¡Arte Libre! at Plaza 16
Station Transformed into Public Space Fiesta
October 7, 2006
Christine Wong Yap
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View photos available for download.
San Francisco, CA—Despite grey skies, last Friday over 220 performers and artists celebrated art and public space at Plaza 16, the southwestern plaza at the 16th Street BART Station. ¡Arte Libre! A Fiesta of Mission Art and Public Space was the Mission Community Council’s most ambitious free community event to date. Thirteen community organizations and dozens of individuals volunteered to help make the space accessible, clean and beautiful for all.
Following BART’s official grand re-opening of the northwest plaza, ¡Arte Libre! kicked off at noon with the help of 210 schoolchildren, 18 teachers and over a dozen parents from Marshall Elementary School. The younger classes carried sponge-printed picket signs reading slogans like, “Children need a safe place to grow up.” To reinforce the school’s message of the impact of safety and public space issues on children, the entire school sung “This Land is My Land” in unison. A few brave students individually spoke, including Linda, a fifth-grader who read a short essay on the importance of community.
Passersby gathered around the linoleum for popular break dancing performances by DEF ED (an off-site hip hop education program offered by CELLspace) and Baysic Project (a collaboration of Extra Credit/Sisterz of the Underground, Rockforce, Media Sirkus, and 5150). When Sarah Smalls, DEF ED program director, opened the floor for the community’s turn, a lithe b-boy jumped in with surprising skills. Renowned b-boy Machine wrapped up with windmills effortlessly flowing into other moves.
In a change of pace, Anna Hoopengardner and Julia Baldassari-Litchman, of Anna and the Illfaters, performed a ballad. Hoopengardner’s emotive vocals interplayed with Baldessari-Litchman’s brooding keyboard work. Anna and the Illfaters will perform at Café’ Revolution and Crash Cabaret this month.
The festivities included the unveiling of “Safe Space, Safe Travels” a new, site-specific exhibition. It consists of four mixed media, collaborative paintings by Ronnie Freeman, Eli Lippert, Mauricio Ramirez, Jimmy Carruzo, Marcus Jackson Kelley and crookone, participants in the Precita Eyes Urban Youth Mural Program. The colorful imagery reveals a heavy interest in self-expression balanced with experimentation and safety and transportation themes; for example, painterly florescent fields offset a beanie-wearing ‘shorty’ riding a magic carpet. At ¡Arte Libre!, staffers Fred Alvarado and Joshua Stevenson assisted young artists Mauricio Ramirez and Marcus Kelly in conducting a live painting and spraycan art demonstration. The program offers afterschool and weekend art classes for youth ages 11-21. Scholarships are available.
Throughout the afternoon, the public participated in a myriad of activities at the plaza. Five lucky raffle winners won gift certificates donated by local businesses. Others learned about everything from the Mission Neighborhood History Walk to safe sex to homeless services and job resources from local organizations.
Families sampled Arte Libre’s free kid’s activities. The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition gave away new blue children’s bicycle helmets. Columbia Park Boys & Girls Club volunteers painted faces and lead paper flower construction lessons. Across the plaza, teens lined up to customize free white t-shirts donated by The Apparel Source. With help from volunteer Sierra Bloomer, DEF ED instructor Darren Villegas cut out paper stencils of portraits of Frieda Kahlo, Malcolm X and Tupac, as well as popular hometown-love shorthand like “415” and baseball’s iconic “SF.”
¡Arte Libre! at Plaza 16 was organized by the Mission Community Council (MCC), a collaborative network of over 35 Mission non-profit organizations, businesses, faith groups, and public departments committed to promoting the vitality of the Mission District. The group hopes to create a safe and beautiful cultural commons through the activities, events and exhibitions at Plaza 16. MCC would like to thank Instituto Familiar de la Raza, The Apparel Source, Back and Body Care, California Savings Bank, Delfina Restaurant & Pizzeria Delfina, Global Exchange, Jamestown Community Center and Ti Couz for their generous support, as well as to the volunteers and Divalicious Hot Dogs. For more information, please visit www.micocosf.org.
For more information, please contact:
Christine Wong Yap
Public Art and Outreach Coordinator
Mission Community Council
Email: christine@micocsf.org
URL: http://www.micocosf.org/