THOSE walking down Folsom and Howard streets in San Francisco’s South of Market (SOMA) neighborhood can get a brief lesson in the Abakada alphabet, which was once taught as part of the Philippine national language.
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Peñaranda also helped pick out the publication name. “Liwanag” is Tagalog for “light,” or “clarity.” Their theme was connection to heritage, but their goal was to embed the Filipinx-American experience within the national conversation. They didn’t just want Filipinx and Filipinx-Americans reading it, they wanted people all over America thumbing through its pages.
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The Planning Commission unanimously approved a resolution calling for the Planning Department to center racial and social equity in its work by developing strategies to counter structural racism in collaboration with communities of color. It also instructed staff to alter its hiring practices to reflect The City’s demographics and to build establish metrics to track accountability.
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San Francisco’s Kultivate Labs, the nonprofit economic development and arts organization that has been instrumental in establishing the SOMA Pilipinas Cultural District, which recognizes and celebrates the local Filipino community, is leading a fundraising effort to keep Filipino chefs in business by hiring them to cook for seniors and low-income residents of SOMA Pilipinas—as well as for health care workers at hospitals including UCSF, Laguna Honda and Daly City’s newly-reopened Seton Medical Center, where 60% of the nurses are Filipino.
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The Comcast NBCUniversal Foundation and NBCUniversal Owned Television Stations, a division of NBCUniversal, today announced $2.475 million in Project Innovation grants will be presented to 68 non-profit organizations located in 11 markets. The Project Innovation program supports non-profit organizations that are using innovation to advance communities in the areas of storytelling, community engagement, culture of inclusion and youth education.
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The vote marks a significant breakthrough for community advocates who fought the project to protect Victoria Manalo Draves Park, a two-acre open space heavily used by SoMa neighbors. More than 100 people — many being SoMa youth who rely on the park — spoke against the development-induced shadow for up to two hours. Many reiterated that VMD Park functions as the neighborhood’s backyard, as most residents are crowded into studio apartments or SROs.
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SOMCAN, or the South of Market Community Action Network, has its hands in so many issues that even director Angelica Cabande struggles to summarize all the issues the group tackles.
“It’s hard to put into one sentence,” she says. “Our primary work is around educating, organizing, and mobilizing folks in the different things that we want to do. I really see SOMCAN’s role as not only helping preserve but helping the neighborhood grow in a way that includes them.”
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Dance in the Bay Area reflects and amplifies the diversity of our community and our world, and the nominations for the 2017-2018 Isadora Duncan Dance Awards honor an inclusive array of genres, genders, cultures and points of view. The awards will be given out at a free public event (and one of the season’s best parties) in spring 2019, with a date to be announced.
The Izzies, as they’re affectionately called, recognize the September-through-August performance season, so an award might go to a performance that took place 18 months prior to the ceremony. Looking over this year’s list, it’s unlikely that the memory of any of these compelling artists and works has faded in the meantime.
In the full-company category, the Ballet’s entire roster of dancers got a shout-out for back-to-back-to-back outstanding performances. Sean Dorsey Dance and Margaret Jenkins Dance Company also garnered nominations, alongside OngDance Company for the glorious “Salt Doll” in the S.F. Ethnic Dance Festival and Alleluia Panis’ Diasporic Futurism Dance-Media Project for “Incarcerated 6×9,” an immersive referendum on life behind bars that was also recognized for visual design.
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“Tucked away in San Francisco’s South of Market district and encircled by streets named after Filipino heroes, lies Lipi Ni Lapu Lapu mural, one of many historical markers encountered on an afternoon ethno-tour hosted by City College’s Philippine Studies department.”
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It is proving to be another banner year — literally and figuratively — for SOMA Pilipinas, San Francisco’s first-ever Filipino cultural district. The designated area, located in the city’s South of Market (SoMa) neighborhood, is meant to revive and preserve the Filipino-American community that has a storied history there.
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In its second year and with its final month of the season about to wrap up, Undiscovered SF, a night market in SoMa's Pilipinas cultural heritage district, is making headway to become a permanent fixture in the neighborhood.
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“Beat writer Jack Kerouac wrote about the South of Market (SoMa) neighborhood’s reputation as a seedy skid row in his book Lonesome Traveler. But for decades, SoMa has also been the city’s center for Filipino culture.”
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The cultural district aims to stabilize and strengthen a neighborhood in flux. But Filipinos in S.F. have seen their community obliterated before.
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THE National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) has awarded SOMA Pilipinas, San Francisco’s Filipino Cultural Heritage District a $100,000 “Our Town” arts grant to fund the planning process for the increased visibility of Filipino arts, culture, and design. Through this grant, SOMA Pilipinas hopes to reverse decades of underrepresentation of the Filipino community’s history and culture.
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The grant will fund the planning process for the increased visibility of Filipino arts, culture, and design. Through this grant, SOMA Pilipinas hopes to reverse decades of underrepresentation of the Filipino community’s history and culture.
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The 2018 season of the lone Filipino Night market in San Francisco is off to an auspicious start, capitalizing on the momentum it built from last year, when thousands of participants trooped to its South of the Market Area (SOMA) venue.
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