=kqedart

Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kqedarts
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/KQEDarts
The Ace of Cups, the Haight's (Almost) Forgotten All-Girl Band | KQED Arts Amidst the cultural revolution of late-'60s San Francisco, five women reimagined the “girl band” in drastic fashion — which might be why you haven't heard of them.

Hit that SUBSCRIBE button!
http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=kqedart

Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kqedarts
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/KQEDarts
Dancers and Artists Stand Up to Bigotry in San Francisco | KQED Arts Hours after a presidential pardon of former Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio — convicted of criminal contempt for violating a court order to cease racial profiling — and one day after a ban on transgender recruits in the military, the people of San Francisco turned out in force for a visible reminder of the power in shared humanity and united, creative resistance.

In the streets and parks of the city on Saturday, crowds came out marching, chanting and dancing in protest of a scheduled rally by the far-right organization Patriot Prayer at Crissy Field, which was canceled Friday.

Protesters chanted and carried signs, but mostly engaged in various forms of celebration: an impromptu dance rally at Dolores Park, a large “fight the hate” gathering in the Castro, and a musical performance by Michael Franti at the Civic Center. Thousands of attendees at different actions throughout the city affirmed the notion that presence is power.

Hit that SUBSCRIBE button!
http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=kqedart

Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kqedarts
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/KQEDarts
Pictures In The Sky, Japanese Kites| KQED Arts The gigantic square kite doesn’t look like it should be able to fly. Made with bamboo and rice paper imported from Japan, the Hamamatsu tako (kite) takes hours to construct -- each joint tied together with twine, every surface carefully painted.
Goyo Kazuka -- who was born in Hamamatsu, Japan, home to this particular style of kite-making and a famous annual kite festival -- grew up watching kite battles. Today, he works with the International Association of Tako Age to teach others the traditional methods, bringing Hamamatsu kites to the Berkeley Kite Festival and new generations of kite-lovers.
Kite-building is, by its very nature, an exercise in community building.
As Kazuka says, “Making kites takes lots of time by hand, so you need lots of hands.”
-Sarah Hotchkiss-

Hit that SUBSCRIBE button!
http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=kqedart

Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kqedarts
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/KQEDarts
Printing For The Movement, A Love Story | KQED Arts The Love Story Behind the Graphics Arts Collaboration Dignidad Rebelde

How do you make a poster that inspires, organizes and illustrates a social movement? For printmakers Melanie Cervantes and Jesus Barraza, the duo behind the Oakland-based graphic arts collaboration Dignidad Rebelde, the secret ingredient might be their own love story.

---Watch more great KQED Arts videos about artists who live to spark art with activism:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvCWDZNCamw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyGXz6hUcAg&t=7s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssa7rQRfpCU&t=2s

Hit that SUBSCRIBE button!
http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=kqedart

Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kqedarts
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/KQEDarts
Veteran Art Model Bob Webb Strikes a Pose [NSFW]: ... You might not think to look twice at Bob Webb on the street, but for nearly 50 years artists have been paying to look at him — naked. Art schools and creative industry professionals routinely hire the 67-year-old to pose fully nude.
Storytime in Stilettos With her joyful, game-for-anything confidence and impressive ability to make stilettos look comfortable, Persia is one of San Francisco’s most beloved drag queens. Her nightclub performances are legendary, as are her star turns in music videos -- but you might not know that she also teaches at Children’s After School Arts (CASA) and reads to kids at the SF Public Library’s Drag Queen Story Hour.

