Public Programs
Presented by YBCA |
January 17–25, 2026
Join us as we open our doors with free gallery admission and a powerful slate of exhibitions, performances, artist conversations, and community programs during San Francisco Art Week, January 17–25, 2026.
Together these experiences invite audiences to encounter contemporary art that reflects the pressures, hopes and cultural complexities shaping life in the Bay Area today.
See the full list of special programs offered below.
Tickets: Free with registration
Join us outside on YBCA’s Third Street Courtyard for a midday poetry and spoken word reading by Bay Area poets Kevin Dublin, Magick Altman and Tongo Eisen-Martin. See our exhibition Bay Area Then, and enjoy the performances designed to bring together intergenerational and diverse voices from the Bay. These Saturday readings will take place once from noon to 1pm and are included with gallery admission.
Tickets: Free with registration
Build an imaginative diorama inspired by your own city or neighborhood. Explore shapes, textures, and reference your favorite places to visit. What makes them special? This workshop is inspired by artist Margaret Kilgallen’s work in the Bay Area Then exhibition, presented by YBCA.
Tickets: Free with registration*
As part of Yerba Buena Museum Day, join us for early opening hours and a guided tour of The Prince of Homburg: A Solo Exhibition by P. Staff. Beginning at 10am, curator Jeanne Gerrity and artist P. Staff will lead visitors through the exhibition, offering insight into the work’s themes, process, and relevance today.
Guests are also invited to explore Bay Area Then, and enjoy complimentary coffee and pastries.
*Limited capacity. Registration is required. First come, first served.
Join us for an evening celebration marking the U.S. premiere of The Prince of Homburg, a major solo exhibition by internationally acclaimed artist P. Staff. Mingle with artists, curators, and community members while exploring the installation, which examines freedom, control, and the pressures placed on queer and trans bodies today.
Enjoy music, light refreshments, and a vibrant atmosphere as we share this powerful work with our community.
An immersive multi-sensory performance installation that draws you into a world of movement, light, sound and shifting space. Four dancers travel through translucent rooms and narrow passageways, passing close to the audience. From the interior walkways and edges, your presence is part of the experience, creating a quiet, shared connection with the performers and the space itself.
Tickets: Free with registration*
Taking Staff’s exhibition The Prince of Homburg as a starting point, this panel looks at how governments and institutions control and suppress life, assigning value to bodies and viewing transness as a threat to social order. While the state organizes bodies and minds through toxic systems, this panel considers alternative ways of being that resist this imperial and harmful logic.
A tour of The Prince of Homburg with artist P. Staff immediately follows the discussion.
*Limited capacity. Registration is required. First come, first served.
An immersive multi-sensory performance installation that draws you into a world of movement, light, sound and shifting space. Four dancers travel through translucent rooms and narrow passageways, passing close to the audience. From the interior walkways and edges, your presence is part of the experience, creating a quiet, shared connection with the performers and the space itself.
An immersive multi-sensory performance installation that draws you into a world of movement, light, sound and shifting space. Four dancers travel through translucent rooms and narrow passageways, passing close to the audience. From the interior walkways and edges, your presence is part of the experience, creating a quiet, shared connection with the performers and the space itself.
For its final activation as part of Bay Area Then, Sanctuary City Project will collaborate with Refugee and Immigrant Transitions to design, print, and sell 100 tote bags emblazoned with the message “I AM AN IMMIGRANT.” Proceeds from the initiative will directly support RIT’s free education, family engagement, and community leadership programs for students who have sought refuge from war, violence, persecution, or economic hardship.
An immersive multi-sensory performance installation that draws you into a world of movement, light, sound and shifting space. Four dancers travel through translucent rooms and narrow passageways, passing close to the audience. From the interior walkways and edges, your presence is part of the experience, creating a quiet, shared connection with the performers and the space itself.
YBCA programs are made possible in part by Blue Shield of California, the City and County of San Francisco, The Yerba Buena Gardens Conservancy, The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), San Francisco Office of Economic and Workforce Development, Bloomberg Philanthropies, The Svane Family Foundation, Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, James R. Lilienthal Trust, California Arts Council, Yerba Buena Partnership, Meridee Moore, Beard Family Foundation, Schwab Charitable Fund, Gaia Fund, David and Carla Crane Foundation, Andrew Skillman and Lydia Choy Charitable Fund, Amy and Hannah Eliot, Maria Kim, Tides Foundation, Wayee Chu and Ethan Beard, Amanda Minami, Klau Family Fund, Peter Rigano and Cody Hicks, Harvey and Leslie Wagner Foundation, Robert and Junko Kenmotsu, The San Francisco Foundation, The Ron Conway Family, and YBCA Members.
Exhibitions
Presented by YBCA
Opening January 17, 2026
Festival
Presented by SOMA Pilipinas in partnership with YBCA
Saturday, December 13, 2025, 3–8 PM
