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"content": "\u003cp>It was the final night of DJ Quik’s December residency at Yoshi’s, and he felt like stretching out. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Two songs into his set, the Compton-raised rap legend started conducting the band: first bringing the volume down, then leading his guitarist and keyboard player in back-to-back solos before pulling in the drums. He then turned the song’s West Coast rap rhythms upside down by grabbing some Latin percussion and twisting out an improvised solo of his own.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A grin spread across Quik’s face. “This \u003ci>is\u003c/i> a jazz club, ain’t it?” he asked the crowd.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In fact, Yoshi’s is the oldest and most famous jazz club in Oakland. But lately, it’s been something else too: a home for hip-hop legends like Scarface, the Pharcyde and Ghostface Killah, usually with a live band. It’s a reinvention that’s been especially notable in the past year, and it’s been packing in grown fans who once ran in the streets but now prefer sitting at tables. \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13985283\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/260108-yoshishiphopshows00690_TV_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13985283\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/260108-yoshishiphopshows00690_TV_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/260108-yoshishiphopshows00690_TV_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/260108-yoshishiphopshows00690_TV_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/260108-yoshishiphopshows00690_TV_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Audience members film Spice 1 as he performs at Yoshi’s in Oakland on January 8, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ / KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“There was definitely a certain effort with us to evolve our programming into more hip-hop and contemporary R&B bookings,” says Marc Zuazua, Yoshi’s director of marketing, in the club’s dining room before a recent Spice 1 show. After the pandemic, especially, he says, the crowds that once came to see traditional jazz artists, “who would do amazing for us in the past — like, those audiences weren’t coming back.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Who \u003ci>were\u003c/i> coming back were rap fans, especially to see the Bay Area’s own homegrown talent. Last year alone, Vallejo legend Mac Mall sold out a show. Oakland’s Richie Rich sold out two. Too Short sold out six. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s transformed not only box office revenues but the vibe inside the club, Zuazua says, with its traditional supper-club-style semicircle seating at tables and booths, and a menu featuring sushi and cocktails. Currently, Yoshi’s has hip-hop shows lined up with Mistah FAB (Jan. 22), the GZA (Feb. 8), and Twista (April 23). \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13985286\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/260108-yoshishiphopshows00908_TV_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13985286\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/260108-yoshishiphopshows00908_TV_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/260108-yoshishiphopshows00908_TV_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/260108-yoshishiphopshows00908_TV_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/260108-yoshishiphopshows00908_TV_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Spice 1 performs at Yoshi’s in Oakland on January 8, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ / KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>As Hayward’s Spice 1 took the stage later in the night, he acknowledged the mostly full club, and its atmosphere.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is kind of an upscale type thing, man,” he said, “but we can get up out of our seats!” \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the bass line to “I Got 5 on It” kicked off the set, many folks did just that — dancing, singing along, filming. Over the next 45 minutes, while Spice 1 delivered 30-year-old hits like “187 Proof” and “Welcome to the Ghetto,” people who now qualify for AARP membership celebrated with abandon alongside a handful of younger fans, who swarmed the rapper in the Yoshi’s front lobby afterward to get a selfie.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=arts_13975538 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/04/20250425_AYOBRAME_GC-26-KQED-1.jpg']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was a far cry from a straight-ahead jazz show at Yoshi’s, historically known for hosting golden-era legends like Pharoah Sanders, Roy Haynes, Charlie Haden or the esteemed McCoy Tyner, who once played an annual two-week residency at the club.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even before the pandemic, several factors affected Yoshi’s ability to book traditional jazz. One was the 2013 opening of the SFJAZZ Center, which siphoned giants like Tyner across the Bay and into a brand new venue with a bigger backstage. Another was the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/10297603/the-addition-formerly-yoshis-in-san-francisco-to-abruptly-close\">high-profile collapse of Yoshi’s San Francisco\u003c/a>, which kept some artists away from the Oakland club — even though the operations were basically separate entities. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And then there’s the simple fact that, despite contemporary jazz scenes in LA, Chicago and London gaining popularity with younger fans over the past decade, \u003ca href=\"https://andscape.com/features/jazz-musicians-see-signs-of-hope-despite-repeated-questions-about-its-popularity/\">jazz remains a small sliver of overall music listening\u003c/a>. The 1960s and ’70s jazz generation is getting older. Sanders, Haynes, Haden and Tyner, to count just four of hundreds, have all passed away. As Zuazua notes, many traditional jazz fans either live far away in the suburbs, remain scared by a media crime narrative about Oakland or have simply aged out of their nightclub-going years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s unfortunate, because if your typical jazz-listening uncle came to a rap show at Yoshi’s, most of the time he’d witness a live band on par with a classic Prestige Records-era quintet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13985677\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/IMG_3943.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13985677\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/IMG_3943.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/IMG_3943-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/IMG_3943-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/IMG_3943-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mac Mall performs with a live band and DJ at Yoshi’s jazz club in Oakland on Aug. 10, 2025. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Mac Mall)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Rappers at Yoshi’s are often backed by the go-to live hip-hop musical director for the Bay Area: Kev Choice. In fact, Choice was the first artist to regularly bring hip-hop to Yoshi’s, starting all the way back in 2008, with annual shows by his Kev Choice Ensemble that featured guests like Zumbi from Zion I, Phesto from Souls of Mischief, Silk-E from the Coup or Too Short. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Hip-hop fans have grown, have matured, have come into a new space of wanting to see some of their favorite artists — maybe in a different context, or coming to life in a different way,” Choice says.\u003ci> \u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yoshi’s isn’t alone in selling out shows by regional stars, like Oakland group the Delinquents in 2023. For the past several years, the Blue Note jazz club in New York has hosted rappers like Mos Def, Black Thought and Rakim. Yoshi’s San Francisco had even booked hip-hop acts a full 10 to 15 years ago: the Geto Boys, Public Enemy, Suga Free, Jay Electronica and KRS-One all appeared on its stage. \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13985280\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/260108-yoshishiphopshows00240_TV_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13985280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/260108-yoshishiphopshows00240_TV_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/260108-yoshishiphopshows00240_TV_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/260108-yoshishiphopshows00240_TV_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/260108-yoshishiphopshows00240_TV_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gianna Farren performs at Yoshi’s in Oakland on January 8, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ / KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Of course, rap and jazz have overlapped since the dawn of the 1990s. Along with more R&B, smooth jazz and world music on Yoshi’s calendar, one could call the development part of a natural lineage, musically and culturally. Richie Rich, who once \u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/JGXrqZY8hwM?si=sowD8bDEnrHy60en\">rapped over George Duke samples\u003c/a> in the East Bay group 415, has been particularly strong in recommending Yoshi’s to other rappers, sometimes booked by outside promoters like \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/ajthearchitect/\">AJ the Architect\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With change comes criticism, of course. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s definitely older jazz fans out there that always have something to say on Facebook. ‘I remember when Yoshi’s was a jazz venue,’ you know,” says Zuazua. “But if they were to show up and not just be commenting on social media, we’d definitely be booking more jazz, and more blues.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID='arts_13928550']Echoing Choice — who also served as musical director for \u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/59eBs8iiLU0?si=zAMfirZRZImLNTxi\">E-40’s recent Tiny Desk Concert at NPR\u003c/a> — Zuazua says that while the “soundscape” has changed, the intensity, spontaneity and musical beauty Yoshi’s is known for is still very much present, especially with a live band.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ve been going to hip-hop shows for as long as I can remember,” he says. “You go to a hip-hop show with a band, and that bass line is \u003ci>popping\u003c/i>. There’s horns. It’s alive.”\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>Mistah FAB performs two shows with the Kev Choice Ensemble on Thursday, Jan. 22, at Yoshi’s (510 Embarcadero West, Oakland), at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. \u003ca href=\"https://yoshis.com/events/sold-out/mistah-f-a-b-with-kev-choice/detail\">Tickets and more information here\u003c/a>.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>It was the final night of DJ Quik’s December residency at Yoshi’s, and he felt like stretching out. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Two songs into his set, the Compton-raised rap legend started conducting the band: first bringing the volume down, then leading his guitarist and keyboard player in back-to-back solos before pulling in the drums. He then turned the song’s West Coast rap rhythms upside down by grabbing some Latin percussion and twisting out an improvised solo of his own.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A grin spread across Quik’s face. “This \u003ci>is\u003c/i> a jazz club, ain’t it?” he asked the crowd.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In fact, Yoshi’s is the oldest and most famous jazz club in Oakland. But lately, it’s been something else too: a home for hip-hop legends like Scarface, the Pharcyde and Ghostface Killah, usually with a live band. It’s a reinvention that’s been especially notable in the past year, and it’s been packing in grown fans who once ran in the streets but now prefer sitting at tables. \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13985283\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/260108-yoshishiphopshows00690_TV_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13985283\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/260108-yoshishiphopshows00690_TV_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/260108-yoshishiphopshows00690_TV_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/260108-yoshishiphopshows00690_TV_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/260108-yoshishiphopshows00690_TV_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Audience members film Spice 1 as he performs at Yoshi’s in Oakland on January 8, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ / KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“There was definitely a certain effort with us to evolve our programming into more hip-hop and contemporary R&B bookings,” says Marc Zuazua, Yoshi’s director of marketing, in the club’s dining room before a recent Spice 1 show. After the pandemic, especially, he says, the crowds that once came to see traditional jazz artists, “who would do amazing for us in the past — like, those audiences weren’t coming back.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Who \u003ci>were\u003c/i> coming back were rap fans, especially to see the Bay Area’s own homegrown talent. Last year alone, Vallejo legend Mac Mall sold out a show. Oakland’s Richie Rich sold out two. Too Short sold out six. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s transformed not only box office revenues but the vibe inside the club, Zuazua says, with its traditional supper-club-style semicircle seating at tables and booths, and a menu featuring sushi and cocktails. Currently, Yoshi’s has hip-hop shows lined up with Mistah FAB (Jan. 22), the GZA (Feb. 8), and Twista (April 23). \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13985286\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/260108-yoshishiphopshows00908_TV_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13985286\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/260108-yoshishiphopshows00908_TV_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/260108-yoshishiphopshows00908_TV_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/260108-yoshishiphopshows00908_TV_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/260108-yoshishiphopshows00908_TV_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Spice 1 performs at Yoshi’s in Oakland on January 8, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ / KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>As Hayward’s Spice 1 took the stage later in the night, he acknowledged the mostly full club, and its atmosphere.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is kind of an upscale type thing, man,” he said, “but we can get up out of our seats!” \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the bass line to “I Got 5 on It” kicked off the set, many folks did just that — dancing, singing along, filming. Over the next 45 minutes, while Spice 1 delivered 30-year-old hits like “187 Proof” and “Welcome to the Ghetto,” people who now qualify for AARP membership celebrated with abandon alongside a handful of younger fans, who swarmed the rapper in the Yoshi’s front lobby afterward to get a selfie.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was a far cry from a straight-ahead jazz show at Yoshi’s, historically known for hosting golden-era legends like Pharoah Sanders, Roy Haynes, Charlie Haden or the esteemed McCoy Tyner, who once played an annual two-week residency at the club.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even before the pandemic, several factors affected Yoshi’s ability to book traditional jazz. One was the 2013 opening of the SFJAZZ Center, which siphoned giants like Tyner across the Bay and into a brand new venue with a bigger backstage. Another was the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/10297603/the-addition-formerly-yoshis-in-san-francisco-to-abruptly-close\">high-profile collapse of Yoshi’s San Francisco\u003c/a>, which kept some artists away from the Oakland club — even though the operations were basically separate entities. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And then there’s the simple fact that, despite contemporary jazz scenes in LA, Chicago and London gaining popularity with younger fans over the past decade, \u003ca href=\"https://andscape.com/features/jazz-musicians-see-signs-of-hope-despite-repeated-questions-about-its-popularity/\">jazz remains a small sliver of overall music listening\u003c/a>. The 1960s and ’70s jazz generation is getting older. Sanders, Haynes, Haden and Tyner, to count just four of hundreds, have all passed away. As Zuazua notes, many traditional jazz fans either live far away in the suburbs, remain scared by a media crime narrative about Oakland or have simply aged out of their nightclub-going years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s unfortunate, because if your typical jazz-listening uncle came to a rap show at Yoshi’s, most of the time he’d witness a live band on par with a classic Prestige Records-era quintet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13985677\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/IMG_3943.