Persia makes it look easy. But as KQED Arts learned on a recent visit, her journey has been anything but simple. Watch the video above for a peek behind the (fabulous, sequined) curtain. —Emma Silvers
Finding Power in 'Blasian Narratives' “What’s being Blasian anyway?” asks one cast member in 'Blasian Narratives,' a documentary-theater project staged at Stanford University earlier this year. The answer lies in the production’s participants — students and alumni of Stanford, as well as those of Spelman College and Morehouse Colleges in Atlanta, GA — as they tell stories about navigating their identity as both black and Asian (colloquially, “Blasian”).
Published June 6, 2017
Directed by Akira Olivia Kumamota
Slaying Demons and Stereotypes with Rotimi Agbabiaka Did you know God is a Nigerian drag queen? Let queer actor Rotimi Agbabiaka explain, as he shape shifts between characters that embody and expose the battles minority artists face in the exclusive world of mainstream American theater.
Published May 22, 2017
Directed by Claudia Escobar
Inside San Jose's Zine and DIY Scene Illustrators, photographers and writers who make up San Jose's alternative art scene create by any means necessary.
Published April 25, 2017
Directed by Kelly Whalen
Kid Andersen Makes the Blues A visit to San Jose blues guitarist and producer Kid Andersen's no-frills home studio, where he's recorded over 100 albums.
Published: May 10, 2017
Directed by Kelly Whalen
Salma Al Aasal, the Voice No Travel Ban Could Silence | KQED Arts Salma Al Aasal, 51, learned to sing in Sudan as a child, before moving to Egypt and, eventually, America. But nobody in her adopted country had heard her voice — until a concert in Oakland this year. "Notes Against the Ban," featuring music from the seven countries targeted in President Trump’s travel ban, showcased music from Libya, Yemen, Iran, Syria, Somalia, Sudan and Iraq, and served dual roles as ambassadorial outreach and as a healing salve. And Salma Al Aasal, raised amidst Middle East tumult and finding a new home in the Bay Area, finally took center stage. Watch as Salma tells her incredible story — and listen as she sings from the depths of the heart.

---More great KQED Arts videos about the refugee experience:
An Iranian-born Composer Bridges Worlds in Extreme Times
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGOCeL8uBnw

Hit that SUBSCRIBE button!
http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=kqedart

Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kqedarts
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/KQEDarts
For Rulan Tangen To Dance Is To Live, To live Is To Dance | KQED Arts Hit that SUBSCRIBE button!
http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=kqedart

Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kqedarts
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/KQEDarts
Artists Evicted from Bernal Heights Warehouse| KQED Arts Deputies from the San Francisco Sheriff’s Department evicted tenants from an arts warehouse in Bernal Heights early Wednesday afternoon, marking what might be the first court-sanctioned San Francisco arts warehouse eviction since last December's deadly Ghost Ship fire.

Hit that SUBSCRIBE button!
http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=kqedart

Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kqedarts
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/KQEDarts
Creating Radical Visibility and Chilaquiles Creating radical visibility — for artists of color, queer artists, undocumented artists — is hard work. And people doing hard work need to eat well. Over chilaquiles, a traditional Mexican dish of fried corn tortillas covered in sauce and queso fresco, CultureStrike co-founder Favianna Rodriguez and queer undocumented artist and cartoonist Julio Salgado dish out more than just a delicious meal. Warning: Explicit language. Published April 4, 2017 Directed by Claudia Escobar
Oakland's 14-Year-Old Cartooning the Resistance Quinn Nelson’s nationally recognized political cartoons -- critiquing bombings in Syria and the presidential election -- illustrate the voice of a generation. Published March 28, 2017, Directed by Kelly Whalen
Artist Dohee Lee Raises Immigrant Voices The 42-year-old native of South Korea’s Jeju Island is a vital connector for struggling immigrant and refugee communities.
Iranian-born Composer Sahba Aminikia Bridges Worlds A refugee from Iran, Aminikia brings together the voices of Afghan students and the San Francisco Girls Chorus, interwoven with the four string voices of the Kronos Quartet.
Published March 7, 2017
Directed By Omid Zoufonoun
Brightening San Jose’s Japantown, One Mural at a Time | KQED Arts San Jose native and founder of Empire Seven Studios Juan Carlos Araujo enlivens the streets of San Jose’s Japantown through art.
For more: goo.gl/d81gep

