>> welcome to coulterwire. the san francisco arts commission and department of public works has joined forces by battling graffiti by launching a new program called street smarts. the program connects established artist with private property owners to create a vibrant murals which is a proven an effective strategy for combating graffiti on private property. artists, along with his crew, recently transformed a building turn to vandalism into a masterpiece. let us take a look.

>> part of me has so much compassion for other graffiti artists. i understand why they are doing what they do. for me, it was something that was so hard to get out of. the lifestyle in general. j and tagging is addicting. i used to be on these routes. i have compassion for these guys. a lot of these guys are super talented. i am just trying to find the median to still be involved but still do my thing as an artist and work with the city, like we are doing. we are doing this wall in a collaboration with the san francisco arts commission. basically what they are doing is

trying to get rid of some of the tags and by putting up murals. they are cooking up graffiti artists with business owners. today, we are trying to get a lot of this wall buffed out and covered it. then we will spray on some sketches of what we are going to do. the rain is coming tomorrow. it should be here for a few days. we want others to know that there are artists working on this wall. the owner of this building, she has had to pay a lot of money to keep on paying over these attacks. >> we have paid as much as $400. the fed typically have been talk about four times a year. typically, it happened right after we have been notified that

we need to remove it. the painter will go up there and paid over the graffiti and make a perfect canvas for the tigers to come back. this program appeals to me because we were looking for a way to stop the taggers and the ugly graffiti. this program has beautiful work done by great artists that we thought would look great on our building. cameron talked about a few difficulties that he thought would be great. he called me and we talked about a theme of what he could do to the side of the building. he took some pictures and e-mail them to me. >> we are going to do all kinds of animals and plants. also, we are all to doing graffiti letters. if you one other taggers to respect our, you have to respect

graffiti art. >> if you had a lot of characters in it, you will get more respect from business owners and stuff like that, but letters will give you the respect of the graffiti artists. i have actually had in my name in this patch of seaweed. >> what if we did it a giant blue whale? >> i was going to do a puffer fish. >> the program for the children

is just so important. this is important, too, but you have to get at the kids to find out why they are doing it and direct them in more positive ways. i think what you are doing is great. >> have a good day. see you later. >> dana has been great, she has been a sport about the project. it was cool for her to see it and actually like it. as an artist, it means a lot to us. we are going to make it look really clean today. then it should be done. we have had this mural of for about six years and it has not been tagged. it really works as a deterrent. a lot of us graffiti artists have been waiting for an opportunity like this, to express ourselves on walls.

and there are so many walls around the city that could be beautified. i am so thankful that this opportunity has come about. >> my word encourage anyone who is thinking about it to really jump on the bandwagon. it is looking beautiful. when i came here this morning, i was notified that taggers were there last night, but fortunately, they did not touch our building. >> to check out the mural in person, stop by 65 polk road. in addition to being a street smarts artist, he has been teaching students about the value for public space and creating public art for the communities through a program called where art lives. for a full list of other in your locations and to learn more about the efforts to combat vandalism, visit

>> about four years ago, [inaudible] look at how beautiful this was. there is our relationship to the planet. these regions are the wealthiest, the most powerful. that really has impacted the planet. it is almost impossible now to go anywhere and had it really be completely dark. there are very few locations that you can find. that means our relationship to the sky, there is a way where we

dominate the sky. we cannot see anything really. we are blinding ourselves in a way. >> you can look at the images, they are beautiful. when i started four years ago, there was a conversation about environmental issues that was very different. this is not being talked about in the way it is now. . this has just been like an amazing growth.

i anticipate the project to be something that opens a dialogue to public interest in these ideas. so the work is really made to be seen in this environment. it's been show in museum, in gallery, but never in a public setting. and it's kind of ideal for both myself and the works to have this real dialogue with the public not only in san francisco but people coming from all over the world. >> since the dawn of electricity, that light is something that people feel connected to and inspired by. personally, there is space to keep that alive, just finding balance. the key is to find some balance.

>> the mayor, the office of workforce development, kick off a new program which is to engage some of the artists in reinvigorating the streetscapes. organized in partnership with neighborhood based economic development organizations, the art in storefronts taps into the incredible creativity of the artist community to help improve the quality of life and the business climate in poor neighborhoods. the tenderloin, central market, they view, and the mission's 24 st.. at the launch party, the mayor released the first of 13 projects located on taylor and market street.

we were there to capture the celebration and to get a closer look at the newly transformed storefront. >> we have an analyst at saying, you know what, we get it. if we close out and we put some plywood, we know it will have graffiti on it. we know that people will not respect this space. they are opening up their businesses, their buildings and they are saying, let's invite young artists in and let's have these artists go at it in great very visually stunning storefronts. >> this is a pilot project that was started by the mayor as part of his local stimulus plan in partnership with the mayor's office of economic and work- force development. we carried this space in the mission.