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13985677\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/IMG_3943.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/IMG_3943-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/IMG_3943-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/IMG_3943-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mac Mall performs with a live band and DJ at Yoshi’s jazz club in Oakland on Aug. 10, 2025. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Mac Mall)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Rappers at Yoshi’s are often backed by the go-to live hip-hop musical director for the Bay Area: Kev Choice. In fact, Choice was the first artist to regularly bring hip-hop to Yoshi’s, starting all the way back in 2008, with annual shows by his Kev Choice Ensemble that featured guests like Zumbi from Zion I, Phesto from Souls of Mischief, Silk-E from the Coup or Too Short. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Hip-hop fans have grown, have matured, have come into a new space of wanting to see some of their favorite artists — maybe in a different context, or coming to life in a different way,” Choice says.\u003ci> \u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yoshi’s isn’t alone in selling out shows by regional stars, like Oakland group the Delinquents in 2023. For the past several years, the Blue Note jazz club in New York has hosted rappers like Mos Def, Black Thought and Rakim. Yoshi’s San Francisco had even booked hip-hop acts a full 10 to 15 years ago: the Geto Boys, Public Enemy, Suga Free, Jay Electronica and KRS-One all appeared on its stage. \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13985280\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/260108-yoshishiphopshows00240_TV_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13985280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/260108-yoshishiphopshows00240_TV_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/260108-yoshishiphopshows00240_TV_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/260108-yoshishiphopshows00240_TV_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/260108-yoshishiphopshows00240_TV_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gianna Farren performs at Yoshi’s in Oakland on January 8, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ / KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Of course, rap and jazz have overlapped since the dawn of the 1990s. Along with more R&B, smooth jazz and world music on Yoshi’s calendar, one could call the development part of a natural lineage, musically and culturally. Richie Rich, who once \u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/JGXrqZY8hwM?si=sowD8bDEnrHy60en\">rapped over George Duke samples\u003c/a> in the East Bay group 415, has been particularly strong in recommending Yoshi’s to other rappers, sometimes booked by outside promoters like \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/ajthearchitect/\">AJ the Architect\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With change comes criticism, of course. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s definitely older jazz fans out there that always have something to say on Facebook. ‘I remember when Yoshi’s was a jazz venue,’ you know,” says Zuazua. “But if they were to show up and not just be commenting on social media, we’d definitely be booking more jazz, and more blues.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Echoing Choice — who also served as musical director for \u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/59eBs8iiLU0?si=zAMfirZRZImLNTxi\">E-40’s recent Tiny Desk Concert at NPR\u003c/a> — Zuazua says that while the “soundscape” has changed, the intensity, spontaneity and musical beauty Yoshi’s is known for is still very much present, especially with a live band.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ve been going to hip-hop shows for as long as I can remember,” he says. “You go to a hip-hop show with a band, and that bass line is \u003ci>popping\u003c/i>. There’s horns. It’s alive.”\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>Mistah FAB performs two shows with the Kev Choice Ensemble on Thursday, Jan. 22, at Yoshi’s (510 Embarcadero West, Oakland), at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. \u003ca href=\"https://yoshis.com/events/sold-out/mistah-f-a-b-with-kev-choice/detail\">Tickets and more information here\u003c/a>.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>When it comes to experimental dance and theater in San Francisco, few institutions have made as big an impact or sustained it for as long as CounterPulse. After more than \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13893062/celebrating-30-years-counterpulse-continues-to-shine-in-the-tenderloin\">three decades of championing the performing arts\u003c/a>, CounterPulse purchased its building in the heart of the Tenderloin’s Transgender Cultural District in 2023, securing a permanent home in a city where artists are routinely priced out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But what promised to be a new era of stability has turned into a time of chaos at the nonprofit organization. In November, CounterPulse laid off four of its five unionized administrative staff, including key roles in communications and fundraising. Its interim executive director departed after just 10 days on the job. Former workers and CounterPulse’s board remain in an ongoing labor dispute stemming from complaints the union made to the National Labor Relations Board, accusing the organization of refusing to negotiate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The turmoil is sending shockwaves through San Francisco’s community of performing artists, more than 100 of whom have signed an open letter and attended town halls to voice support for former workers and help the board find a path forward. [aside postid='arts_13985432']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have a 35-year history of serving this city, and an incredible legacy of audience and artists and community members who want to see it thrive, and a building that we own,” Board Chair Victor Cordon told KQED in an interview. “There are so many assets to work with, and so I think that’s going to be the place we really tap into as we navigate this and seek to stabilize and rebuild the organization.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Workers accuse CounterPulse of violating their bargaining rights\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Trouble at CounterPulse began when it incurred a $46,000 deficit in 2024, a year when operating expenses totaled $1.4 million, according to public records. An influx of funding that the nonprofit received during the pandemic ran dry; meanwhile, operating expenses had grown and CounterPulse depleted its reserves, Cordon said. When the board approved its new budget in June 2025, it included staffing cuts to mitigate a shortfall that currently stands at an estimated $130,000. In August, management began negotiations with CounterPulse Workers United, who are represented by Industrial Workers of the World.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>CounterPulse union staff showed KQED proposals they shared with management, which included taking unpaid furloughs and reducing their hours in hopes of avoiding layoffs. In November, CounterPulse sent the union a proposal to lay off four of its members.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The union attempted to counter, but CounterPulse management declared an impasse a week later — a move the workers said impeded on their rights to bargain as outlined in the National Labor Relations Act.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s really where the illegal situation happened because that is just a refusal to bargain,” said Ach Kabal, CounterPulse’s former associate director of community engagement, who was among the laid-off union workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13985513\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13985513\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/260113-CounterPulse-05-BL_qed.jpg\" alt='The exterior window of CounterPulse reads \"A space for art and community.\"' width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/260113-CounterPulse-05-BL_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/260113-CounterPulse-05-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/260113-CounterPulse-05-BL_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/260113-CounterPulse-05-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The exterior of CounterPulse on Jan. 13, 2026. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>On Nov. 24, 2025, the workers filed an unfair labor practice charge against CounterPulse, accusing the organization of unlawfully declaring a bargaining impasse and selecting workers for layoffs based on their support for the union. Julie Phelps, the former executive director, was unable to be reached by publication time, and Cordon declined to respond to specific questions about the allegations during our interview, but followed up with an email that said the board rejects them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We negotiated in good faith for months and were transparent that the underlying need to reduce expenses was a non-negotiable reality to ensure the organization’s survival,” Cordon wrote. “In an organization where nearly every eligible employee is a union member, a reduction in force will inevitably include union participants, but at no point was union activity a factor in these decisions. We remain confident that our actions were lawful, non-discriminatory, and necessary to preserve the organization.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A leadership transition goes wrong\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Making matters more challenging, the layoffs at CounterPulse took place amid a botched leadership transition. In 2025, the organization’s artistic and executive director \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/entertainment/article/counterpulse-julie-phelps-departure-20818545.php\">Julie Phelps announced she was leaving CounterPulse\u003c/a> in November after 11 years. Suzanne Tan stepped in as interim executive director in late October, but left the role after just 10 days. The board informed the union of her departure a day before it sent its layoff proposal, meaning neither Tan nor Phelps could represent CounterPulse at the bargaining table.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>CounterPulse board members Keith Hennessy (one of the organization’s original co-founders) and Abra Allan then formed an emergency leadership council, but it disbanded after two weeks. “I think, frankly, they were a bit emotionally tapped out,” Cordon said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cordon told KQED that CounterPulse will return to the bargaining table once a new executive leader is in place. It’s unclear when someone will be hired to fill that role, which has been vacant since mid-November. Meanwhile, the union argues that CounterPulse’s board has had a reasonable amount of time to designate another representative and continue negotiations, including the terms of their severance. [aside postid='arts_13985413']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They have a full board, they have a board chair, they have a board treasurer. The remaining member of management is the director of finance administration. And this whole conversation is about finance administration,” said Kabal. “There are people who are able to bargain with us.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A path forward for CounterPulse\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Peekaboo Salinas, who was CounterPulse’s development and communications associate until Dec. 19, said they and the three other laid-off workers are lobbying to get their jobs back. The workers want to bargain for a recall clause, which would ensure that they’d be reinstated once the organization is in a better financial position.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I feel committed to the artists,” Salinas said. “I feel committed to the Transgender Cultural District, to the Tenderloin.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13985538\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2048px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13985538\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/IMG_5249.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2048\" height=\"1536\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/IMG_5249.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/IMG_5249-2000x1500.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/IMG_5249-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/IMG_5249-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/IMG_5249-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">CounterPulse Workers United. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Peekaboo Salinas)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Jessi Barber, who remains at CounterPulse as an on-call technician and union member, said the turmoil at CounterPulse has larger implications for the health of the Bay Area’s performing arts ecosystem. In addition to commissioning new works through its artist residency program, CounterPulse fiscally sponsors several artists and organizations, and is one of the few low-cost rentable venues in San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I can say that I work freelance for other people, and I know from those other productions I’m working on that people are looking at dates at other places and trying to make a plan B,” said Barber. “There’s a lot of heartache about that.” [aside postid='arts_13984438']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2025, CounterPulse hosted 21 full productions, plus nearly a dozen workshops and other events. Its public-facing 2026 calendar is currently blank other than a San Francisco Youth Theatre production in February. Cordon said CounterPulse will continue to support its fiscally sponsored House Artists, and that the organization is currently assessing its capacity for other spring events and its ARC Performing Diaspora residency.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Amid the turmoil, more than 100 artists, audience members and former CounterPulse staff signed an open letter that included a set of recommendations to the board and an invitation to meet to discuss the organization’s future. Supporters crowdfunded $7,818 to support the four laid-off union workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The core group behind the letter is calling themselves Friends of CounterPulse. Melissa Lewis Wong, a former CounterPulse artist in residence, is hopeful that by coming in with an outside perspective, they can help the board and union find common ground with the shared goal of CounterPulse’s long-term survival.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think the community cares deeply for the future of CounterPulse, as does the board, as does unionized staff,” said Wong. “I have hope around that being a shared vision and aspiration.”\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>When it comes to experimental dance and theater in San Francisco, few institutions have made as big an impact or sustained it for as long as CounterPulse. After more than \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13893062/celebrating-30-years-counterpulse-continues-to-shine-in-the-tenderloin\">three decades of championing the performing arts\u003c/a>, CounterPulse purchased its building in the heart of the Tenderloin’s Transgender Cultural District in 2023, securing a permanent home in a city where artists are routinely priced out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But what promised to be a new era of stability has turned into a time of chaos at the nonprofit organization. In November, CounterPulse laid off four of its five unionized administrative staff, including key roles in communications and fundraising. Its interim executive director departed after just 10 days on the job. Former workers and CounterPulse’s board remain in an ongoing labor dispute stemming from complaints the union made to the National Labor Relations Board, accusing the organization of refusing to negotiate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The turmoil is sending shockwaves through San Francisco’s community of performing artists, more than 100 of whom have signed an open letter and attended town halls to voice support for former workers and help the board find a path forward. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have a 35-year history of serving this city, and an incredible legacy of audience and artists and community members who want to see it thrive, and a building that we own,” Board Chair Victor Cordon told KQED in an interview. “There are so many assets to work with, and so I think that’s going to be the place we really tap into as we navigate this and seek to stabilize and rebuild the organization.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Workers accuse CounterPulse of violating their bargaining rights\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Trouble at CounterPulse began when it incurred a $46,000 deficit in 2024, a year when operating expenses totaled $1.4 million, according to public records. An influx of funding that the nonprofit received during the pandemic ran dry; meanwhile, operating expenses had grown and CounterPulse depleted its reserves, Cordon said. When the board approved its new budget in June 2025, it included staffing cuts to mitigate a shortfall that currently stands at an estimated $130,000. In August, management began negotiations with CounterPulse Workers United, who are represented by Industrial Workers of the World.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>CounterPulse union staff showed KQED proposals they shared with management, which included taking unpaid furloughs and reducing their hours in hopes of avoiding layoffs. In November, CounterPulse sent the union a proposal to lay off four of its members.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The union attempted to counter, but CounterPulse management declared an impasse a week later — a move the workers said impeded on their rights to bargain as outlined in the National Labor Relations Act.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s really where the illegal situation happened because that is just a refusal to bargain,” said Ach Kabal, CounterPulse’s former associate director of community engagement, who was among the laid-off union workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13985513\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13985513\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/260113-CounterPulse-05-BL_qed.jpg\" alt='The exterior window of CounterPulse reads \"A space for art and community.\"' width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/260113-CounterPulse-05-BL_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/260113-CounterPulse-05-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/260113-CounterPulse-05-BL_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/260113-CounterPulse-05-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The exterior of CounterPulse on Jan. 13, 2026. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>On Nov. 24, 2025, the workers filed an unfair labor practice charge against CounterPulse, accusing the organization of unlawfully declaring a bargaining impasse and selecting workers for layoffs based on their support for the union. Julie Phelps, the former executive director, was unable to be reached by publication time, and Cordon declined to respond to specific questions about the allegations during our interview, but followed up with an email that said the board rejects them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We negotiated in good faith for months and were transparent that the underlying need to reduce expenses was a non-negotiable reality to ensure the organization’s survival,” Cordon wrote. “In an organization where nearly every eligible employee is a union member, a reduction in force will inevitably include union participants, but at no point was union activity a factor in these decisions. We remain confident that our actions were lawful, non-discriminatory, and necessary to preserve the organization.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A leadership transition goes wrong\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Making matters more challenging, the layoffs at CounterPulse took place amid a botched leadership transition. In 2025, the organization’s artistic and executive director \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/entertainment/article/counterpulse-julie-phelps-departure-20818545.php\">Julie Phelps announced she was leaving CounterPulse\u003c/a> in November after 11 years. Suzanne Tan stepped in as interim executive director in late October, but left the role after just 10 days. The board informed the union of her departure a day before it sent its layoff proposal, meaning neither Tan nor Phelps could represent CounterPulse at the bargaining table.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>CounterPulse board members Keith Hennessy (one of the organization’s original co-founders) and Abra Allan then formed an emergency leadership council, but it disbanded after two weeks. “I think, frankly, they were a bit emotionally tapped out,” Cordon said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cordon told KQED that CounterPulse will return to the bargaining table once a new executive leader is in place. It’s unclear when someone will be hired to fill that role, which has been vacant since mid-November. Meanwhile, the union argues that CounterPulse’s board has had a reasonable amount of time to designate another representative and continue negotiations, including the terms of their severance. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They have a full board, they have a board chair, they have a board treasurer. The remaining member of management is the director of finance administration. And this whole conversation is about finance administration,” said Kabal. “There are people who are able to bargain with us.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A path forward for CounterPulse\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Peekaboo Salinas, who was CounterPulse’s development and communications associate until Dec. 19, said they and the three other laid-off workers are lobbying to get their jobs back. The workers want to bargain for a recall clause, which would ensure that they’d be reinstated once the organization is in a better financial position.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I feel committed to the artists,” Salinas said. “I feel committed to the Transgender Cultural District, to the Tenderloin.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13985538\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2048px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13985538\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/IMG_5249.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2048\" height=\"1536\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/IMG_5249.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/IMG_5249-2000x1500.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/IMG_5249-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/IMG_5249-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/IMG_5249-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">CounterPulse Workers United. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Peekaboo Salinas)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Jessi Barber, who remains at CounterPulse as an on-call technician and union member, said the turmoil at CounterPulse has larger implications for the health of the Bay Area’s performing arts ecosystem. In addition to commissioning new works through its artist residency program, CounterPulse fiscally sponsors several artists and organizations, and is one of the few low-cost rentable venues in San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I can say that I work freelance for other people, and I know from those other productions I’m working on that people are looking at dates at other places and trying to make a plan B,” said Barber. “There’s a lot of heartache about that.” \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2025, CounterPulse hosted 21 full productions, plus nearly a dozen workshops and other events. Its public-facing 2026 calendar is currently blank other than a San Francisco Youth Theatre production in February. Cordon said CounterPulse will continue to support its fiscally sponsored House Artists, and that the organization is currently assessing its capacity for other spring events and its ARC Performing Diaspora residency.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Amid the turmoil, more than 100 artists, audience members and former CounterPulse staff signed an open letter that included a set of recommendations to the board and an invitation to meet to discuss the organization’s future. Supporters crowdfunded $7,818 to support the four laid-off union workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The core group behind the letter is calling themselves Friends of CounterPulse. Melissa Lewis Wong, a former CounterPulse artist in residence, is hopeful that by coming in with an outside perspective, they can help the board and union find common ground with the shared goal of CounterPulse’s long-term survival.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think the community cares deeply for the future of CounterPulse, as does the board, as does unionized staff,” said Wong. “I have hope around that being a shared vision and aspiration.”\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>On Tuesday morning at City Hall, Mayor Daniel Lurie made the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13985359/california-college-of-the-arts-closing-vanderbilt-university\">surprise announcement\u003c/a> that Vanderbilt University would open a campus in San Francisco. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Today is a big day for our city,” Lurie said, in his now-familiar role of cheerleader. “Vanderbilt’s decision sends a powerful message. It says that San Francisco remains one of the world’s great places to live, to learn and to innovate.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID='arts_13985359']Just hours earlier, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/california-college-of-the-arts\">California College of the Arts\u003c/a> students, staff, faculty and alumni learned via email that Vanderbilt’s expansion would follow the dissolution of their own school. The 119-year-old institution, Northern California’s last nonprofit art and design college, will close at the end of the 2026–2027 academic year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At City Hall, Lurie stated that CCA’s “artists, designers, educators, and alumni have helped define the Bay Area’s global influence in art, architecture, and design.” Honoring that legacy, he said, “will be an important responsibility” for Vanderbilt and the city. He then moved on, to emphasize how Vanderbilt is part of making San Francisco “better than ever.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So relentless is the mayor’s spin machine that the livelihoods of 530 faculty and staff, the educational future of 1,080 current CCA students, the memories of thousands of alumni and over a century of local art history received minimal acknowledgement. \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13985421\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/LurieVanderbilt_2000.jpg\" alt=\"two men seated before standing man at podium in grand rotunda\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1500\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13985421\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/LurieVanderbilt_2000.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/LurieVanderbilt_2000-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/LurieVanderbilt_2000-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/LurieVanderbilt_2000-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mayor Daniel Lurie is seated at left while Vanderbilt University Chancellor Daniel Diermeier speaks at a press conference announcing the university’s move to CCA’s campus, at San Francisco City Hall on Jan. 13, 2026. \u003ccite>(Sydney Johnson/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Even more jarring is the mayor’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/DTdt2e9EiVS/?hl=en\">accompanying post on social media\u003c/a>. “Anchor down!” he says in the video, referencing a Vanderbilt sports mantra. “Let’s go, San Francisco!” He sits in his office, in front of a painting made by CCA alum and current faculty member \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13911456/at-moad-david-huffmans-terra-incognita-explores-black-trauma-among-the-stars\">David Huffman\u003c/a>, never mentioning the art school once.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One year in, we’re used to Lurie’s optimism. It’s as pervasive as his habit of claiming existing programs and projects as his own accomplishments. Changing the public perception of San Francisco is, as \u003ca href=\"https://missionlocal.org/2026/01/daniel-lurie-instagram/\">Mission Local has noted\u003c/a>, a key part of the job.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But unlike the international chain stores moving into empty storefronts in Union Square, Vanderbilt’s annexation of the CCA campus does not fill a gaping void. We \u003ci>have\u003c/i> a school here, and celebrating its closure as a win is a glaring insult to an already bereaved community.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>This hits triply hard\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In the small Bay Area arts scene, thousands were affected by the 2022 closure of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13916517/sfai-closed-students-for-action-usf-aquisition\">San Francisco Art Institute\u003c/a> and the “merger” that same year of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11914203/celebrating-with-a-tinge-of-grief-mills-colleges-last-class-graduates-before-merger\">Mills College with Northeastern University\u003c/a>. Lost with both of those schools were staff and faculty positions for local artists, legendary degree programs and yearly batches of graduating artists to shape the region’s artistic future. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID='arts_13975081']This time around, it’s even more personal. CCA is the reason I’m in San Francisco, in this job, in the arts. It was in CCA’s MFA program that I met some of my closest friends, my first KQED editor, and a network of professional artists who taught me how to make my way in the Bay Area art world. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>My final semester of grad school, I took a required class called “Real World.” Taught by Stephanie Syjuco and Glen Helfand, it gave me a crash course in pragmatic skills: how to hang a painting at eye level; how to write an artist statement; how to approach the intimidating people higher up the food chain; how to navigate — and cobble together — a life in the arts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The class represented what was different about CCA, especially in comparison to the more \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13889433/sfais-unruly-past-goes-online-in-bampfas-latest-matrix-show\">unruly, exclusively fine-art focus of SFAI\u003c/a>. Local logic reasoned that CCA was the more stable art school. CCA’s MFA program required everyone to write a thesis; it offered an MBA in design strategy; its alums got real jobs at places like Apple and Ideo. CCA spawned not just talented fine artists, but fiction writers, architects, industrial designers and fashion brands.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13975125\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/04/20240927_CCA_Aerial-of-Upper-Ground_cJason-ORear_2000.jpg\" alt=\"aerial view of large plaza, new building and old warehouse with foggy SF skyline behind\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1090\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13975125\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/04/20240927_CCA_Aerial-of-Upper-Ground_cJason-ORear_2000.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/04/20240927_CCA_Aerial-of-Upper-Ground_cJason-ORear_2000-800x436.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/04/20240927_CCA_Aerial-of-Upper-Ground_cJason-ORear_2000-1020x556.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/04/20240927_CCA_Aerial-of-Upper-Ground_cJason-ORear_2000-160x87.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/04/20240927_CCA_Aerial-of-Upper-Ground_cJason-ORear_2000-768x419.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/04/20240927_CCA_Aerial-of-Upper-Ground_cJason-ORear_2000-1536x837.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/04/20240927_CCA_Aerial-of-Upper-Ground_cJason-ORear_2000-1920x1046.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">CCA opened an expanded single campus in San Francisco on Oct. 19, 2024. \u003ccite>(Jason O'Rear)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Yet SFAI and CCA shared some crucial things in common. Both undertook expensive expansion projects. Both had declining enrollment rates. Both relied too much on tuition fees. The stories coming out of CCA over the past two years have been filled with familiar themes: a deficit of millions, layoffs, short-term stop-gap fundraising. And now, closure has become, according to CCA President David Howse, “\u003ca href=\"https://cca.edu/about/vanderbilt-agreement/\">the necessary step to take\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The next three semesters\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>After reporting on the slow and heart-wrenching demise of SFAI, I’m almost glad that CCA is closing down in a more straightforward manner. Except it isn’t, not really. Completely missing from Tuesday’s announcements by CCA, Lurie and Vanderbilt was any sense of the chaos this will cause for CCA’s students, faculty and staff. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Students who can graduate by the end of the 2026–2027 year will get their degrees, but they will do so in a gradually diminishing institution: new students won’t enter the school, and faculty and staff will depart to secure their own futures. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Students who can’t finish up will have to undergo the confusing and time-consuming process of transferring elsewhere, which can end up costing far more. There’s no guarantee students would receive comparable financial aid, and schools often have limits on the number of transfer credits they’ll accept. No one will be automatically enrolled at Vanderbilt, which does not offer any specialized art and design degrees, and which promises to serve even fewer students than CCA currently does. Many current CCA students will abandon their studies altogether. \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13985422\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/large_digital_jpg-CCA_welcome-week_FA23-164_2000.jpg\" alt=\"young people crowded together smiling in candid shot\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13985422\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/large_digital_jpg-CCA_welcome-week_FA23-164_2000.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/large_digital_jpg-CCA_welcome-week_FA23-164_2000-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/large_digital_jpg-CCA_welcome-week_FA23-164_2000-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/large_digital_jpg-CCA_welcome-week_FA23-164_2000-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">CCA first-years during their fall 2023 welcome week. \u003ccite>(Courtesy CCA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Laid-off faculty and staff, most of them artists themselves, may no longer be able to afford living in one of the most expensive regions in the country. When SFAI and Mills closed, CCA was able to absorb some of the fallout by accepting transfer students and hiring those schools’ former employees. Program cuts and layoffs at \u003ca href=\"https://next.kqed.org/arts/13975081/art-school-degrees-bay-area-closures\">Sonoma State University\u003c/a> and San Francisco State University now further limit local options for study and employment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Art school is not the only way to become an artist, but it is an incredible shortcut to it. At its best, art school provides access to skills, knowledge, collaborators and supporters. At its simultaneous worst, it can underpay its workers, saddle students with debt, and contort itself into \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13981240/nvidia-california-college-of-the-arts-partnership\">unsustainable shapes\u003c/a> in hopes of courting financial salvation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And while press junkets aren’t known for nuance, the Bay Area arts community deserved better than Tuesday’s tone-deaf celebration. Replace every unique legacy institution and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12069424/iconic-often-reviled-sf-fountain-is-down-to-its-last-chance-to-stave-off-removal\">landmark\u003c/a> with a “this could be anywhere” substitute, sand down all the rough and interesting edges of San Francisco’s history and see what’s left.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Certainly not artists.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Just hours earlier, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/california-college-of-the-arts\">California College of the Arts\u003c/a> students, staff, faculty and alumni learned via email that Vanderbilt’s expansion would follow the dissolution of their own school. The 119-year-old institution, Northern California’s last nonprofit art and design college, will close at the end of the 2026–2027 academic year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At City Hall, Lurie stated that CCA’s “artists, designers, educators, and alumni have helped define the Bay Area’s global influence in art, architecture, and design.” Honoring that legacy, he said, “will be an important responsibility” for Vanderbilt and the city. He then moved on, to emphasize how Vanderbilt is part of making San Francisco “better than ever.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So relentless is the mayor’s spin machine that the livelihoods of 530 faculty and staff, the educational future of 1,080 current CCA students, the memories of thousands of alumni and over a century of local art history received minimal acknowledgement. \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13985421\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/LurieVanderbilt_2000.jpg\" alt=\"two men seated before standing man at podium in grand rotunda\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1500\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13985421\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/LurieVanderbilt_2000.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/LurieVanderbilt_2000-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/LurieVanderbilt_2000-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/LurieVanderbilt_2000-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mayor Daniel Lurie is seated at left while Vanderbilt University Chancellor Daniel Diermeier speaks at a press conference announcing the university’s move to CCA’s campus, at San Francisco City Hall on Jan. 13, 2026. \u003ccite>(Sydney Johnson/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Even more jarring is the mayor’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/DTdt2e9EiVS/?hl=en\">accompanying post on social media\u003c/a>. “Anchor down!” he says in the video, referencing a Vanderbilt sports mantra. “Let’s go, San Francisco!” He sits in his office, in front of a painting made by CCA alum and current faculty member \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13911456/at-moad-david-huffmans-terra-incognita-explores-black-trauma-among-the-stars\">David Huffman\u003c/a>, never mentioning the art school once.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One year in, we’re used to Lurie’s optimism. It’s as pervasive as his habit of claiming existing programs and projects as his own accomplishments. Changing the public perception of San Francisco is, as \u003ca href=\"https://missionlocal.org/2026/01/daniel-lurie-instagram/\">Mission Local has noted\u003c/a>, a key part of the job.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But unlike the international chain stores moving into empty storefronts in Union Square, Vanderbilt’s annexation of the CCA campus does not fill a gaping void. We \u003ci>have\u003c/i> a school here, and celebrating its closure as a win is a glaring insult to an already bereaved community.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>This hits triply hard\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In the small Bay Area arts scene, thousands were affected by the 2022 closure of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13916517/sfai-closed-students-for-action-usf-aquisition\">San Francisco Art Institute\u003c/a> and the “merger” that same year of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11914203/celebrating-with-a-tinge-of-grief-mills-colleges-last-class-graduates-before-merger\">Mills College with Northeastern University\u003c/a>. Lost with both of those schools were staff and faculty positions for local artists, legendary degree programs and yearly batches of graduating artists to shape the region’s artistic future. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>This time around, it’s even more personal. CCA is the reason I’m in San Francisco, in this job, in the arts. It was in CCA’s MFA program that I met some of my closest friends, my first KQED editor, and a network of professional artists who taught me how to make my way in the Bay Area art world. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>My final semester of grad school, I took a required class called “Real World.” Taught by Stephanie Syjuco and Glen Helfand, it gave me a crash course in pragmatic skills: how to hang a painting at eye level; how to write an artist statement; how to approach the intimidating people higher up the food chain; how to navigate — and cobble together — a life in the arts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The class represented what was different about CCA, especially in comparison to the more \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13889433/sfais-unruly-past-goes-online-in-bampfas-latest-matrix-show\">unruly, exclusively fine-art focus of SFAI\u003c/a>. Local logic reasoned that CCA was the more stable art school. CCA’s MFA program required everyone to write a thesis; it offered an MBA in design strategy; its alums got real jobs at places like Apple and Ideo. CCA spawned not just talented fine artists, but fiction writers, architects, industrial designers and fashion brands.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13975125\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/04/20240927_CCA_Aerial-of-Upper-Ground_cJason-ORear_2000.jpg\" alt=\"aerial view of large plaza, new building and old warehouse with foggy SF skyline behind\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1090\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13975125\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/04/20240927_CCA_Aerial-of-Upper-Ground_cJason-ORear_2000.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/04/20240927_CCA_Aerial-of-Upper-Ground_cJason-ORear_2000-800x436.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/04/20240927_CCA_Aerial-of-Upper-Ground_cJason-ORear_2000-1020x556.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/04/20240927_CCA_Aerial-of-Upper-Ground_cJason-ORear_2000-160x87.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/04/20240927_CCA_Aerial-of-Upper-Ground_cJason-ORear_2000-768x419.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/04/20240927_CCA_Aerial-of-Upper-Ground_cJason-ORear_2000-1536x837.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/04/20240927_CCA_Aerial-of-Upper-Ground_cJason-ORear_2000-1920x1046.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">CCA opened an expanded single campus in San Francisco on Oct. 19, 2024. \u003ccite>(Jason O'Rear)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Yet SFAI and CCA shared some crucial things in common. Both undertook expensive expansion projects. Both had declining enrollment rates. Both relied too much on tuition fees. The stories coming out of CCA over the past two years have been filled with familiar themes: a deficit of millions, layoffs, short-term stop-gap fundraising. And now, closure has become, according to CCA President David Howse, “\u003ca href=\"https://cca.edu/about/vanderbilt-agreement/\">the necessary step to take\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The next three semesters\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>After reporting on the slow and heart-wrenching demise of SFAI, I’m almost glad that CCA is closing down in a more straightforward manner. Except it isn’t, not really. Completely missing from Tuesday’s announcements by CCA, Lurie and Vanderbilt was any sense of the chaos this will cause for CCA’s students, faculty and staff. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Students who can graduate by the end of the 2026–2027 year will get their degrees, but they will do so in a gradually diminishing institution: new students won’t enter the school, and faculty and staff will depart to secure their own futures. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Students who can’t finish up will have to undergo the confusing and time-consuming process of transferring elsewhere, which can end up costing far more. There’s no guarantee students would receive comparable financial aid, and schools often have limits on the number of transfer credits they’ll accept. No one will be automatically enrolled at Vanderbilt, which does not offer any specialized art and design degrees, and which promises to serve even fewer students than CCA currently does. Many current CCA students will abandon their studies altogether. \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13985422\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/large_digital_jpg-CCA_welcome-week_FA23-164_2000.jpg\" alt=\"young people crowded together smiling in candid shot\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13985422\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/large_digital_jpg-CCA_welcome-week_FA23-164_2000.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/large_digital_jpg-CCA_welcome-week_FA23-164_2000-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/large_digital_jpg-CCA_welcome-week_FA23-164_2000-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/large_digital_jpg-CCA_welcome-week_FA23-164_2000-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">CCA first-years during their fall 2023 welcome week. \u003ccite>(Courtesy CCA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Laid-off faculty and staff, most of them artists themselves, may no longer be able to afford living in one of the most expensive regions in the country. When SFAI and Mills closed, CCA was able to absorb some of the fallout by accepting transfer students and hiring those schools’ former employees. Program cuts and layoffs at \u003ca href=\"https://next.kqed.org/arts/13975081/art-school-degrees-bay-area-closures\">Sonoma State University\u003c/a> and San Francisco State University now further limit local options for study and employment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Art school is not the only way to become an artist, but it is an incredible shortcut to it. At its best, art school provides access to skills, knowledge, collaborators and supporters. At its simultaneous worst, it can underpay its workers, saddle students with debt, and contort itself into \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13981240/nvidia-california-college-of-the-arts-partnership\">unsustainable shapes\u003c/a> in hopes of courting financial salvation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And while press junkets aren’t known for nuance, the Bay Area arts community deserved better than Tuesday’s tone-deaf celebration. Replace every unique legacy institution and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12069424/iconic-often-reviled-sf-fountain-is-down-to-its-last-chance-to-stave-off-removal\">landmark\u003c/a> with a “this could be anywhere” substitute, sand down all the rough and interesting edges of San Francisco’s history and see what’s left.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Certainly not artists.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>It’s no secret that America is fascinated with cults and their scamming, grifting leaders. Viewers flock to TV series like \u003cem>Wild Wild Country\u003c/em>, \u003cem>The Vow\u003c/em> and \u003cem>Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey\u003c/em>, and elevate con artists like the \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2022/04/24/1094538889/why-documentaries-and-tv-shows-about-scammers-are-so-popular\">Tinder swindler\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13907776/elizabeth-holmes-convicted-of-fraud-is-more-fascinating-than-ever\">Elizabeth Holmes\u003c/a> as antiheroes who’ve found loopholes in American society and business. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you want to find the roots of this fascination, there’s no better place to look than Northern California, with its deep history of communes and cults. At the center of the region’s first-ever international cult scandal was the Brotherhood of the New Life and its mystic leader Thomas Lake Harris, whose followers settled in 1875 into a colony in the golden hills just north of Santa Rosa.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Unholy Sensations: A Story of Sex, Scandal and California’s First Cult Scare\u003c/em> by Joshua Paddison (Oxford University Press, 2025) provides a definitive account of the forces that eventually drove Harris out of town. It also traces the genesis of Harris’ strange religious philosophies and, through surviving accounts of the colony, the coexistence of standard-issue winemaking alongside bizarre beliefs and practices. \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13985257\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1183px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/Alzire-Chevaillier-Thomas-Lake-Harris.