Hit that SUBSCRIBE button!
http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=kqedart

Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kqedarts
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/KQEDarts
Bay Area Artists Sing the Little-Known Fifth Verse of 'The Star-Spangled Banner' | KQED Arts Hit that SUBSCRIBE button!
http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=kqedart

Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kqedarts
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/KQEDarts
What Makes A City Free? This video is a co-production between KQED and Yerba Buena Center for the Arts.
Freedom is more than just wanting a different world. It's something that you perform, until, eventually, that’s what you are.
Soltron, A new Musical Message of Resistance What better way to resist, argues San Francisco band Soltron, "than by creating beautiful art that moves people? That's a pathway to opening up their hearts more.”
Designing Freedom Bay Area architects and designers develop novel tools to explore people's different relationship to freedom.
Artists at the Women's March on Washington As hundreds of thousands of women descended on the U.S. Capitol to protest President Trump and his administration at the Women’s March on Washington Saturday, artists and cultural workers from the Bay Area came with poster art, street art and large-scale parachutes to represent immigrants, queer women and women of color at the flagship march of what’s been estimated to be the largest coast-to-coast demonstration in U.S. history.
Published January 24, 2017
Directed by Kelly Whalen
Gatekeeper of Your Impossible Dreams Sculptor Brian Goggin sometimes seems like a gift from another planet — a sort of Mork, who refreshingly doesn’t quite see the world like the rest of us. Peek inside the mind of Goggin, internationally-known for his iconic San Francisco works "Defenestration," with furniture crawling on the outside of a South of Market building, and "Caruso's Dream," which suspends 13 glass and steel pianos, pulsing with light, over a busy downtown street.
Women Veterans From The Frontlines 'Stand Ground,' a recent theater production from the EchoTheaterSuitcase project, helps participants work through the traumas of working in combat zones.
Where the Worlds of Grand Opera and Drag Cabaret Come Together A collaboration between SF Opera and Club Oasis shows how gender fluidity has been part of both art forms for as long as they have been in existence.
Tribute to Oakland Warehouse Fire Victims Thirty-six lives were lost in the Oakland Warehouse Fire on the night of Dec. 2, 2016. They were artists, musicians, sound engineers, DJs, events organizers, activists and more. They came from the Bay and from around the world.
Strandbeests Visit San Francisco Theo Jansen's wind-powered "strandbeests" journey to San Francisco in a show that's part natural history display, part fine art.
The Conspiracy of Beards Watch this 30-member a capella choir of men singing Leonard Cohen songs for San Francisco BART commuters just days after the songwriter's death.
Film Projection Alive and Thriving In most theaters, the “popcorn person” starts a feature film with the push of a button, but not at the Roxie Theatre. Meet two generations of film projectionists keeping the craft alive.
From the Basketball Court to Opera House Most opera singers start training seriously when they’re still in pigtails and knee socks. But J'Nai Bridges, one rising star in the classical singing world, got a late start because she was headed for a career as a professional basketball player.
Tango for the Soul Débora Simkovich is one of the few female composers working in the male-dominated musical genre of tango.
Women Motorcyclists Ride for a Cause The all-female motorcycle club, whose members are known for custom-lighting their bikes, proves how the born to be wild spirit can grow up to be caring.
From Jamaica to the Bay With sketchbooks in tow, Lenworth "Joonbug" McIntosh embarks on making it as an illustrator/Designer in the Bay Area.
Building a Wall of Empathy Post Trump After Trump's win, Bay Area artists are activating public spaces to start conversations in a state where nearly twice as many voters supported Clinton.