we were hired to curate this project. we have been the ones that have been handling all of the day to day working with the artists helping to secure their locations. >> we are doing projects in central market, the tenderloin, the bayview, and the 24th street corridor. >> we are looking at the history of the neighborhood and their ability to translate a the kind of things that go on on a day- to-day basis. >> we have over 200 applicants. it was wonderful to see how many people participated. these people clearly understand the neighborhood. >> this is a very unique neighborhood. it has always been involved in the arts from early on. of they have seen a lot of the art and what it has done to the

neighborhoods. i think that they will still connected to it. they will actually embrace it. i think it will be a good thing for all of us. >> if you are walking in the tenderloin, you'll be able to see this piece that is in front of the original [inaudible] which is a restaurant that has a lot of history. there are exciting projects on market streets. there are two gorgeous minerals as well as six different installations. they are making huge figures that they will be able to see. >> there is a definite level of appropriateness of stuff i am using. a lot of businesses died in 2009. >> i think i'm trying to deal

with the maximum out of space possible. that is surging right now. everyone is doing what they can with what they have. sometimes that introduces a lot of interesting things. there is nothing that inspires quite like this. >> the project benefits both the property owner, the neighborhood, and the artists, all of whom have been effected by the economic downturn. >> this is brand new work. >> we chose artists that had a diverse array of media from home video to coulter, paintings. >> when people walk around these neighborhoods, they will be able to see works that deal with the history of the neighborhood. they will see works that deal with movement and the works that celebrate some locations.

they will be able to see works of that deal with new projects like the san francisco film museum which is a small organization that is starting. this is their first presentation to the public. >> this has introduced us to different organizations. they are building our portfolio. our project centers on a film that was found in 1906. shortly afterwards, the earthquake destroyed the majority of the market street area. that is what we want to focus on. this is dedicated to film and san francisco history. >> we are having a support network now, this enhances our

mission and what we are trying to do it and it will protect us forward. >> i hope that we continue. there are storefronts all over the city. we have been approached by many of them. it is about getting the resources together. >> this calley is working with the san francisco arts commission and building a tool kit. >> this will be an open source body of information. people can download the different things that we had to do with the artists. negotiations with the property owners. there is also the artist selection. people can take it in their own hands to put art in the storefront.

>> the san francisco arts commission held celebrates -- helps celebrate, and we do that with many festivals throughout the city. one of those festivals is celebrated in december by the filipino community. joining me today to talk about this festival is the coordinator of that festival. you work with the cultural center, do you not? >> yes. >> in 2003, you helped to establish this in san francisco. >> that is correct. >> what motivated you? >> i come from a town where this

is rich and very much popular in our hometown, so we important the tradition and we can do it in san francisco. >> this is -- and rekindled it in san francisco. >> there is the story of inactivity -- >> here in san francisco, many different community groups come together to create things for the festival, is that correct? >> yes, that is correct. it is coming from different villages. it is only during before

christmas where they show all of their lanterns, and then they have the competition among the different villages, and the villages will determine which of those will be the man turn of the year -- the lantern of the year. >> i know you worked earlier for the festival. >> yes, september -- i know you work earlier. >> yes, september. this is so they can see for themselves what kind of lantern they will do. >> and can you describe to me who comes to these workshops? >> during the first year, because there are very, very few, but everybody in the neighborhood came to the workshop, children, seniors,

different areas, and they do the lantern festival in their area, but they do not have the technology. if you go to a place where you have a filipino household, chances are, they have the lanterns, because that is a symbol of hope and blessings, so, therefore, filipinos identified with the lanterns -- identifiey with the lanterns. it is a great collaboration. they are more connected with this community, but then to showcase them and their performance, their profession, the festival, and the most

prestigious award of the year -- >> i want to thank you so much for sharing this insight with us here on "culture wire" and bringing this cultural tradition to san francisco. >> a thank you. >> the bards commission has played a leading role -- >> thank you. >> the bards communication has played a leading role. ®ñdcommis sion has played a leading role. thank you for joining us. how did your organization, but being part of the parole festival? >> it is a way to organize communities -- how did your

organization come to being part of the parole festival? >> it is a way to mobilize the communities. there is a lot of warmth, and a lot of the younger generation, a lot who are born here, second and third generation filipinos, they also really appreciate having this kind of event. >> you have a unique perspective begins you have been part of the festival from the very beginning. -- because you and part of the festival from the very beginning. -- you have been part of the festival. >> there have been many changes. aspect of it, based on performance production, the presentation, so we were able to bring in sort of like scheduling different ways of

making sure that we were organizing the five letter people that were going to be coming in, and most of the time with the festival, that basically ends up in the church. last year, in preparation, we were able to secure st. patrick's church to do a program there. it is a year round thing for the workshops, so folks can come. the website, check it out. we have a lot of things that the people do not know about. come on down. we are also working here. >> thank you so much for sharing your insights with us here on "culture wire" and for helping to make san francisco such a diverse community. >> thank you.