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1183\" height=\"839\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13985257\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/Alzire-Chevaillier-Thomas-Lake-Harris.jpg 1183w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/Alzire-Chevaillier-Thomas-Lake-Harris-160x113.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/Alzire-Chevaillier-Thomas-Lake-Harris-768x545.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1183px) 100vw, 1183px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">At right, Thomas Lake Harris, founder of the Brotherhood of the New Life; at left, Alzire Chevaillier, who mounted a campaign against him in the late 1800s. \u003ccite>(Museum of Sonoma County Collection)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Harris used his followers’ wealth to purchase land and live lavishly, in exchange for administering his belief system of “divine respiration” mixed with Swedenborgian philosophies. He held that each living person had a “celestial counterpart” in heaven, and must refrain from sexual activity until finding the right person on Earth, a vessel to their celestial counterpart, to have sex with. (This person was chosen, naturally, by Harris himself.) \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Harris named the Santa Rosa land Fountaingrove, and built an ornate mansion for himself along with twin buildings separating his male and female followers. At an adjoining Fountaingrove winery, Harris’ protégé Kanaye Nagasawa, a young man from a wealthy samurai family now recognized as one of the first Japanese immigrants to the United States, made wines that were known internationally.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Paddison tells Harris’ story from its beginning in upstate New York, at the time a hotbed of self-proclaimed seers and prophets, including Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism. Harris started a colony called Mountain Cove — a phonetic precursor to Fountaingrove — and after its collapse established another on the shores of Lake Erie. So persuasive were his teachings that a member of British Parliament, Laurence Oliphant, would leave his post to join Harris.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13985260\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 662px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/UnholySensations.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"662\" height=\"1000\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13985260\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/UnholySensations.jpg 662w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/UnholySensations-160x242.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 662px) 100vw, 662px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">‘Unholy Sensations,’ by Joshua Paddison. \u003ccite>(Oxford University Press)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Oliphant later accused Harris of bilking him out of all of his money, and sued, somewhat successfully, to get it back. This drove the Brotherhood of the New Life across the country to Santa Rosa, where Harris continued to write erotic poetry; claim that a female deity, Queen Lily of the Conjugal Angels, lived inside his body alongside his own spirit; and, according to accounts, overstep the physical space of visiting women.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One such woman, Alzire Chevaillier, visited Harris to stay at his satellite house east of town. Though she spent relatively little time with Harris himself during her long stay, when she left, she devoted her time to exposing Harris as a manipulative fraud in newspaper accounts and pleas to the governor. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID='forum_2010101868250']In a packed public lecture in San Francisco, Chevaillier talked of “Edenic baths given by opposite sexes to each other,” and of forced sexual relations in the colony: “Husbands and wives are separated, old men are given to comely young women, and young men to old women, according as Harris directs.” \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For his part, Harris characterized Chevaillier’s campaign as “simply the revenge of a scorned, detested, and infuriated female.” However, later that year, he left town — first to England, then Wales, and then Manhattan, where — despite claiming he’d discovered the secret to eternal life — he died. \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13985249\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/GettyImages-85452646.jpg\" alt=\"A large red barn sits atop a small hill of green grass, with blue sky in the background\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13985249\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/GettyImages-85452646.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/GettyImages-85452646-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/GettyImages-85452646-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/GettyImages-85452646-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The historic Fountaingrove round barn, built in Santa Rosa by Kanaye Nagasawa, pictured in 2009. \u003ccite>(George Rose/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>As \u003cem>Unholy Sensations\u003c/em> shows, the scandal of the Brotherhood of the New Life presages “cancellation” campaigns of modern times. Instead of Twitter and Facebook, it was carried out in newspapers and broadsheets. Harris’ antagonists, driven by the ulterior motives of what we now call “going viral,” could easily have exaggerated or fabricated out of thin air their stories about rudimentary abortions and forced intergenerational sex at Fountaingrove. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chevallier’s allegations, reprinted in newspapers nationwide, became the subject of vast speculation, yet any actual details of the colony’s sexual exploits remain unverified today. Paddison notes, plainly and responsibly, that with a lack of evidentiary documentation and the distance of 150 years, no one will ever know the full truth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s this sort of careful, research-based contextualizing that helps make \u003cem>Unholy Sensations\u003c/em> a very worthy addition to the small-but-growing library of books about the Brotherhood of the New Life, including \u003cem>The Wonder Seekers of Fountaingrove\u003c/em>, by Gaye LeBaron and Bart Casey, and \u003cem>Thomas Lake Harris and His Occult Teaching\u003c/em> by W.P. Swainson. \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13985250\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1181px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/Fountaingrove.Winery.Gabe_.Meline.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1181\" height=\"966\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13985250\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/Fountaingrove.Winery.Gabe_.Meline.jpg 1181w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/Fountaingrove.Winery.Gabe_.Meline-160x131.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/Fountaingrove.Winery.Gabe_.Meline-768x628.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1181px) 100vw, 1181px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Scenes from inside the abandoned Fountaingrove Winery in Santa Rosa, circa 2008. Built by Thomas Lake Harris of the Brotherhood of the New Life, the winery was demolished in 2015. \u003ccite>(Gabe Meline/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Aside from a street named for Harris and a park named for Nagasawa, no trace of Fountaingrove’s past remains in Santa Rosa today. The abandoned Fountaingrove winery, a hangout for delinquent teens and curious photographers, was torn down in 2015. Two years later, wildfires destroyed the majestic Fountaingrove Round Barn, originally built by Nagasawa. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Unholy Sensations\u003c/em>, meanwhile, ensures the state’s first cult scandal — and our fascination — will live on. \u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>It’s no secret that America is fascinated with cults and their scamming, grifting leaders. Viewers flock to TV series like \u003cem>Wild Wild Country\u003c/em>, \u003cem>The Vow\u003c/em> and \u003cem>Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey\u003c/em>, and elevate con artists like the \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2022/04/24/1094538889/why-documentaries-and-tv-shows-about-scammers-are-so-popular\">Tinder swindler\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13907776/elizabeth-holmes-convicted-of-fraud-is-more-fascinating-than-ever\">Elizabeth Holmes\u003c/a> as antiheroes who’ve found loopholes in American society and business. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you want to find the roots of this fascination, there’s no better place to look than Northern California, with its deep history of communes and cults. At the center of the region’s first-ever international cult scandal was the Brotherhood of the New Life and its mystic leader Thomas Lake Harris, whose followers settled in 1875 into a colony in the golden hills just north of Santa Rosa.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Unholy Sensations: A Story of Sex, Scandal and California’s First Cult Scare\u003c/em> by Joshua Paddison (Oxford University Press, 2025) provides a definitive account of the forces that eventually drove Harris out of town. It also traces the genesis of Harris’ strange religious philosophies and, through surviving accounts of the colony, the coexistence of standard-issue winemaking alongside bizarre beliefs and practices. \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13985257\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1183px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/Alzire-Chevaillier-Thomas-Lake-Harris.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1183\" height=\"839\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13985257\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/Alzire-Chevaillier-Thomas-Lake-Harris.jpg 1183w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/Alzire-Chevaillier-Thomas-Lake-Harris-160x113.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/Alzire-Chevaillier-Thomas-Lake-Harris-768x545.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1183px) 100vw, 1183px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">At right, Thomas Lake Harris, founder of the Brotherhood of the New Life; at left, Alzire Chevaillier, who mounted a campaign against him in the late 1800s. \u003ccite>(Museum of Sonoma County Collection)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Harris used his followers’ wealth to purchase land and live lavishly, in exchange for administering his belief system of “divine respiration” mixed with Swedenborgian philosophies. He held that each living person had a “celestial counterpart” in heaven, and must refrain from sexual activity until finding the right person on Earth, a vessel to their celestial counterpart, to have sex with. (This person was chosen, naturally, by Harris himself.) \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Harris named the Santa Rosa land Fountaingrove, and built an ornate mansion for himself along with twin buildings separating his male and female followers. At an adjoining Fountaingrove winery, Harris’ protégé Kanaye Nagasawa, a young man from a wealthy samurai family now recognized as one of the first Japanese immigrants to the United States, made wines that were known internationally.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Paddison tells Harris’ story from its beginning in upstate New York, at the time a hotbed of self-proclaimed seers and prophets, including Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism. Harris started a colony called Mountain Cove — a phonetic precursor to Fountaingrove — and after its collapse established another on the shores of Lake Erie. So persuasive were his teachings that a member of British Parliament, Laurence Oliphant, would leave his post to join Harris.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13985260\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 662px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/UnholySensations.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"662\" height=\"1000\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13985260\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/UnholySensations.jpg 662w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/UnholySensations-160x242.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 662px) 100vw, 662px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">‘Unholy Sensations,’ by Joshua Paddison. \u003ccite>(Oxford University Press)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Oliphant later accused Harris of bilking him out of all of his money, and sued, somewhat successfully, to get it back. This drove the Brotherhood of the New Life across the country to Santa Rosa, where Harris continued to write erotic poetry; claim that a female deity, Queen Lily of the Conjugal Angels, lived inside his body alongside his own spirit; and, according to accounts, overstep the physical space of visiting women.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One such woman, Alzire Chevaillier, visited Harris to stay at his satellite house east of town. Though she spent relatively little time with Harris himself during her long stay, when she left, she devoted her time to exposing Harris as a manipulative fraud in newspaper accounts and pleas to the governor. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>In a packed public lecture in San Francisco, Chevaillier talked of “Edenic baths given by opposite sexes to each other,” and of forced sexual relations in the colony: “Husbands and wives are separated, old men are given to comely young women, and young men to old women, according as Harris directs.” \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For his part, Harris characterized Chevaillier’s campaign as “simply the revenge of a scorned, detested, and infuriated female.” However, later that year, he left town — first to England, then Wales, and then Manhattan, where — despite claiming he’d discovered the secret to eternal life — he died. \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13985249\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/GettyImages-85452646.jpg\" alt=\"A large red barn sits atop a small hill of green grass, with blue sky in the background\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13985249\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/GettyImages-85452646.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/GettyImages-85452646-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/GettyImages-85452646-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/GettyImages-85452646-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The historic Fountaingrove round barn, built in Santa Rosa by Kanaye Nagasawa, pictured in 2009. \u003ccite>(George Rose/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>As \u003cem>Unholy Sensations\u003c/em> shows, the scandal of the Brotherhood of the New Life presages “cancellation” campaigns of modern times. Instead of Twitter and Facebook, it was carried out in newspapers and broadsheets. Harris’ antagonists, driven by the ulterior motives of what we now call “going viral,” could easily have exaggerated or fabricated out of thin air their stories about rudimentary abortions and forced intergenerational sex at Fountaingrove. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chevallier’s allegations, reprinted in newspapers nationwide, became the subject of vast speculation, yet any actual details of the colony’s sexual exploits remain unverified today. Paddison notes, plainly and responsibly, that with a lack of evidentiary documentation and the distance of 150 years, no one will ever know the full truth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s this sort of careful, research-based contextualizing that helps make \u003cem>Unholy Sensations\u003c/em> a very worthy addition to the small-but-growing library of books about the Brotherhood of the New Life, including \u003cem>The Wonder Seekers of Fountaingrove\u003c/em>, by Gaye LeBaron and Bart Casey, and \u003cem>Thomas Lake Harris and His Occult Teaching\u003c/em> by W.P. Swainson. \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13985250\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1181px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/Fountaingrove.Winery.Gabe_.Meline.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1181\" height=\"966\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13985250\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/Fountaingrove.Winery.Gabe_.Meline.jpg 1181w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/Fountaingrove.Winery.Gabe_.Meline-160x131.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/Fountaingrove.Winery.Gabe_.Meline-768x628.