george bush in 2008. all of the characters that appear are real characters that are taken from my research. we are an interesting mix and i want to provoke wonder about who we are. every one of the characters are taken from actual photographs or documents that i found in my research on american history. in a lot of my banners, you conceal -- uc the melting pot, the imagery and myth that we use in our culture. talking about these reductions of all these different mixes of people, how you distill the experience. that is something i want to think about, collecting the ideas and ingredients, and i wanted to do the san francisco de lexie. -- elixir. we found a spring water underneath a church in cow

hollow. we put rosebuds in the water to attract peace, and it made a meade. it was sitting in the gallery. we distill that through local herbs. it was really surprising how delicious it was, because we were mixing a lot of seemingly in congruent ingredients, and it was delicious and different from anything you have ever tasted. i would have been happy if it was medicinal. the idea was more important to me. but it was very good. it is something i think a lot about, especially transition history, native americans, how they have this combination of dress, from the clothing from trade companies, mixed with traditional dress. i love how reflective it is of who they are, and also the merging history's coming together. what would we look like if we

carry our history with us? all of the merging of cultures, reflected in our address? i am thinking of my own history with early europeans coming in and intermixing with native cultures. the one thing i would like people to take away from after seeing my work is a sense of wonder and who we are as americans. that we are really these beautiful mixes of people and we should really be looking backwards at who we are. i think we are all kind of historians in our own life, and there are great presidents behind us -- president behind us that could give us insight into who we are. >> oliver road trip on her website. check at often. new experiences will be added after every stop.

>> as the city of san francisco has grown, there are a number of cultural organizations that have grown with it. the san francisco symphony, the ballet, and ensure we are celebrating the 75th anniversary of the san francisco museum of modern art's. one of the things many of our viewers may not understand about museums is the way they grow and evolve is really about a broad. his patient and support from many individuals who give their collections -- and broad support from many individuals who give their collections to the museum. this year it will be celebrating and abolishing those individuals through exhibition -- and acknowledging those individuals throughout asia. joining me is janet bishop, the curator. i understand you have been with the museum quite a number of

years. you remember its original home on van ness. now you are part of that transition to the center, the civic center, and of course your museum has been really the anchor of cultural tenants that has helped us transform this area of the city. >> to my mind, it is wonderful to be part of such a rich cultural community. when visitors come to this area, that have so many different options. >> let's talk about the anniversary show, which will be a phenomenal opportunity for san franciscans and all visitors of the city to get a real sense of how the city has grown and the importance of culture. >> we focus on moments where it was involved in pushing the dialogue about contemporary art forward. the jackson pollock exhibition

in 1945 is a perfect example of that. our founding director was deeply interested in abstraction and was engaged in dialogue with the guggenheim about bringing the jackson pollack showed to the west coast. the original price for the painting, $750. are directors thought that was too much of a stretch before the board of trustees, so she convinced them to reduce the price to firefighter dollars. it was just -- to $500. it was what was needed to persuade the board. it is a very subjective history of art. it has been very much shaped by the individuals involved with the museum over the years. in 1935, would start with the gallery with works that came in through albert bender, one of our founding trusties. when we opened our doors in

1935, 181 of the 186 pieces in our permanent collection had been gifted. >> what are the names that pop out as the museum evolved? >> we have another gallery that looks at the theories that the museum has since the late 1980's. we focus on a particular aspect of that program that developed under one of art curators. he arrived in 1989 and was especially interested in artists. >> are some of the highlights? >> one of the aspects of the museum program that i have been especially involved with have been the exhibitions that stand for society for the encouragement of contemporary

art. it is encouraged to honor exceptional bay area artists during their careers. for instance, an early worked who showed here in 1996. for this exhibition, he has extended an updated it to 2010 with the addition of photographs and other frameworks. >> thank you for joining us. >> my pleasure. >> as we examine the 75th anniversary, we cannot overlook its important role as an educational institution and how it brings public program to all of our citizens in the bay area. try me now to talk about that is dominick, the curator of education and public programs. you are vested with a multifaceted responsibility, with education and also

multimedia. could you explain that? >> there are three main areas. we produce education activities for all ages, k-12, and adults, and we also produce a lot of educational media, a lot of interviews with artists, stuff that we published online, and other galleries. there's also a public program, which include some educational activities, but also live cultural programming for the artists projects. >> what are all the ways that the museum reaches out? >> the latest platform for educational media is launching right now with his anniversary. we have gotten to the point where we could put a lot of the content about artists, the stories behind artists we have

