San Francisco Creative Corps
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Collaborators:
The City of San Francisco; YBCA will select artists in partnership with three local performing arts organizations: San Francisco Bay Area Theater Company, Dance Mission, and SF Carnaval. The San Francisco Parks Alliance, in partnership with OEWD and the City’s COVID-19 Command Center, will assist with assigning Ambassadors to specific locations.Location:
San Francisco, CaliforniaRegion:
Population Density:
UrbanLarge Intended Impact Area:
County/Multi-County RegionProject Website:
https://ybca.org/san-francisco-creative-corps/OVERVIEW
In partnership with the City of San Francisco, Yerba Buena Center For The Arts (YBCA) has been piloting the San Francisco Creative Corps, a program that puts artists to work in service of the health of our communities.
ABOUT THE PROJECT
YBCA has been working alongside San Francisco Creative Corps partner Paint the Void, an organization paying visual artists to promote COVID-19 public health messaging through city-wide public art. We are also partnering with key performing arts organizations, including San Francisco Bay Area Theater Company (SFBATCO), Dance Mission, and SF Carnaval—organizations led by and serving BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ communities—to engage with 30 performing artists to be Community Health Ambassadors.
Since Fall 2020, our Community Health Ambassadors have been engaging their neighborhoods both in-person and online, sharing critical pandemic safety messages that help protect our community and inspire them through the performing arts.
During Spring 2021, our Community Health Ambassadors created a series of short videos encouraging community members to get vaccinated, to continue practicing COVID-safe behavior, and bring joy to everyone. Their dance, creative storytelling, and performances spoke authentically to the challenges of living through the COVID-19 pandemic and how we can work together to keep our communities safe. These videos serve as an archive of when artists encouraged and inspired people to care for themselves and care for others throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.