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1181px) 100vw, 1181px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Scenes from inside the abandoned Fountaingrove Winery in Santa Rosa, circa 2008. Built by Thomas Lake Harris of the Brotherhood of the New Life, the winery was demolished in 2015. \u003ccite>(Gabe Meline/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Aside from a street named for Harris and a park named for Nagasawa, no trace of Fountaingrove’s past remains in Santa Rosa today. The abandoned Fountaingrove winery, a hangout for delinquent teens and curious photographers, was torn down in 2015. Two years later, wildfires destroyed the majestic Fountaingrove Round Barn, originally built by Nagasawa. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Unholy Sensations\u003c/em>, meanwhile, ensures the state’s first cult scandal — and our fascination — will live on. \u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Art needs money. That’s especially true in the case of large public sculptures. Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen’s \u003cem>Cupid’s Span\u003c/em>, a giant bow and arrow embedded in the grass at Rincon Park, wouldn’t have landed in San Francisco in 2002 without funding from Gap founders Donald and Doris F. Fisher.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.sfmoma.org/exhibition/claes-oldenburg-coosje-van-bruggen-thinking-big/\">Claes Oldenburg + Coosje van Bruggen: Thinking Big\u003c/a>\u003c/em> wouldn’t exist without the Fishers either. The \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/sfmoma\">San Francisco Museum of Modern Art\u003c/a>’s new exhibition is as much a story of patronage as it is of the two modernist artists.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID='arts_13985145']Ten years ago, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/11574512/shiny-new-sfmoma-a-whos-who-of-20th-century-art-so-whats-missing\">SFMOMA reopened\u003c/a> with nearly six times its former gallery space to accommodate the Fisher Collection. The Fishers’ 730-piece modern art collection, in a 100-year loan to SFMOMA, has thoroughly transformed the museum, much like one of Oldenburg and van Bruggen’s monumental sculptures transforms space around it. \u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Old and new modernity\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Thinking Big\u003c/em> kicks off another kind of transformation. It’s the first gallery of \u003cem>Reimagined: The Fisher Collection at 10\u003c/em>, a full reinstallation of the collection (floors four through six are expected to reopen April 18). It will command approximately 60,000 of the museum’s 170,000 square feet of exhibition space. And the exhibition’s designers have taken the opportunity to invest a 21st-century modernity into an art museum founded in 1935.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Large, colorful photos stretch across the walls, illustrating Oldenburg and van Bruggen’s public sculptures in situ. Object labels feature quotes from the artists. \u003cem>Thinking Big\u003c/em> brings together small-scale models the Fishers collected of eight monumental public sculptures Oldenburg and van Bruggen made around the world. Smaller maquettes sit in glass vitrines while larger models sizable enough to look like finished sculptures sit on risers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The show is a revision of what is known as a “white cube gallery,” a stark white-walled presentation of objects typically without much explanation. The inspiration for Apple Stores and third-wave coffee shops was a type of purist modernism championed by mid-20th-century art critic Clement Greenberg. For SFMOMA’s Chief Education and Community Engagement Officer Gamynne Guillotte, the white cube gallery is now a “period room,” an inherited historical vestige she describes as “an austere white space, the hard benches with no place to sit.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What is the museum of 2026?” Guillotte asks. “What does it look like if it’s not a white cube?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13985207\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/11.-Claes-Oldenburg-and-Coosje-van-Bruggen-Sculpture-in-the-Form-of-a-Match-Cover_2000.jpg\" alt=\"model of large-scale sculpture of matches and matchbook, partially burned\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1647\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13985207\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/11.-Claes-Oldenburg-and-Coosje-van-Bruggen-Sculpture-in-the-Form-of-a-Match-Cover_2000.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/11.-Claes-Oldenburg-and-Coosje-van-Bruggen-Sculpture-in-the-Form-of-a-Match-Cover_2000-160x132.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/11.-Claes-Oldenburg-and-Coosje-van-Bruggen-Sculpture-in-the-Form-of-a-Match-Cover_2000-768x632.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/11.-Claes-Oldenburg-and-Coosje-van-Bruggen-Sculpture-in-the-Form-of-a-Match-Cover_2000-1536x1265.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, ‘Sculpture in the Form of a Match Cover,’ 1987. \u003ccite>(SFMOMA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Private money, public spaces\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Thinking Big\u003c/em> arrives in a city that is not at all sure what it wants to do about \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13982175/big-art-loop-sijbrandij-foundation-san-francisco-public-art\">public sculpture\u003c/a>. Controversially, the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13983681/epicenter-skateboarding-book-review-jacob-rosenberg-vaillancourt-fountain-preservation\">Vaillancourt Fountain\u003c/a> is slated for storage, while a billionaire’s foundation has installed a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13974401/r-evolution-marco-cochrane-embarcadero-plaza-nude-woman-sculpture\">sculpture of a giant nude woman\u003c/a> outside the Ferry Building.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The persistent — and unsubstantiated — rumor that \u003cem>Cupid’s Span\u003c/em> was commissioned to prevent any building from ever blocking the bay view from Gap’s headquarters across the street indicates a longstanding discomfort with the outsized power wealthy individuals wield to shape space for everyone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ted Mann, SFMOMA’s project assistant curator for the Fisher Collection, noted that the Fishers did not dictate the form of Cupid’s Span nor would van Bruggen and Oldenburg have accepted it: “They really insisted that they maintain full authorship and control over the work.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Oldenburg and van Bruggen\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Claes Oldenburg (1929–2022) and Coosje van Bruggen (1942–2009) began their three-decade-long collaboration in 1976, one year after they met. Oldenburg was installing a sculpture at the Kröller-Müller Museum in the Netherlands, where van Bruggen was working as a curator. They wed in 1977.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oldenburg had built his career with renditions of everyday objects that playfully flipped their characteristics. Small objects became large. Hard objects became comically soft — e.g., \u003cem>Soft Typewriter\u003c/em>, a collapsing vinyl pillow of a nonfunctional machine. Van Bruggen studied art history at the University of Groningen before working as a curator at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Their collaborations are characterized by humor and a novel approach to monuments. (It was van Bruggen’s idea to point the arrow of \u003cem>Cupid’s Span\u003c/em> into the ground as if the god of love had crashed into San Francisco, leaving more than just his heart behind.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As might be expected, a fabrication model of the sculpture is on view in \u003cem>Thinking Big\u003c/em>. “The Fisher Collection is amazing,” says Mann. “It has enabled the museum by bringing works that the museum would not otherwise have the capacity to collect from a high-value perspective.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13985206\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1499px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/10.-Claes-Oldenburg-and-Coosje-van-Bruggen-Geometric-Apple-Core_2000.jpg\" alt=\"sculpture of apple core tilted on round pedestal\" width=\"1499\" height=\"2000\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13985206\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/10.-Claes-Oldenburg-and-Coosje-van-Bruggen-Geometric-Apple-Core_2000.jpg 1499w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/10.-Claes-Oldenburg-and-Coosje-van-Bruggen-Geometric-Apple-Core_2000-160x213.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/10.-Claes-Oldenburg-and-Coosje-van-Bruggen-Geometric-Apple-Core_2000-768x1025.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/10.-Claes-Oldenburg-and-Coosje-van-Bruggen-Geometric-Apple-Core_2000-1151x1536.jpg 1151w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1499px) 100vw, 1499px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, ‘Geometric Apple Core,’ 1991. \u003ccite>(SFMOMA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>It’s true, we are lucky to be able to see playful works like Oldenburg and van Bruggen’s \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.sfmoma.org/artwork/FC.576/\">Inverted Tie\u003c/a>\u003c/em> in person. At the same time, we might wonder how the choices made by private collectors shape the histories of art presented by museums.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The full-scale \u003cem>Inverted Tie\u003c/em>, a striped necktie coiling upwards like a charmed snake, stands in the middle of Frankfurt’s banking district. Made for DZ Bank, the 39-foot-tall sculpture pokes fun at the strangled and strangling habits of white-collar life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Coosje especially talks about [their sculptures] as kind of humane statements because there is this relation to the human body,” Mann says. At full scale, their monuments skewer domesticity with humor — it’s an effect that doesn’t quite happen at two to three feet. The museum visitor instead regards someone else’s domesticity: the unusually famous and unusually valuable personal art collection of the Fishers. Did they keep the maquettes in their living room? \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID='arts_13982175']Standing tall over the \u003cem>Cupid’s Span\u003c/em> model in SFMOMA’s gallery was its own kind of defamiliarization. It was my turn to be the giant. Then, when visiting \u003cem>Cupid’s Span\u003c/em> in Rincon Park, I wondered at my own smallness against the overwhelming largeness of art. That dual experience of donor largess — its ability to provide wonder \u003cem>and\u003c/em> its distorting scale — shapes the 21st-century art museum. It’s visible in endowed museum positions focused on donor preferences, in loans and gifts of artwork selected by donor taste, not to mention the tax breaks doled out to museum benefactors. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Guillotte hopes the new exhibition design choices in the Fisher Collection rehang create “an agora, like a commons.” So far, the redesign successfully addresses one of a museum’s greatest challenges: intimidation. Unlike a white cube gallery, \u003cem>Thinking Big\u003c/em> offers numerous conversation starters. No need to read Wikipedia before your visit to have something to say.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re making something that feels not quite like a living room,” Guillotte says, “but a space of warmth and exchange, I hope.”\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>‘\u003ca href=\"https://www.sfmoma.org/exhibition/claes-oldenburg-coosje-van-bruggen-thinking-big/\">Claes Oldenburg + Coosje van Bruggen: Thinking Big\u003c/a>’ is now on view at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (151 Third St., San Francisco).\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Art needs money. That’s especially true in the case of large public sculptures. Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen’s \u003cem>Cupid’s Span\u003c/em>, a giant bow and arrow embedded in the grass at Rincon Park, wouldn’t have landed in San Francisco in 2002 without funding from Gap founders Donald and Doris F. Fisher.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.sfmoma.org/exhibition/claes-oldenburg-coosje-van-bruggen-thinking-big/\">Claes Oldenburg + Coosje van Bruggen: Thinking Big\u003c/a>\u003c/em> wouldn’t exist without the Fishers either. The \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/sfmoma\">San Francisco Museum of Modern Art\u003c/a>’s new exhibition is as much a story of patronage as it is of the two modernist artists.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Ten years ago, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/11574512/shiny-new-sfmoma-a-whos-who-of-20th-century-art-so-whats-missing\">SFMOMA reopened\u003c/a> with nearly six times its former gallery space to accommodate the Fisher Collection. The Fishers’ 730-piece modern art collection, in a 100-year loan to SFMOMA, has thoroughly transformed the museum, much like one of Oldenburg and van Bruggen’s monumental sculptures transforms space around it. \u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Old and new modernity\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Thinking Big\u003c/em> kicks off another kind of transformation. It’s the first gallery of \u003cem>Reimagined: The Fisher Collection at 10\u003c/em>, a full reinstallation of the collection (floors four through six are expected to reopen April 18). It will command approximately 60,000 of the museum’s 170,000 square feet of exhibition space. And the exhibition’s designers have taken the opportunity to invest a 21st-century modernity into an art museum founded in 1935.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Large, colorful photos stretch across the walls, illustrating Oldenburg and van Bruggen’s public sculptures in situ. Object labels feature quotes from the artists. \u003cem>Thinking Big\u003c/em> brings together small-scale models the Fishers collected of eight monumental public sculptures Oldenburg and van Bruggen made around the world. Smaller maquettes sit in glass vitrines while larger models sizable enough to look like finished sculptures sit on risers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The show is a revision of what is known as a “white cube gallery,” a stark white-walled presentation of objects typically without much explanation. The inspiration for Apple Stores and third-wave coffee shops was a type of purist modernism championed by mid-20th-century art critic Clement Greenberg. For SFMOMA’s Chief Education and Community Engagement Officer Gamynne Guillotte, the white cube gallery is now a “period room,” an inherited historical vestige she describes as “an austere white space, the hard benches with no place to sit.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What is the museum of 2026?” Guillotte asks. “What does it look like if it’s not a white cube?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13985207\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/11.-Claes-Oldenburg-and-Coosje-van-Bruggen-Sculpture-in-the-Form-of-a-Match-Cover_2000.jpg\" alt=\"model of large-scale sculpture of matches and matchbook, partially burned\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1647\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13985207\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/11.-Claes-Oldenburg-and-Coosje-van-Bruggen-Sculpture-in-the-Form-of-a-Match-Cover_2000.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/11.-Claes-Oldenburg-and-Coosje-van-Bruggen-Sculpture-in-the-Form-of-a-Match-Cover_2000-160x132.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/11.-Claes-Oldenburg-and-Coosje-van-Bruggen-Sculpture-in-the-Form-of-a-Match-Cover_2000-768x632.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/11.-Claes-Oldenburg-and-Coosje-van-Bruggen-Sculpture-in-the-Form-of-a-Match-Cover_2000-1536x1265.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, ‘Sculpture in the Form of a Match Cover,’ 1987. \u003ccite>(SFMOMA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Private money, public spaces\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Thinking Big\u003c/em> arrives in a city that is not at all sure what it wants to do about \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13982175/big-art-loop-sijbrandij-foundation-san-francisco-public-art\">public sculpture\u003c/a>. Controversially, the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13983681/epicenter-skateboarding-book-review-jacob-rosenberg-vaillancourt-fountain-preservation\">Vaillancourt Fountain\u003c/a> is slated for storage, while a billionaire’s foundation has installed a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13974401/r-evolution-marco-cochrane-embarcadero-plaza-nude-woman-sculpture\">sculpture of a giant nude woman\u003c/a> outside the Ferry Building.