Ashara Ekundayo — a Black feminist, independent curator, cultural theologian, artist, creative industries entrepreneur and organizer working internationally across cultural, spiritual, civic, and social innovation spaces — developed Artist As First Responder (AAFR) as a means to reimagine and reify artists’ fundamental purpose within society. As a construct, AAFR honors the essential and historical role that Black, Indigenous and other Artists of Color have in community healing and care.
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By design, The Village San Francisco — a recently announced social services, cultural & spiritual center envisioned by an inter-tribal coalition of Native American organizations, led by The Friendship House Association of American Indians — is increasing opportunities for American Indians living in the city to access public green space.
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SOMA Pilipinas celebrates five years as San Francisco’s Filipino Cultural Heritage District on Thursday, April 29, 2021, 4-6pm PST at new art and wellness pop-up Kapwa Gardens. The cultural heritage district honors the over 120-year Filipino history and living legacy of making home, celebrating culture, building community and fighting for economic and racial justice. Embodying the spirit of bayanihan, SOMA Pilipinas supports a community-in-action in the highly gentrified South of Market neighborhood — the technology capital of the world for the last decade.
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Filipina American chef and restaurateur Reina Montenegro will be launching a brick-and-mortar storefront for her online concept Chef Reina — formerly known as Nick’s Kitchen, Nick’s on Grand and Nick’s on Mission — at 33 Visitacion Avenue, Brisbane, CA 94005, on April 8, 2021 from 11am-8pm. Montenegro’s new space will include a to-go window for online orders, and a studio space for her to produce online cooking demos and other digital events. This launch marks a significant step toward Montenegro’s vision of introducing vegan Filipino comfort food to the masses and, ultimately, of culinary activism.
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Balay Kreative (‘Creative Home’) — a pop-up Filipino-American arts hub and cultural center led by Kultivate Labs — will open a pop-up workspace and studio to support artist grantees in Republika SF, a future artisan marketplace in SOMA Pilipinas. While COVID-19 has delayed Kultivate Lab’s ultimate goal of building an approximately 8,000 square-foot space with a visual arts gallery, a multi-purpose event space, food court and artist’s space by 2025, the pandemic challenged the organization to fulfill their mission to support local artists, with economic sustainability as a foundation.
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The Friendship House Association of American Indians, together with an inter-tribal coalition of organizations serving San Francisco’s Indigenous population, is preparing to launch The Village — a groundbreaking physical and cultural home in the United States by and for urban American Indians. The Village is a central hub that will be built on traditional knowledge, collective decision-making and collaborative practices to provide essential services, community resources and social connection for urban Native Americans, of which there are approximately 6,000 in San Francisco alone. For too long, Native Americans have been underserved and largely invisible, leading to disparities experienced by other communities of color.
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