City Is Alive

Digital Experience

City Is Alive

Presented by SF Urban Film Fest & YBCA |

October 17, 2020, 7–9 PM

At YBCA, we believe neighborhoods are the soul of a city. They’re where we center our lives, where we learn, and raise our families. They are an extension of home that fuels social cohesion and belonging. Neighborhoods deserve rich art experiences that connect us, amplify our power, and reflect our collective voice.

YBCA is OPEN, and we’re doing OPEN differently. In addition to activating our downtown space with all kinds of powerful public art experiences and artist dialogues, we’re also launching a new initiative – Neighborhood Commissions. In Neighborhood Commissions, we invite artists and community organizations into collaborative dialogue with us to create safe, street level arts experiences, both physical and digital, celebrating community voices and agency in a hyper local context, with big resonance for our entire city.

Introducing City Is Alive, our inaugural commission, which brings us into Bayview-Hunter’s Point for a powerful collaboration led by YBCA artists-in-residence SF Urban Film Fest (SFUFF) and Bayview-based partner organizations Imprint City and Young Community Developers. City Is Alive is a one-day digital and in-person celebration of the neighborhood’s everyday heroes who have fought for resources and have brought joy to the Bayview.

City Is Alive will present Imprint City’s signature annual event BayviewLIVE, the only festival in San Francisco dedicated to urban arts and culture, in tandem with Bayview murals come to life by the community through the creative power of Crux, an XR movement founded by and centering Black technologists.

This year’s BayviewLIVE features musical performances by Bay Area rappers Footz da Beast, LB, RobWoods, Xpress, and more, and will be entirely viewable online for the first time ever. The original home of BayviewLIVE, Egbert Avenue, will be activated with projections of these musical performances and community stories around the neighborhood’s signature murals, all viewable from the comfort of your home through a robust and interactive digital presentation.

Join us in honoring and uplifting the powerful voices from San Francisco’s historic Bayview neighborhood, and watch our city come alive.

Why the Bayview?

San Francisco could not exist without the Bayview. The sand and cement factories that drive our city’s construction are found there. The Hunter’s Point Shipyards that drew African American communities to the Bay are found there. For many years, our city was powered by the Bayview. The Bayview is so important, so essential, so vital, yet it does not get the recognition it so richly deserves as a driving force in our city.

YBCA prioritizes above all the safety, health and wellbeing of our staff, collaborating artists and partners, and community. We strictly follow the COVID-19 guidance of local and state public health agencies, OSHA, and the CDC to ensure that our protocols address and mitigate the risk of illness and injury and promote wellbeing. Please click here for more information on YBCA’s COVID-19 Health and Safety Plan.

City Is Alive is a YBCA inaugural neighborhood commission, which brings us into Bayview-Hunter’s Point in partnership with YBCA artists-in-residence SF Urban Film Fest (SFUFF) and Bayview-based partner organizations Imprint City and Young Community Developers through the creative power of Crux, an XR movement founded by and centering Black technologists.