had on line, but those on to the ipod touch. >> could you talk about the education role that the museum plays in the city of san francisco? >> we are in the middle of a new initiative to provide more resources and programs for families and the locality. we are benefiting from a grant from the wallace foundation, and in the last two years many more bay area families have come to the museum, participated in the programs, most of which take place on sundays. we will see more and more different offerings rolled out in the coming months. >> thank you, dominic, for being part of "culture wire." >> the museums are almost like a

team sport. there is a tremendous amount of talented staff that puts together patrons to help support the institutions, but they all need a coach. the coach is the director. neal, could you let the viewers know, you have been director how long? >> we are working on eight years. >> now you have the 75th anniversary. how does that feel? >> we opened this building in 1995. it was bought at that time as a move from the civic center and the veterans building 2 third street, into our new building, a much expanded space, better space. it will be wonderful for the museum for decades to come. and 15 short years we have been amazed by we have outgrown the building. the collection has grown to

26,000 works. >> was a challenging to decide what was going to be put on display during the anniversary year? >> 3 people on our staff spent 2 1/2 years of going through archives, the storage vaults, honor think all kinds of works that we have not seen -- uncovering lot of works that we have not seen but also history we uncovered about how we presented a television show produced by the museum, in the museum, in 1950. a lot of great stories that the presentation tells. >> the most recent news was the incredible decision on the part of donna morris fisher to give their collection to sfmoma. >> think it is commonly understood that the fischer collection was 1100 works by

some of the great contemporary works, one of the great collections in the world. in fact, the collection has not been seen. it has been largely stored at the headquarters, there has never been a publication or exhibition. >> but fischer collection and the additional expansion over the next 50 years, what in the next 25 years will the museum be doing? >> we are very committed to expanding the museum, expanding the collection, the overall growth of the museum. that is one of the things that is very important to us. we are about to enter a strategic planning process. the fundamental question we want to address is, how wil sfmoma growth and enhanced its engagement with the community? it is not enough that the museum

has great works in its collection, has great exhibitions, wonderful education programs, it is how does the institution grow and enhance its relationship with the community. it is very important to us. >> on behalf of the residents of san francisco, we thank you for shepherding this institution through this incredible growth phase, and thank you for being part of "culture wire." >> my pleasure, thank you. >> the museum has exciting anni [older man speaking foreign language]

richie! richie! [speaking foreign language] yo, tye! what-up? richie! what-up, player? how ya doing, son? all right, man. i'm chillin', of course. you gonna be there, right? click freedomcenter.org to find yours. >> welcome to our town hall forum. i am the co-host of open hope"

crosscurrent." i am joined by my colleague also from kalw. we would like to welcome you on behalf of the society of professional journalists for what promises to be a bi discussion about what is going on in journalism today. what we want to talk about are the rapid changes going on right now in journalism with a convergence of new technology, new media, and a weak economy. all that has basically forced changes in the way that we gather the news, in the way that we deliver the news, in the way that we received the news. we have with us a stellar panel of top thinkers in the fields of media, education, finance, and government represented, but we also wanted to encourage an

audience to participate and drive to a's discussion. so you are asked to ask discussions -- questions. if you would like to ask questions, please move toward the middle aisle. as tom mentioned also, our conversation will be divided into five parts. first, we will talk about the quality of reporting in the past few years. we will also talk about ways to sustain quality journalism today and in the upcoming years. next we will move on to shielding journalism from financial pressures from advertisers, foundations, and the government. how to encourage cultural diversity in the media is also a topic we want to talk about. constitutional protection at a time when the very definition of the journalist is changing. who is a journalist? that is a key question we can

ask today. let's go to sandeep to who we have today. >> we have a stellar panel. you're not kidding. let me begin to my immediate left. barry parr is the publisher of "cosigner.com" as well as one of the first on-line newspapers. denise why there is the chair of the journalism department at san francisco state university, where 600 students are studying journalism. next to her is mark adkins, the president of the "san francisco chronicle." next to him is dr. xena

ibrahim. lisa frazier is the publisher of "bay area citizens." paul connelly is the senior vice president of the tcc group and he manages the challenge fund for journalism, one of the largest sources of grants for journalism. now on the back row, crank aaron is the senior director of the free press, a group working to increase government funding for the media. frank frankle is a journalism professor at stanford university. next to him is ron dellens, the mayor of oakland. he has served 14 houseyears.