Ma Li Makes Treasure from Trash Crafted from recycled materials, Ma Li’s dream-like sculptures celebrate individual freedom, imagination and play.
Selam Bekele, an Oakland Afrofuturist A renewed artistic vision of Africa — past, present and future — takes root with young artists in the East Bay, like multimedia artist Selam Bekele.
Marching with Frisco Five Xiomara Grace singing Sam Cooke's "A Change is Gonna Come". Grace performed the song as part of a march on SF City Hall on Tuesday, May 3 led by #Frisco5 in protest against the recent police shootings of several people of color.
Framing Selma Watch Stephen Somerstein as he recalls photographing the historic 1965 march in Alabama and his now-famous images that helped frame the film <em>Selma</em>.
San Francisco's Black Exodus Artists in the 3.9 Collective are responding to San Francisco’s dramatic loss of African American citizens with work that both reminds us of the city’s vibrantly diverse past and expresses resistance to present trends.
Freedom's Message in Music Marcus Shelby is a perennial Bay Area jazz favorite whose compositions explore the African American experience. Shelby finds deeper meaning for his work sharing the music he loves and its history with young people in schools and juvenile halls.
Bold Artists of the Bay Area 2016 In 2016, San Francisco-Bay Area Artists demonstrated inextinguishable determination, energy and joy.
Turf Dancing and Ballet Meet Halfway Ballet dancers and members of various Bay Area street dance crews are influencing one another’s movement in ways they never expected.
Fallen Artist Rises in Mural Project The story of Oakland artist Antonio Ramos and the murals he helped paint have been overshadowed by his violent death. But very little was reported about Ramos, the self-taught artist whose passion for social justice and illustrating the stories of indigenous people was recognized by those who knew him best.
A Border Wall of Piñatas Builds Community The installation of hundreds of handmade brick-shaped piñatas, assembled to mimic the border wall between the United States and Mexico, was a deeply collaborative cross-cultural project — spearheaded by Artist Sita Kuratomi Bhaumik, and realized by countless artists, makers and community members.
The Power of Melanin Photographer Brittani "BRITTSENSE" Sensabaugh gives voice to the voiceless in a striking solo show at Betti Ono.
Brown Girl Surf Breaks Barriers What happens when you don't see yourself reflected in your local surfing scene? For a group of Bay Area surfers, the answer is: create your own.
The Art of Lowriding Whether they’ve been driving lowriders since the 1970s or are working on customizing their first car in 2016, San Francisco Bay Area lowriders share a love for driving “low and slow.”
Mix'd Ingrdnts Redefine Street Dance Watch the all-female, multi-ethnic dance crew as they set out to create unity for women and girls in Oakland's street dance scene.
A Deaf Man's Empowering Dance Antoine Hunter, the founder of the Bay Area’s annual gathering of deaf dancers and choreographers from around the world, says you don’t need to hear music in order to be able to move to it.
Giant Toilet Raises Awareness for the Homeless Made of clear plastic sheeting and PVC piping in honor of World Toilet Day, the enormous sculpture got people thinking about a topic that most of us never consider: what it’s like to be homeless and have no access to a bathroom.
A Year of Art Magic A look at the art, culture and creativity that captivated the Bay Area in 2016.
LGBTQ Safe Spaces Some of the Bay Area’s LGBTQ artists reflect on their “first” safe place, what the loss of recent safe places means, and how they're creating new sanctuaries for belonging and community.
Artists of Color Against Global Warming Political commentator Van Jones and artist Favianna Rodriguez discuss how creative people from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds are helping to move the needle on global warming.
Self-Discovery Through Skateboarding Kids at James Lick Middle School are taught not only the art and history of skateboarding, but also the importance of community.
