'Every 28 Hours Black Arts Festival': Coming Soon To SF

SAN FRANCISCO – "Every 28 Hours Black Arts Festival," a one-day festival celebrating local black art, culture, and activism and hosted by the American Conservatory Theater, will debut Saturday, Feb. 3 in San Francisco.

The festival is free to the community and will run from 3 p.m. to 10 p.m. at A.C.T.’s Strand Theater, 1127 Market St.

With the theme A Healing Experience, the event will center on resilience and joy in the black struggle against police brutality and black oppression and will feature performances by local spoken-word artists, musicians, singers and dancers, as well as visual art installations, guest speakers, and panel discussions led by community activists, A.C.T. organizers said, adding that the Strand Theater lobby will transform into a marketplace where local black-owned businesses and restaurants will sell merchandise and food.

The festival culminates with performances from Every 28 Hours, a series of one-minute plays inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement. Performers will hail from A.C.T.’s Master of Fine Arts Program, Young Conservatory and Education & Community Programs, under the direction of Bay Area theater artist and activist Elizabeth Carter.

Co-created by Dominic D’Andrea of the One-Minute Play Festival and Claudia Alick of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Every 28 Hours is a national partnership focused on a statistic that a black person is killed every 28 hours by a vigilante, security guard or police in the United States, according to organizers.

“We are honored to provide a platform for black artists, audiences, and allies to come together from across the A.C.T. artistic and educational community to celebrate and hold healing space for the Bay Area African American/Black community," said Elizabeth Brodersen, A.C.T. director of education & community programs. "What began for us in 2015 as an artistic exchange exploring the painful realities that gave rise to the Black Lives Matter movement—and remain all too real—has continued to gain momentum, transforming into what we hope will be an annual interdisciplinary, community-wide event at A.C.T."

Participating organizations will include Destiny Arts Center and SOMArts Cultural Center, with additional participants to be announced at a later date, organizers said.

"Every 28 Hours Black Arts Festival" events are free and open to the public, but RSVPs are strongly encouraged. For a list of activities or to RSVP, see www.act-sf.org/every28hours.

ALSO GOING ON NEARBY:

• Museum of Ice Cream: San Francisco
  
• Free Admission Asian Art Museum: San Francisco
  
• Safeway Holiday Ice Rink in Union Square: San Francisco

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--Pixabay image via geralt