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The persistent — and unsubstantiated — rumor that \u003cem>Cupid’s Span\u003c/em> was commissioned to prevent any building from ever blocking the bay view from Gap’s headquarters across the street indicates a longstanding discomfort with the outsized power wealthy individuals wield to shape space for everyone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ted Mann, SFMOMA’s project assistant curator for the Fisher Collection, noted that the Fishers did not dictate the form of Cupid’s Span nor would van Bruggen and Oldenburg have accepted it: “They really insisted that they maintain full authorship and control over the work.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Oldenburg and van Bruggen\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Claes Oldenburg (1929–2022) and Coosje van Bruggen (1942–2009) began their three-decade-long collaboration in 1976, one year after they met. Oldenburg was installing a sculpture at the Kröller-Müller Museum in the Netherlands, where van Bruggen was working as a curator. They wed in 1977.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oldenburg had built his career with renditions of everyday objects that playfully flipped their characteristics. Small objects became large. Hard objects became comically soft — e.g., \u003cem>Soft Typewriter\u003c/em>, a collapsing vinyl pillow of a nonfunctional machine. Van Bruggen studied art history at the University of Groningen before working as a curator at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Their collaborations are characterized by humor and a novel approach to monuments. (It was van Bruggen’s idea to point the arrow of \u003cem>Cupid’s Span\u003c/em> into the ground as if the god of love had crashed into San Francisco, leaving more than just his heart behind.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As might be expected, a fabrication model of the sculpture is on view in \u003cem>Thinking Big\u003c/em>. “The Fisher Collection is amazing,” says Mann. “It has enabled the museum by bringing works that the museum would not otherwise have the capacity to collect from a high-value perspective.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13985206\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1499px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/10.-Claes-Oldenburg-and-Coosje-van-Bruggen-Geometric-Apple-Core_2000.jpg\" alt=\"sculpture of apple core tilted on round pedestal\" width=\"1499\" height=\"2000\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13985206\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/10.-Claes-Oldenburg-and-Coosje-van-Bruggen-Geometric-Apple-Core_2000.jpg 1499w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/10.-Claes-Oldenburg-and-Coosje-van-Bruggen-Geometric-Apple-Core_2000-160x213.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/10.-Claes-Oldenburg-and-Coosje-van-Bruggen-Geometric-Apple-Core_2000-768x1025.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/10.-Claes-Oldenburg-and-Coosje-van-Bruggen-Geometric-Apple-Core_2000-1151x1536.jpg 1151w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1499px) 100vw, 1499px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, ‘Geometric Apple Core,’ 1991. \u003ccite>(SFMOMA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>It’s true, we are lucky to be able to see playful works like Oldenburg and van Bruggen’s \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.sfmoma.org/artwork/FC.576/\">Inverted Tie\u003c/a>\u003c/em> in person. At the same time, we might wonder how the choices made by private collectors shape the histories of art presented by museums.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The full-scale \u003cem>Inverted Tie\u003c/em>, a striped necktie coiling upwards like a charmed snake, stands in the middle of Frankfurt’s banking district. Made for DZ Bank, the 39-foot-tall sculpture pokes fun at the strangled and strangling habits of white-collar life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Coosje especially talks about [their sculptures] as kind of humane statements because there is this relation to the human body,” Mann says. At full scale, their monuments skewer domesticity with humor — it’s an effect that doesn’t quite happen at two to three feet. The museum visitor instead regards someone else’s domesticity: the unusually famous and unusually valuable personal art collection of the Fishers. Did they keep the maquettes in their living room? \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Standing tall over the \u003cem>Cupid’s Span\u003c/em> model in SFMOMA’s gallery was its own kind of defamiliarization. It was my turn to be the giant. Then, when visiting \u003cem>Cupid’s Span\u003c/em> in Rincon Park, I wondered at my own smallness against the overwhelming largeness of art. That dual experience of donor largess — its ability to provide wonder \u003cem>and\u003c/em> its distorting scale — shapes the 21st-century art museum. It’s visible in endowed museum positions focused on donor preferences, in loans and gifts of artwork selected by donor taste, not to mention the tax breaks doled out to museum benefactors. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Guillotte hopes the new exhibition design choices in the Fisher Collection rehang create “an agora, like a commons.” So far, the redesign successfully addresses one of a museum’s greatest challenges: intimidation. Unlike a white cube gallery, \u003cem>Thinking Big\u003c/em> offers numerous conversation starters. No need to read Wikipedia before your visit to have something to say.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re making something that feels not quite like a living room,” Guillotte says, “but a space of warmth and exchange, I hope.”\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>‘\u003ca href=\"https://www.sfmoma.org/exhibition/claes-oldenburg-coosje-van-bruggen-thinking-big/\">Claes Oldenburg + Coosje van Bruggen: Thinking Big\u003c/a>’ is now on view at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (151 Third St., San Francisco).\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "january-2026-art-guide-sf-berkeley-mill-valley-davis-fog-fair",
"title": "Your Guide to the Bay Area’s Biggest Art Month",
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"headTitle": "Your Guide to the Bay Area’s Biggest Art Month | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>January is now the most action-packed month of the year for Bay Area artists, galleries and museums, thanks in part to the international crowds that flock to Fort Mason for the opulent \u003ca href=\"https://www.fogfair.com/\">FOG Design+Art fair\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2026, by my count, we have three \u003ci>additional\u003c/i> fairs popping up before and during FOG, along with a dense schedule of openings, events, talks and performances taking place in and around \u003ca href=\"https://sfartweek.com/\">SF Art Week\u003c/a> (Jan. 17–25). Compared to the rest of the year, January’s pace can feel a bit frantic. What are we, New York?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you made a New Year’s resolution to get out more but don’t know where to start, we’ve put together an eclectic list of the month’s noteworthy art events for you. Gather your stamina:\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13985124\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13985124\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/Sahar_Khoury_Untitled-2023-2003-Wexner_Robert-Divers-Herrick-.jpg\" alt=\"sculptured made with discarded furniture and metal shaped like numbers\" width=\"1800\" height=\"1350\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/Sahar_Khoury_Untitled-2023-2003-Wexner_Robert-Divers-Herrick-.jpg 1800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/Sahar_Khoury_Untitled-2023-2003-Wexner_Robert-Divers-Herrick--160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/Sahar_Khoury_Untitled-2023-2003-Wexner_Robert-Divers-Herrick--768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/Sahar_Khoury_Untitled-2023-2003-Wexner_Robert-Divers-Herrick--1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1800px) 100vw, 1800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sahar Khoury, ‘Untitled (2023/2003),’ 2023; Dimensions variable, forged steel and found altered objects. \u003ccite>(Robert Divers Herrick)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>‘\u003ca href=\"https://manettishremmuseum.ucdavis.edu/upcoming-events\">Sahar Khoury: Weights & Measures\u003c/a>’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>Manetti Shrem Museum, UC Davis\u003cbr>\nJan. 7–June 20, 2026\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After a star turn in the Asian Art Museum’s \u003ci>\u003ca href=\"https://exhibitions.asianart.org/exhibitions/rave-into-the-future/\">Rave Into the Future\u003c/a>\u003c/i> show (up through Jan. 26), Oakland artist Sahar Khoury is starting the year off strong with a solo museum exhibition. Khoury’s sculptures repurpose everyday objects (plastic toys, broken wicker chairs) and combine them into elegant assemblages with ceramics, cast iron and brass. Through her materials and their arrangements, Khoury pointedly asks who and what is worthy of preservation, referencing social spaces, family histories and architectural ruins.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13985175\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1400px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/FM_Art_anthony_mccall-2_bigslide.jpg\" alt=\"three people in beam of white light\" width=\"1400\" height=\"891\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13985175\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/FM_Art_anthony_mccall-2_bigslide.jpg 1400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/FM_Art_anthony_mccall-2_bigslide-160x102.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/FM_Art_anthony_mccall-2_bigslide-768x489.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1400px) 100vw, 1400px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Anthony McCall, ‘Line Describing a Cone,’ 1973; Installation view at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 2001. \u003ccite>(Photo by Hank Graber; Courtesy of the artist, Sean Kelly New York, and Sprüth Magers)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>‘\u003ca href=\"https://fortmason.org/event/anthony-mccall/\">Anthony McCall: First Light\u003c/a>’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture, San Francisco\u003cbr>\nJan. 11–March 8, 2026\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The British artist Anthony McCall, now 79, developed a way to create artworks from “solid light” in the early ’70s. With the help of fog-machine-like haze, projected light beams sketch three-dimensional shapes in space that people can walk under, reach into and marvel at. (The \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13894558/immersive-van-gogh-review-san-francisco\">immersive video installations\u003c/a> of today wish they were this beautiful.) Thanks to a partnership with the Kramlich Art Foundation, the elegant \u003ci>Line Describing a Cone\u003c/i>, \u003ci>Canonical Solid\u003c/i> and \u003ci>Cone of Variable Volume\u003c/i> are on display at Fort Mason for two whole months. And the price is right: free.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13985155\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13985155\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/ScopaBnR_2000.jpg\" alt=\"wide rectangular golden paper with delicate painted dots\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1297\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/ScopaBnR_2000.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/ScopaBnR_2000-160x104.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/ScopaBnR_2000-768x498.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/ScopaBnR_2000-1536x996.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sally Scopa, ‘Wilkinson Park,’ 2025; Acrylic on antique stereocard. \u003ccite>(Bass & Reiner)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Sally Scopa, ‘Atmospheric River’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003ca href=\"https://www.bassandreiner.com/\">Bass & Reiner\u003c/a>, San Francisco\u003cbr>\nJan. 10–March 28, 2026\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I once picked up a set of tarot-like cards at the flea market that looked a lot like Sally Scopa’s paintings and drawings: enigmatic, ethereal, speckled with airbrushed gradients. Scopa describes the dots covering her paintings as “tiny, condensed beads of moisture” that submerge or dissolve lines of sight. Recently emerged from our own atmospheric river, this blurred view of the world is a familiar one. Visit this show for a gentle reentry into the regular flow of work and life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13985157\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1600px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13985157\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/MSF-webpage-image-2-1600-x-969.jpg\" alt=\"black-and-white image of small chid in front of cable car with passengers\" width=\"1600\" height=\"969\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/MSF-webpage-image-2-1600-x-969.jpg 1600w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/MSF-webpage-image-2-1600-x-969-160x97.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/MSF-webpage-image-2-1600-x-969-768x465.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/MSF-webpage-image-2-1600-x-969-1536x930.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ken Snodgrass, Municipal Railway Photographer, detail of ‘Cable Car with Passengers Passing Washington Mason Cable Car House, Photographed for Annual Report,’ Oct. 7, 1965. \u003ccite>(SFMTA Photo Archive)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>‘\u003ca href=\"https://www.sfartscommission.org/experience-art/exhibitions/moving-san-francisco\">Moving San Francisco: Views from the SFMTA Photo Archive 1903–Now\u003c/a>’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>San Francisco City Hall\u003cbr>\nJan. 15–June 18, 2026\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a selection of photographs from the 200,000 images that make up the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency’s photo archive, \u003ci>Moving San Francisco\u003c/i> charts the history of the city’s public transit system. Cable cars, buses and trains may be the ostensible focus of these images, but the story of San Francisco’s people and its physical growth is a welcome byproduct. The SFMTA needs all the good will (and riders) it can get right now, as the agency faces a budget deficit that could exceed $300 million annually. Long live MUNI!\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13985159\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13985159\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/SOLO058-image_2000.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"2000\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/SOLO058-image_2000.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/SOLO058-image_2000-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/SOLO058-image_2000-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/SOLO058-image_2000-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Barbara Stauffacher Solomon, ‘This is not a ping pong table #8,’ 1990; Oil on canvas with removable net. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of the Estate of Barbara Stauffacher Solomon and Anthony Meier, Mill Valley; Photo by Chris Grunder, San Francisco)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Barbara Stauffacher Solomon, ‘\u003ca href=\"https://www.anthonymeier.com/exhibitions/barbara-stauffacher-solomon\">Garden = Grid = City\u003c/a>’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>Anthony Meier Gallery, Mill Valley\u003cbr>\nJan. 15–February 27, 2026\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Barbara Stauffacher Solomon passed away in 2024, she had a supergraphic painted across the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art lobby (\u003ca href=\"https://www.sfmoma.org/exhibition/barbara-stauffacher-solomon-strips-of-stripes/\">still there\u003c/a>), and an asphalt artwork planned for the Minna Street corridor (\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13904311/minna-natoma-art-corridor-sfac-sfmoma-public-works\">now under construction\u003c/a>). But she didn’t have local gallery representation, and opportunities to see her smaller scale artwork in person were rare. \u003ci>Garden = Grid = City\u003c/i> is the artist’s first exhibition at Anthony Meier Gallery, which now represents her estate. Included in this show of works on paper, paintings and a supergraphic are Solomon’s Ping-Pong table paintings, hung on the wall with a net attached, capturing the artist’s playful, devastatingly clever approach to making art.