next to him is a former writer and publisher. he and embed the publisher. next to him is david calloway, editor in chief of marketwatch.com. next to him, sandy close, the director of new american media. she is also my executive editor and i get to hold the microphone up to her. let's begin the discussion. >> thank you. let's start with a question that is on many people's mind. with cutbacks and technology shifts, what has that done to the quality of news, barry parr? >> when i worked at the "mercury

news" back in the 1990's, we were trying to compete with the paper. i am here to stay mission accomplished. it has been a tough 10, 20 years. i have to tell you, some of the greatest innovation and highest quality work is coming from the ground up. if you look back over the last year, one of the most crucial issues that has concerned in this country, health care reform, we really have to say the traditional media let the country down. it has been a significant problem in the country. in many ways, it is not perfect, it is never going to be perfect, but on the other hand, we have a lot of small innovators out there that are

thinking -- changing the way that we think about information. i have been running a small website for about six years. the thing that i am finding is technology has shifted under me as well. i have to think hard about how i have to keep up with social media, how you control the rumors, help people establish fiction from fact. >> thank you. denise wagner, what do you tell your students -- i think you oversee 600? 523 journalism students at san francisco state. so how do you talk these days about the quality of the news? >> overall, the quality is quite spotty. there has been some stellar news

stories coming from traditional, legacy media organizations, but you are also getting some really interesting coverage from some start-ups. talking points memo, a blog that does a lot of journalism. propublica doesn't allow as well. there is not any one place you can go to get stellar reporting. it comes from a lot of different places. the ecosystem itself has changed. we have citizen journalists, private-public partnerships, legacy media, start-ups. it is an uneven thing right now. >> how do you define who the journalists are in your class? >> that is an interesting question.

many of my students think "the daily show" is news. while "the daily show" provides interesting insight, provide satire and parody of news, it is clear there is some element of news there. what is tricky is how you help students define where to get quality information about what is happening in their community. that is how i try to define it. the lines are too blurred to say that is journalism, that is not journalism. what i am most interested in is educating students to develop a critical awareness and thinking ability to parse out what is

good information and what is not. >> moving on to mark adkins of the "san francisco chronicle." we had a conversation about the chronicle. it was threatening to close, saying it was losing $1 million a week. you have made massive cuts since then. how has that affected the quality of your coverage? >> one of the thing that is exciting is that people are so passionate about news, about the chronicle, a number of people we employ. one area where we trimmed a lot of jobs in a lot of different areas of the operation, including the news room, and it is not always about the quantity of people you employ of the quality of the product in the information you put on the pages day in, day out.

that is the most important thing. is the quality there on a daily basis? i look back over the last couple of years. i have only been here about a year-and-a-half, but i have been very familiar with the chronicle. i might be biased, but i think is better now than it was a few years ago. we are doing that on a more efficient basis then we did before. i do not think it is always about the tonnage, but it is about the quality. i think we are doing a great job with the resources we have today. >> you are in the broadcast field. you teach radio and television at san francisco state. as well, major cutbacks in the broadcasting industry. how has that affected coverage?

>> it is interesting. i'm going to answer the question, but i want to go back to what you started with. a changing landscape in which we have higher technology and lower budgets. i think that this means for students graduating with degrees in radio and television is a job opportunity. because a lot of radio and tv stations have cut back dramatically, they are hiring younger talent. that is good for young people on the one hand. >> not so good for people our age. >> no, unfortunately. i think we are seeing that shift in generations happening rapidly. there are quite a few -- both radio and tv -- i am thinking about two local radio stations

who i will not name who are paying interest to produce news content. -- interns to produce news content. what that means for quality is the big question. i do not feel fully comfortable having a discussion about quality of news without discussing what that means. how do we define quality journalism? i think today we have a much more scattered definition. the huge decline in our own way. previously, we only had three major networks. it was easier to define the "quality journalism." today, it becomes a much more difficult concept. >> is this something that you discussed in your class is? >> yes, we do. as prof. wagner said, a lot of

young people are tuned out. they simply do not care. the news is not relevant to them. i do an exercise in my class called broadcast therapy. how does news make you feel? it is always fascinating to me to read their responses. sometimes it makes them feel sad, helpless, depressed. they complain -- especially when it comes to local news -- a tremendous amount of crime coverage, in addition to coverage that is more commercially-driven. today, i picked up my iphone, click on the ktuv moblile app ad the top story was that some way now sells breakfast. [laughter] -- subway now sells breakfast.

i always have to identify mind of being a critic of the media while at the same time trying to inspire people to go into the field. i think quality journalism is still out there. public broadcasting is really phenomenal. young people do not know what that is. they did not know who jim lehrer was. the quality is being buried under a lot of fluff. >> we covered newspapers and broadcast journalism. lisa frazier, you are testing a new model, the bay citizen, formally known as the bay area news project. you are a nonprofit startup. what is your annual budget, is