>> 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.

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announcer: she's got the drive, the energy... the heart... and the talent. pre-med. announcer: but she wouldn't be here without your help. please support the united negro college fund. because a mind is a terrible thing to waste. >> 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.

>> 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