Parking Lot Art Fair Jenny Sharaf started the Parking Lot Art Fair to confront art audiences with real-life artists.
Will SF’s Sexy Circus be Priced Out? As the burlesque virtuosos at San Francisco’s Vau de Vire Society delight their audiences for an 18th not-so-straight year, the troupe has been evicted from its space.
Justin Bieber Flash Mob Takes SF Bieber fever went airborne in the streets of San Francisco.
The Grateful Dead Live On While the Grateful Dead in 2015 may sometimes seem to belong to Lexus-driving millionaires of the San Francisco-Bay Area, KQED Arts caught up with the Deadhead crowd outside a recent concert and found an idealistic, not-so-affluent, nomadic fan base that still believes in miracles.
Honoring the Dead, the Mission of Old Thousands of Bay Area residents converged in San Francisco’s Mission District this week for its annual Día de los Muertos celebration, which honors the dead through art, music and ritual.
Brontez Purnell: Utterly Fearless Young, gay, black, and from Alabama: How Brontez Purnell came to make a splash in the Bay Area.
The New Generation of Latin Jazz Watch as young Bay Area musicians, aged 10 to 18, invigorate the Afro-Cuban and Latin jazz scene with sophisticated musicality and performance chops.
Bay Area Ballerina Comes of Age Many of 18-year-old Miko Fogarty’s friends in Orinda, CA will be entering college in the fall. But not Miko. She is on her way to the United Kingdom to pursue a career as a professional ballerina for the prestigious Birmingham Royal Ballet. It’s the latest leg in an artistic journey that began 13 years ago when as a kindergartner she fell in love with classical dance, and, after years of study with prominent Bay Area ballet teachers, enrolled at the San Francisco Ballet school.
Growing Up Queer in SF Two San Francisco high schoolers and slam poets are hoping to shine a light on the difficulties queer teenagers face, even in the city known as the gay capital of the world. Melanie Harra and Cameron Sandal perform for KQED Arts' cameras their poem "Whack-A-Mole."
Vocal Rush Sings For Black Lives Inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement, three-time international a cappella winners Vocal Rush fuel their sound with social commentary.
Dancing Murals to Life Dancers draw attention to the displacement of thousands of Latinos from one of San Francisco's most street art-rich neighborhoods, the Mission District.
Lyrics Born Performs 'Real People' Bay Area hip-hop veteran Lyrics Born performs the autobiographical track "Real People" for KQED's cameras at an East Oakland studio.
Lyrics Born Performs 'Rock-Rock-Away' For his eighth album, "Real People," East Bay MC Lyrics Born headed to New Orleans, where he absorbed the Big Easy sound along with a cast of notable musicians. Watch LB perform one of his new tracks.
An ‘HBK Day’ in the Life HBK (Heart Break Kids) Gang burst onto the national scene with the hits “Gas Pedal” and “Red Nose.” During a recent concert and event to mark “HBK Day” and the release of a new EP, rapper IAMSU! and other members talked about their rise and their message.
100 Years of the Uke Hundreds of ukulele enthusiasts assembled at the Palace of Fine Arts this weekend, ukes in hand, to celebrate the the instrument’s U.S.-mainland debut 100 years ago at the San Francisco world’s fair.
Jazz Mafia & Crossroads Collective SF's Jazz Mafia and Crossroads Collective Perform 'You Can Make It If You Try,' for Sly and the Family Stone tribute concert at Fox Oakland Theater (January 24, 2015).
Tacos & Punk What happens when two women of color who play punk rock come together for dinner? In the case of Michelle Gonzales, former drummer of ’90s anarcho punks Spitboy, and Christine Tupou of Try the Pie, the result was a revealing conversation over homemade tacos about the difficulties they face in the punk scene.
Dancers Swoop and Soar on Marin Cliffs On cliffs high above the sea, dancers tumble through the sky. They’re members of BANDALOOP, a troupe that mixes modern choreography with rock climbing tech to create gravity-defying spectacles.
The Blues Meets Bollywood San Jose blues artist Aki Kumar remakes hit songs from Indian blockbuster films of his childhood in the Chicago-style blues tradition.
