January 20, 2022
For immediate release
Contact:
Andrew Wood 415-399-9554 (o) 415-305-1102 (c) [email protected]
San Francisco International Arts Festival Returns
First Full Program Since 2019 Supports Local Artists
Calendar Editors Please Note
Who: Multiple Artists
What: 2023 San Francisco International Arts Festival
Where: Multiple Venues in San Francisco's Mission District
Date & Time: June 8 - 18, 2023
Tickets: $20 - $30 general admission. Early Bird Tickets On-Sale March 1, 2023
Box Office and Information: https://www.sfiaf.org or 415-399-9554.
Photos Available on Request
January 20, 2022: San Francisco International Arts Festival (SFIAF) is pleased to announce the line-up for the 2023 Festival Program that will run from June 8 – 18 and mark the organization’s 20th Anniversary. June 2023 will also mark the first full two-week Festival since before the COVID-19 Pandemic and will feature primarily the work of Bay Area based artists. The theme is IN DIASPORA: I.D. for the New Majority. I.D. asks artists to contemplate the changing demographics of the United States of America and / or apply the ideas of social justice to reflect on the conditions of minority, migrant, disenfranchised and/or displaced peoples in other countries and continents. Regional/cultural focus areas will include Juneteenth, Asian, Filipino American and Latinx work. The program will also see a return to the Mission district for the first time in nearly 15 years with performances taking place on three different stages at BRAVA Theater Center as well as Joe Goode Annex and Theatre of Yugen both located at Project Artaud. The box office will open, and Early Bird Tickets @ $20 will go on sale on Wednesday March 1.
Festival director, Andrew Wood said of the program, "It is in keeping with our focus over the last three years that nearly all of the artist featured in this year's Festival are from the Bay Area. We have worked together on advocacy, emergency funding and pandemic programming as we sought to reestablish live performing arts in the City. Now we have reached the point where we can relaunch the two-week Festival program. As such, what we will experience on the Festival's stages in 2023 are some of the outcomes from the collaborations and relationships that have been built during this period as we collectively confronted new realities."
But there will be some international artists featured, Marin based Bons Tempos Theatre Company will fly actors Alvaro Flores and Adrián Paredes from London and Mexico City respectively to present the west coast premiere of Qaddafi's Cook. Pusaka Sunda from San Jose will host master musician Yusdiana and vocalist Ani Sukmawati, both from West Java.
Qadaffi's Cook will be one of a number of Latinx projects being featured in week one of the Festival, lining up alongside Liz Duran Boubion with the world premiere of Cuatro Vientos: BI; an evening of new work by Ensambles Ballet Folklorico de San Francisco; Alex Conde will present Piano, Jazz Flamenco and a concert to celebrate the release of a new suite of tango music by the all-women ensemble, Las Almas Trio. Week Two will also see concerts by Neblinas del Pacifico and Elena Duran with Nicholas McGegan who will present a concert titled México de mi Corazón.
Similarly, Pusaka Sunda's gamelan music concert on Sunday June 11 will be part of a day of Emerald of the Equator inspired projects that also includes the Indonesian / western fusion band, Purnamasari and the haunting world of Sha Sha Higby's Balinese inspired masks and puppets.
Filipino focused projects include John Calloway who will present a music concert examining the confluence of the African / Filipino aspects of his family history with Tribute to the Buffalo Soldier and the Afro-Filipino. In theatre, Jason Bayani will present Locus of Control focusing on the Filipino immigrant experience.
To complete the first week of performances, Lisa Frias presenting the world premiere of Gratitude; Helen Stolzfus of the Black Swan Media Project will present Dispatches from the Great Burning -- a solo performance of one woman’s reckoning with the climate crisis; Chiricahua Apache performance artist Decoy Gallerina will present Haunting our His & Her Stories: Indigenous Children’s Boarding School & Related Experiences, and David Kleinberg will present He Wants to Run...a humorous and touching one-man-and-somebody-else's-dog tale.
Week two will include a recognition of Juneteenth with contemporary and traditional work in dance, music and theatre. In the realm of theatre, Gamal Chasten of The Universes will present the US premiere of Crawfish - We the Invisible. Oakland ensemble, Put Ur Play On will present Unapologetically Black and Us in the US return to the Festival with the final installments of their triptych, What Had Happened Was.... Dance will be led by Diamana Coura West African Dance Company with the world premiere of the evening length, JUSAT. Two powerful women composers will headline the music component of the program. Dee Spencer presents the BluesFem Project and, nine year after her last SFIAF appearance, Gisela Tangui will lead the Voodoo Cabaret back to the Festival stage.
Week two will also feature Indian classical dance with concerts by Abhinaya Dance Company of San Jose and Samudra Dance Creations.
Other music concerts featured during the Festival will include jazz composer and saxophonist, Francis Wong with a suite of new music and Clyde Leland will present an evening of folk songs with a progressive (humorous) perspective. Western classical music will be represented by the Left Coast Chamber Ensemble and harpist, Amelia Romano and Guests.
Theatre and performance art will be represented by Kat Evasco with her landmark solo performance, Mommy Queerest and Guta Galli from Brazil with the world premiere of A Cup of Tea. There will also be a program of spoken word and poetry curated by Kimi Sugioka featuring some of the artists that have featured at SFIAF's monthly gathering of The Last Supper Party including the Speakeasy Storytellers.
Finally, in addition to Liz Boubion the contemporary dance component of the SFIAF 2023 Program will feature new works by Concept o4 (The Dromer), Jessica Fudim (Venomous), Alive & Well Productions (Meeting #7), Dance Through Time (Pulcinella's Dream), Ranko Ogura (HAMON-ring on the water) and inkBoat (Clouds from a Crumbling Giant) with performance art installations by Guta Galli (Cup of Tea). Meanwhile, STEAMROLLER Dance Company will present a classic from the company's repertoire with the 2000 piece Young Gods Revisited.
Additional artists will be announced as more program details are solidified.
SFIAF 2023 is made possible in part by the support of the following foundations, charities and community organizations: Bernard Osher Foundation, BRAVA for Women in the Arts, California Arts Council, California Office of the Small Business Advocate, California Venues Grant, National Endowment for the Arts, New Place Fund, Phyllis C. Wattis Foundation, the Western Arts Federation (WESTAF) and many generous individuals.
Calendar Editors Please Note
Who: Multiple Artists
What: 2023 San Francisco International Arts Festival
Where: Multiple Venues in San Francisco's Mission District
Date & Time: June 8 - 18, 2023
Tickets: $20 - $30 general admission. Early Bird Tickets On-Sale March 1, 2023
Box Office and Information: https://www.sfiaf.org or 415-399-9554.
Photos Available on Request
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