2023

For Fall 2023, Artivate lead artists and youth learned from the groundbreaking citizenry of Planet Drum, interviewing key members of the larger group and creating contemporary prints and posters focusing on what sustainability and connection mean to this new generation. Artivate youth generated prints for the public at all scheduled Planet Drum events, mostly scheduled for October 2023 as well as helped to create a class Bundle, presented to Co-founder Judy Goldhaft at the SF Main Library.

ARTIVATE created six pop-up silk screening events at YBCA working in conjunction with the Manifest Differently exhibition. We printed youth-made posters created out of the Clarion Alley ARTIVATE mural inspired by the Sanctuary City project and each session another Manifest Differently artist was invited to make a piece and an MD poet was invited to perform.

Starting in July, Artivate used the Sanctuary City Project piece “Undo Men” as a research tool for student poster designs as well as inspiration for a new mural in Clarion Alley for a large-scale project called Manifest Differently. Amy Berk and ARTIVATE created a collaborative mural focusing on rethinking Manifest Destiny and focusing on the impact caused to the land, the people, and the environment and how to potentially right them.

“Market Street Stories” saw the Artivate program collaborate with the Chinese Historical Society of America (CHSA), the Haight Street Art Center, Grants for the Arts and the San Francisco Department of Public works (SFDPW). “Market Street Stories” focused on Market Street as the canvas for social engagement, poster creation, and augmented reality interventions responding to the deep history of parades, activist marches, and city celebrations that have taken place on Market Street over the past 150+ years.

“Market Street Stories” challenged the Artivate program to explore creative explorations examining a vast archive of images that highlight San Francisco’s passion for social justice, equality, and cultural diversity. The Artivate program will explore this archive, considering their own current place in these ongoing conversations and actions that make Market Street the center for civic action in San Francisco.

Collaboration with the Parks Alliance to create on-demand prints for over 2000 guests in four Saturdays in April 2023. Artivate teens (and their weary mentors) were employed by the Parks Alliance to activate the park and teach printmaking to visitors! Everyone walked away with a handmade artist print celebrating an individual park!