Oakland on the Precipice At a recent First Friday Oakland street festival, black roots musician Fantastic Negrito performed a free concert, performing songs from his album "The Last Days of Oakland," a tribute to changing Oakland, where one in four residents are at risk of displacement.
The Black Spirituals The Oakland duo Black Spirituals exist in and out of time — tethered to the past yet rooted in the current day, building on the propulsion of civil rights-era avant-garde jazz and filtering it through modern experimental electronics.
360 VIDEO: Illustrating Golden Gate Park In this 360 video, immerse yourself in San Francisco's treasured Golden Gate Park with artist Jane Kim as she paints and illustrates many of the thousands of plant and animal species that inhabit the park. For mobile viewing, open the video directly in your YouTube app. For desktop viewing, use the latest versions of Chrome, Firefox or Internet Explorer. Click and drag to navigate around the frame.
Published October 19, 2016
Directed by Kelly Whalen
Singing The Immigrant's Love and Loss Born in Ciudad Juárez, Diana Gameros has gone from singing on Bay Area street corners and tamale parlors to opening for some of the biggest names in Latin music.
The Art of Aerial Dance BANDALOOP artistic director Amelia Rudolph talks about the company she founded 20 years ago to and the art of aerial dance.
Light Art For The Darkest Nights In the depths of winter, San Franciscans with an urge to celebrate the light can tour a new wealth of illuminated art installations.
93 'Til Infinity For a recent concert at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Bay Area musicians remixed classic tracks from 1993, a seminal year for hip hop.
Creating Space with the Kora Meet Oakland-based 34-year-old kora player Zena Carlota, one of the only women in the U.S. to play the traditional West African string instrument.
One Man's Handmade Wardrobe Meet Dan Stumpf, a man on a mission to make everything he wears from scratch.
Making of Ai Weiwei's '@Large' The installation of international art star Ai Weiwei's Alcatraz exhibition was a labyrinthian affair, coordinated across continents, complicated by multiple layers of jurisdiction and permission and requiring more than 100 volunteers and staffers. KQED visited the site and came back with footage that shows some of the works in process. For more on Ai Weiwei, visit kqed.org/ai
Steppin' Keeps Social Dance Alive A couples dance with roots in 1970's Chicago is winning over Bay Area dancers of all ages.
The Lost Art of Hawaiian Kapa Kapa is the traditional Hawaiian cloth made from tree bark. Wendeanne Ke`aka Stitt makes kapa today using natural dies and ancient techniques. As a master quilter, she's also pushing the tradition to new places.
The Stroke of a Pen Calligrapher Zubair Simab fled Afghanistan at 17, eventually settling in the Bay Area. With his calligraphy art, he seeks both to preserve the ancient art of beautifying Arabic texts and to build understanding among cultures.
Screaming in Color with Graffiti Artist "Scape" Graffiti artist Edward Martinez adopted the alter-ego "Scape," for his screaming creative and positive energy. That positive charge is evident both in his vividly pulsating paintings and in his work with underserved youth in East Palo Alto.
Homelessness Un(der)covered Watch Bay Area artists make and distribute more than 150 blankets for people living in the streets in time for the Super Bowl.
A Peek Inside the Glass Pumpkin Craze Kevin Chong, owner of San Jose’s Silica Valley Glass Studio, has a special relationship to fire. In his 3,500-square-foot studio, Chong produces neon signs, commissioned blown glass work -- including lamps, chandeliers and glass awards, and hundreds upon hundreds of pumpkins.
A Dancer Explores His Dual Identity For dancer and queer immigrant Gerald Case, the body is a recording device — one that asks: Can we design freedom? And if so, what do we do with it
Tell Your Story Youth Speaks' Emerging Arts Fellow Tassiana Willis builds a bigger stage for her art to reach other LGBTQ and youth of color.
The East Bay's Next Rap Titan At 23, Caleborate makes fully-formed, hard-knocking hip-hop records out of his Berkeley-base, rapping about millennial subject matter with a ’90s aesthetic, from soulful samples to boom-bap drums.
