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Arts groups make the case for greater slice of public funds

Gianmaria Franchini, SF Public Press — Aug 21 2010 - 5:39pm

Nonprofit art organizations are big business in San Francisco, employing 28,000 people and providing tens of millions in state and local revenues. And they want politicians to pay attention. “There is nothing more important we can do than advancing art in America,” said Randy Cohen, vice president of local arts advancement at Americans for the Arts. He said the arts have a large impact on job creation and state and local government revenue.

Green hip-hop group pruned by budget cuts

Ambika Kandasamy, SF Public Press — Aug 20 2010 - 2:50pm

A local organization that promotes environmental consciousness through hip-hop culture is going on hiatus this fall after losing major funding from the city of San Francisco. Grind for the Grind hosted its first — and final — “eco-music festival” of the year in Oakland last weekend. The event, FreshFest, brought local hip-hop musicians, artists and sustainable food producers together for a day of solar-powered live jamming, healthy eats and green-themed crafts. After losing its San Francisco grant, the festival was free to move from Yerba Buena Gardens, where it had been for two years, to Oakland’s Mosswood Park. But there still wasn’t enough money to put on the usual four summer festivals.

Book Review: Journalist spins riveting tale of murder and intrigue along the California coast

Leslie Guevarra, Special to SF Public Press — Aug 11 2010 - 1:37pm

Colm MacCay, the anti-hero of Paul McHugh's novel "Deadlines" (Lost Coast Press, $16.95), is a besotted, arrogant and wildly insecure newspaper columnist beyond his prime, who swaggers and staggers onto a story of abused personal and private trust and wants to make it his own. Unraveling a seaside murder before the competition scoops him could resuscitate MacCay’s faltering career -- and, of course, bring a measure of justice to the victims.

Getting schooled in post-racial America

Rachel Swan, SF Public Press — Aug 10 2010 - 3:47pm

Any artist who promises to end racism in about an hour will earn his fair share of cynics. Comedian W. Kamau Bell was well aware of that when he launched his solo comedy show, “The W. Kamau Bell Curve,” in fall 2007.

Athletes vie with birds in Golden Gate Park’s environmental turf war

Dan Hirsch, SF Public Press — Aug 9 2010 - 12:05pm

A swath of ground at the western end of Golden Gate Park has stirred debate among soccer players, neighborhood residents, astronomers and environmentalists. The disputed turf is the Beach Chalet Soccer Fields. A plan to replace the grass surface with artificial turf has been put on hold by the Recreation and Park Commission which has ordered an environmental impact report on the project.

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City sets regulations for cannabis-laced goodies

Hank Drew and Katy Gathright, SF Public Press — Jul 23 2010 - 10:59am

Chasing your morning latte with a pot brownie might be getting a bit safer. The San Francisco Department of Public Health this month placed new restrictions on the production and sale of edible goods containing marijuana.

Restored Depression-era maritime murals recall heyday of public art

Gianmaria Franchini, SF Public Press — Jul 19 2010 - 3:44pm

The Aquatic Park Bathhouse Building at the San Francisco Maritime National Historic Park at Beach and Polk streets is emerging from a rehabilitation project with a noticeable facelift. The Bathhouse was built in 1939 by the Works Project Administration and became the park’s Maritime Museum in 1951. The building, which was designed to resemble the bridge of an ocean liner, is teeming with sea-themed art, none more striking that Hilaire Hiler’s “Undersea Life” mural, which has also been restored.

Treasure Island timeline

Jerold Chinn, SF Public Press — Jul 6 2010 - 3:08pm

This is a version of the timeline that appeared in the print edition special report on San Francisco's Treasure Island.

Amid budget cuts and institutional neglect, San Quentin’s arts education volunteers keep working

Ezra Carlsen, SF Public Press — Jun 22 2010 - 12:35pm

On a cool Friday night in March, near the corner of Haight and Steiner streets in San Francisco, the hip boutique Tweekin Records hosted an unusual gallery opening of paintings, sketches, poetry and elaborate collages. It was created by inmates at San Quentin State Prison.

Organized by Kate Deciccio, an artist and a mental health and substance abuse counselor in San Francisco, the exhibit featured her own work, along with work by Eddie Sanchez and “Absent” Helean from San Quentin, and by inmates in the John Howard Pavilion at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in Washington, D.C. — Deciccio’s former employers.

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Playwright Octavio Solis: ‘Shake These People Up’

Karen Macklin, SF Public Press — Jun 22 2010 - 12:07pm

Octavio Solis’ critically acclaimed plays have been produced around the country, from the Oregon Shakespeare Festival to San Francisco’s Campo Santo and The Magic Theatre. His most recent work, “The Pastures of Heaven,” based on the Steinbeck novel, is in production until June 27 at California Shakespeare Theater.
The transplanted Texan and Sunset District resident has primarily written about El Paso and the Mexican border, but in recent years he has turned his pen to San Francisco, writing about bars, bandits, poetry-writing wolves and his adopted “city of love.”