Exploring Spirituality and Architecture Artists examine the rapidly transforming landscape of the San Francisco Bay Area, in the Soundwave 7th biennial, inspired and hosted at Grace Cathedral Church.
Bayview Stories on the Stage A community's take on ‘Oedipus the King’ shows stories of residents’ resilience in the face of marginalization, police brutality and displacement.
Covering the City with Con Brio Ride along with San Francisco soul band Con Brio as they cover Stevie Wonder's "Living for the City" while driving across the Golden Gate Bridge in their tour van.
Ecosexuals and their Lover Earth Performance artists Beth Stephens and Annie Sprinkle say if we want to save the planet from ecological disaster, we have to have fun doing it.
The Bay Area Mourns Orlando Between evictions in San Francisco and the recent massacre in Orlando, LGBTQ safe spaces feel under attack.
Bay Area Artists Strike Back Local musicians, performers and visual artists have been supporting the Frisco Five hunger strike and ongoing street mobilizations against police shootings.
Badass Women's Ink Tattoo artist Sarah Grossman may be the only female tattoo artist at San Jose's Polished Tattoo, but women's contributions to the field dates back centuries, as documented in a History San José art exhibition.
Equipto's Hunger Strike Hip-hop veteran Equipto, while on a hunger strike to protest recent police shootings in San Francisco, discusses the intersection of art and political action.
Reclaiming the Neighborhood The Mission-based arts organization Loco Bloco's youth theater project "On The Hill" examines police shootings and gentrification after the death of Alex Nieto.
Long Live Prince Executive in Charge of KQED Arts David Markus shares what Prince means to him on the eve of the Purple One's death.
Communing with Oakland's Landscape With 'This Land,' Choreographer Sarah Bush was inspired by natural landscapes and pioneering women artists with Bay Area ties, including writers Gertrude Stein and Ina Coolbrith, and dancer Isadora Duncan.
Riding as One See how pride, leadership and creativity roll in the streets in East Oakland's Scraper Bike Team.
The Bay Area Talks Back to Hollywood #OscarSoWhite has brought some big questions to light not just about the awards, but the film industry in general.
We Can Be Heroes Every time David Bowie stepped on stage, he did so for every marginalized, gender-questioning person around the world - including generations of San Franciscans.
Welcome to KQED Arts Go behind the scenes with KQED Arts reporters and meet Bay Area artists, musicians and performers.
The Hands Behind "A Brown Table" Oakland, California-based food photographer Nik Sharma's arresting images of Indian-Western dishes bring into focus the artist behind the food.
An Illustrated City Hall Best known for skulls, skateboarding and streetwear, artist Jeremy Fish pries open San Francisco's hidden histories for the centennial City Hall exhibit.
Seeking Balance Between Art and Prosperity Watch as Oakland's Besame discusses the evolving nature of Oakland's artistic community and the challenges the city faces.
Mentor and Protégé The music director of the San Francisco Symphony and one of the greatest young pianists around today talk about their close friendship and collaboration in KQED’s latest video.
Bay Area Hip Hop: The Next Generation If you are all about Bay Area hip hop and you want to see what’s coming next on the dance front, take a look at Alex Flores and Marthy Galimba (dance names: Prince Ali and Marthy McFlyy).
Richmond's Rosie the Riveters KQED’s video captures the droves of costumed women who recently gathered to celebrate the World War II icon’s legacy of can-do feminism.
Dance Like Beyoncé On a recent Saturday morning, Bay Area Beyoncé fans reveled in the rare opportunity to get down with the man behind some of Queen Bee’s fiercest dance moves.
Oakland's Largest Soul Train Hundreds gathered in Oakland on a sun-drenched Saturday to put "Oak Town" in the record books and dance for hours on end.
Keeping Carnaval a Mission Thing As The Mission gentrifies, locals hang on with passion to a riotous annual celebration of Latino music and dance.
Can Conversations Be Art? Social-practice art can look like just about anything: journalism, community organizing, even a shop. The goal is to engage the audience and help people think about social issues in new ways.
A Cultural Duet Mixing bhangra and Mexican folkloric styles, dancers explore the Punjabi-Mexican communities that took root early in the 20th century when farm workers from India married Mexican women.
A Neighborhood Thing Watch and learn about the proliferation and influence of the 1990s San Francisco "Mission School" art scene, which embodied street culture and young sensibilities during the first dot-com boom.
Playing in the SoundBox The San Francisco Symphony is creating an alternative, more casual stage for its music, called the SoundBox, which feels more like a night club, including a bar and video installations.
IAMSU!, Sage the Gemini, 'Only That Real' (Explicit) IAMSU! and Sage the Gemini hit the stage for HBK Day 2015 at The Chapel, San Francisco, with "Only That Real."
Kill Your TV In the 1970s, an artistic movement fueled by social revolution and ignited by a new technology – the first portable video cameras -- made San Francisco a center of media art experimentation.
Marcus Shelby Quintet Plays 'Social Call' Put a little jazz in your day with this outstanding private performance of the sweet, lesser-known standard, “Social Call.”
Dan Hoyle in ‘Each and Every Thing’ "Each and Every Thing" is that rare comedy that brings both heart and smarts to the stage. Watch author and performer Dan Hoyle in an extended excerpt from the show’s run at The Marsh, San Francisco.
Sex, Seduction and Samurai In the 1700s, the Shogun’s capital of Edo (modern Tokyo) was home to a million residents and a sophisticated urban culture obsessed with the “floating world” of pleasure, wit, beauty and sex. Two exhibits at the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco explore the floating world through the art it inspired.
Zakiya Harris & Elephantine Zakiya Harris & Elephantine perform at Fox Oakland Theater for Sly and the Family Stone tribute concert.
Two Gallants, 'Incidental' San Francisco duo Two Gallants play a song from their new album, 'We Are Undone,' for KQED's Main Stage.
Two Gallants, 'My Man Go' San Francisco duo Two Gallants play a love-gone-wrong song from their new album, 'We Are Undone,' for KQED's Main Stage.
Kev Choice Ensemble, 'Light Sleeper' Saafir's "Light Sleeper," 1993, by the Kev Choice Ensemble, was performed at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in November, 2014, as part of “Clas/Sick Hip Hop: 1993 Edition,” a show that challenged Bay Area musicians and performers to reinterpret classic tracks from 1993, one of hip hop's most commercially and artistically successful years.
Behind 'Big Eyes' Margaret Keane, known for her ubiquitous paintings of wide-eyed children, is the subject of Tim Burton’s new film "Big Eyes." KQED Arts sat down with the 87-year-old to hear firsthand about what it was like to live a lie in the shadow of her ex-husband and how she feels about seeing her life played out on the big screen.
Ensemble Mik Nawooj, 'C.R.E.A.M.' Wu-Tang with opera singing! Performed at "Clas/Sick Hip-Hop: 1993 Edition," at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts on November 7th and 8th 2014.
Bay Area Hip Hop History We asked veterans of legendary dance crews GroovMekanex and the Black Messengers to show off some signature moves from the streets of Oakland and the Fillmore.
Andres Amador's Earthscapes With the beach as his canvas and rakes his brushes, Andres Amador creates large-scale artworks that explore nature's geometry -- and life's impermanence.
Stepping Into the Light Cambodian dancer Charya Burt trained in and taught classical dance in Phnom Penh, where her family suffered oppression by the Khmer Rouge. Now in the Bay Area, she's passing on her art -- and pushing it in new directions.
Lion Dancers Steeped in Ancient Steps The Bay Area is home to several lion-dance troupes. What sets San Francisco's Kei Lun Martial Arts apart is the group's dedication to preserving the ancient Chinese stories these festive dances portray -- and to puzzling out the mysteries at their heart.

Play