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13985160\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 872px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13985160\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/Solee-Darrell_Garden-of-earthly-delights_2025_Dye-on-silk-velvet_38x32-inches.jpg\" alt=\"abstract painting, washy bright colors on dark background\" width=\"872\" height=\"584\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/Solee-Darrell_Garden-of-earthly-delights_2025_Dye-on-silk-velvet_38x32-inches.jpg 872w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/Solee-Darrell_Garden-of-earthly-delights_2025_Dye-on-silk-velvet_38x32-inches-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/Solee-Darrell_Garden-of-earthly-delights_2025_Dye-on-silk-velvet_38x32-inches-768x514.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 872px) 100vw, 872px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Solée Darrell, ‘Garden of earthly delights,’ 2025; Dye on silk velvet. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of the artist and Part 2 Gallery)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>‘\u003ca href=\"https://bolinasmuseum.org/exhibitions/pure-passage-solee-darrell/\">Pure Passage: Soleé Darrell\u003c/a>’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>Bolinas Museum\u003cbr>\nJan. 17–March 29, 2026\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I can’t think of a better setting for Solée Darrell’s dreamy silk velvet paintings than Bolinas. The Oakland artist’s alchemical use of powdered and liquid dye continues in a solo exhibition just steps away from the crashing waves of the Pacific.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca href=\"https://sfartweek.com/\">SF Art Week\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>All over the Bay Area\u003cbr>\nJan. 17–25, 2026\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Established in 2024, SF Art Week enters its third year with over 100 participating institutions, some as far-flung as the \u003ca href=\"https://sfartweek.com/santa-cruz-museum-of-art-history\">Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History\u003c/a> and the Sonoma winery/outdoor sculpture garden the \u003ca href=\"https://sfartweek.com/donum-estate/\">Donum Estate\u003c/a>. The week kicks off on \u003ca href=\"https://www.eventbrite.com/e/sfaw-x-ica-sf-kickoff-party-at-transamerica-pyramid-center-tickets-1979263461293\">Jan. 17 with a party\u003c/a> hosted by the now-itinerant ICA San Francisco at the Transamerica Pyramid, followed by \u003ca href=\"https://sfartweek.com/marin-art-day/\">Marin Art Day\u003c/a> on Jan. 18. The best news for us locals is that most of these shows will still be up after the whirlwind week comes to a close.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13985156\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1002px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13985156\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/25_21.jpg\" alt=\"view of two long pier buildings with Marin Headlands and Golden Gate bridge in background\" width=\"1002\" height=\"668\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/25_21.jpg 1002w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/25_21-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/25_21-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1002px) 100vw, 1002px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The FOG Design+Art fair takes place at Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture. \u003ccite>(FOG Design+Art)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>The Fairs\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cb>\u003ca href=\"https://www.fogfair.com\">FOG Design+Art\u003c/a>\u003c/b>\u003cbr>\nFort Mason, San Francisco\u003cbr>\nJan. 22–25, 2026\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The big, carpeted daddy of San Francisco art fairs, FOG brings an international roster of art and design galleries to one of the city’s most picturesque spots. The addition of FOG FOCUS two years ago opened the door (a crack) to smaller galleries showing less blue-chip, more emerging artists, but this thing remains extremely high-end. A hidden gem in the midst of all the shiny surfaces is the \u003ca href=\"https://www.fogfair.com/programming/\">series of talks\u003c/a> put on by the fair, featuring local luminaries getting candid on stage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cb>\u003ca href=\"https://www.atriumfair.com/\">Atrium & Skylight Above\u003c/a>\u003c/b>\u003cbr>\nMinnesota Street Project, San Francisco\u003cbr>\nJan. 22–25, 2026\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For those seeking a slightly more affordable art experience, Minnesota Street Project has pulled together its own version of a fair, with booths set up within the atrium, and a curated program of off-kilter, artist-run projects showing upstairs in the former Rena Bransten space. Guests include Cambria’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.cruisecontrolcambria.com/\">Cruise Control Contemporary\u003c/a>, San Francisco residency \u003ca href=\"https://www.spaceprogramsf.com/\">The Space Program\u003c/a>, and Oakland’s \u003ca href=\"https://coneshapetop.com/\">Cone Shape Top\u003c/a>. It’s a welcome experiment at a time when art fairs have become terrifyingly expensive for galleries to participate in. Best of all, admission is free.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cb>\u003ca href=\"https://art-fair-mont.com/\">Art.Fair.Mont\u003c/a>\u003c/b>\u003cbr>\nFairmont Hotel, San Francisco\u003cbr>\nJan. 19–20, 2026\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nine galleries, hailing from places as near as Oakland and as far away as Zimbabwe, are part of this “boutique” art fair in the hotel’s Pavilion Room. Admission is free with a $10 suggested donation, and the whole thing was organized by GCS Agency, recent host of \u003ci>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13983681/epicenter-skateboarding-book-review-jacob-rosenberg-vaillancourt-fountain-preservation\">Epicenter\u003c/a>\u003c/i>, an exhibition of Jacob Rosenberg’s photography of Embarcadero Center’s early ’90s skating scene.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13985161\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1970px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13985161\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/OpenInvitational_2000.jpg\" alt=\"gallery view with many multicolored paintings, sculptures, t-shirts and rugs\" width=\"1970\" height=\"1402\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/OpenInvitational_2000.jpg 1970w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/OpenInvitational_2000-160x114.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/OpenInvitational_2000-768x547.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/OpenInvitational_2000-1536x1093.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1970px) 100vw, 1970px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An installation view of Open Invitational in Miami, Florida in 2024. \u003ccite>(Oriol Tarridas)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>\u003ci>\u003ca href=\"https://www.creativityexplored.org/events-exhibitions/ce-x-openinvitational\">Creativity Explored X Open Invitational\u003c/a>\u003c/i>\u003c/b>\u003cbr>\nEast Cut Pop-Up (215 Fremont St.), San Francisco\u003cbr>\nJan. 23–25, 2026\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Creativity Explored and progressive art studios from across the country will exhibit (and sell) work by artists with disabilities. This San Francisco event builds on fairs organized by Open Invitational in New York and Miami, alongside those cities’ major art weeks. As artists with disabilities increasingly enter museums exhibitions and collections, this fair is a testament to their place in every strata of the art world.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13985158\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13985158\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/03_Cha_Permutations-1976_2000.jpg\" alt=\"black-and-white image of Asian woman from neck up\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1440\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/03_Cha_Permutations-1976_2000.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/03_Cha_Permutations-1976_2000-160x115.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/03_Cha_Permutations-1976_2000-768x553.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/03_Cha_Permutations-1976_2000-1536x1106.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, still from ‘Permutations,’ 1976; 16mm film; black and white, silent, 10 min. \u003ccite>(BAMPFA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>‘\u003ca href=\"https://bampfa.org/program/theresa-hak-kyung-cha-multiple-offerings\">Theresa Hak Kyung Cha: Multiple Offerings\u003c/a>’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive\u003cbr>\nJan. 24–April 19, 2026\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I couldn’t be more excited for this show. Cha, an interdisciplinary artist who studied art practice, comparative literature and film at UC Berkeley, has often been defined by what might have been — she died in 1982, at the age of 31. But more recently, her remarkable use of deconstructed language, her avant-garde approach and her influence on later generations of Asian American artists, notably \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101878885/poet-cathy-park-hong-on-minor-feelings-and-anti-asian-racism-in-the-age-of-covid\">Cathy Park Hong\u003c/a>, who wrote about Cha in her 2020 book \u003ci>Minor Feelings\u003c/i>, have made it clear just how prolific Cha was in her short career. This will be her first retrospective in 25 years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13985154\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1830px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13985154\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/dani-lopez-drink-me.jpg\" alt=\"textile in red, white, black and gray with text 'drink me'\" width=\"1830\" height=\"1220\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/dani-lopez-drink-me.jpg 1830w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/dani-lopez-drink-me-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/dani-lopez-drink-me-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/dani-lopez-drink-me-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1830px) 100vw, 1830px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">dani lopez, detail of ‘Just know it won’t hurt so much forever (REPRISE),’ 2024; Handwoven cotton. \u003ccite>(Richmond Art Center)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>While you’re at it, why don’t you …\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Explore the foundations of Viola Frey’s practice at Walnut Creek’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.bedfordgallery.org/exhibitions/current-season/viola-frey-foundations\">Bedford Gallery\u003c/a> (Jan. 10–April 5)? Fill in the blanks of Cybele Lyle and Carrie Hott’s \u003ca href=\"https://etaletc.com/#/\">Et al. solos\u003c/a> by attending the openings on Jan. 16? Or see women become one with their environments in Anoushka Mirchandani’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.icasanjose.org/upcoming-exhibitions/mybodywasariveronce/\">ICA San José exhibition\u003c/a> (Jan. 16–Aug. 23). Get a solid \u003ci>\u003ca href=\"https://www.wattis.org/our-program/on-view/8-hours-of-rest\">8 Hours of Rest\u003c/a>\u003c/i> with artist SoiL Thornton at the Wattis Institute (Jan. 20–March 7)? Find out what happens when \u003ci>\u003ca href=\"https://richmondartcenter.org/exhibitions/dani-lopez/\">3 Dykes Walk Into a Bar…\u003c/a>\u003c/i> at dani lopez’s Richmond Art Center textile show (Jan. 21–March 14)?\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "January is packed with openings, events and art fairs. Let us help you make sense of the schedule.",
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"title": "Your Guide to the Bay Area’s Biggest Art Month | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>January is now the most action-packed month of the year for Bay Area artists, galleries and museums, thanks in part to the international crowds that flock to Fort Mason for the opulent \u003ca href=\"https://www.fogfair.com/\">FOG Design+Art fair\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2026, by my count, we have three \u003ci>additional\u003c/i> fairs popping up before and during FOG, along with a dense schedule of openings, events, talks and performances taking place in and around \u003ca href=\"https://sfartweek.com/\">SF Art Week\u003c/a> (Jan. 17–25). Compared to the rest of the year, January’s pace can feel a bit frantic. What are we, New York?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you made a New Year’s resolution to get out more but don’t know where to start, we’ve put together an eclectic list of the month’s noteworthy art events for you. Gather your stamina:\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13985124\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13985124\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/Sahar_Khoury_Untitled-2023-2003-Wexner_Robert-Divers-Herrick-.jpg\" alt=\"sculptured made with discarded furniture and metal shaped like numbers\" width=\"1800\" height=\"1350\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/Sahar_Khoury_Untitled-2023-2003-Wexner_Robert-Divers-Herrick-.jpg 1800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/Sahar_Khoury_Untitled-2023-2003-Wexner_Robert-Divers-Herrick--160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/Sahar_Khoury_Untitled-2023-2003-Wexner_Robert-Divers-Herrick--768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/Sahar_Khoury_Untitled-2023-2003-Wexner_Robert-Divers-Herrick--1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1800px) 100vw, 1800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sahar Khoury, ‘Untitled (2023/2003),’ 2023; Dimensions variable, forged steel and found altered objects. \u003ccite>(Robert Divers Herrick)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>‘\u003ca href=\"https://manettishremmuseum.ucdavis.edu/upcoming-events\">Sahar Khoury: Weights & Measures\u003c/a>’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>Manetti Shrem Museum, UC Davis\u003cbr>\nJan. 7–June 20, 2026\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After a star turn in the Asian Art Museum’s \u003ci>\u003ca href=\"https://exhibitions.asianart.org/exhibitions/rave-into-the-future/\">Rave Into the Future\u003c/a>\u003c/i> show (up through Jan. 26), Oakland artist Sahar Khoury is starting the year off strong with a solo museum exhibition. Khoury’s sculptures repurpose everyday objects (plastic toys, broken wicker chairs) and combine them into elegant assemblages with ceramics, cast iron and brass. Through her materials and their arrangements, Khoury pointedly asks who and what is worthy of preservation, referencing social spaces, family histories and architectural ruins.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13985175\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1400px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/FM_Art_anthony_mccall-2_bigslide.jpg\" alt=\"three people in beam of white light\" width=\"1400\" height=\"891\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13985175\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/FM_Art_anthony_mccall-2_bigslide.jpg 1400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/FM_Art_anthony_mccall-2_bigslide-160x102.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/FM_Art_anthony_mccall-2_bigslide-768x489.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1400px) 100vw, 1400px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Anthony McCall, ‘Line Describing a Cone,’ 1973; Installation view at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 2001. \u003ccite>(Photo by Hank Graber; Courtesy of the artist, Sean Kelly New York, and Sprüth Magers)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>‘\u003ca href=\"https://fortmason.org/event/anthony-mccall/\">Anthony McCall: First Light\u003c/a>’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture, San Francisco\u003cbr>\nJan. 11–March 8, 2026\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The British artist Anthony McCall, now 79, developed a way to create artworks from “solid light” in the early ’70s. With the help of fog-machine-like haze, projected light beams sketch three-dimensional shapes in space that people can walk under, reach into and marvel at. (The \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13894558/immersive-van-gogh-review-san-francisco\">immersive video installations\u003c/a> of today wish they were this beautiful.) Thanks to a partnership with the Kramlich Art Foundation, the elegant \u003ci>Line Describing a Cone\u003c/i>, \u003ci>Canonical Solid\u003c/i> and \u003ci>Cone of Variable Volume\u003c/i> are on display at Fort Mason for two whole months. And the price is right: free.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13985155\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13985155\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/ScopaBnR_2000.jpg\" alt=\"wide rectangular golden paper with delicate painted dots\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1297\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/ScopaBnR_2000.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/ScopaBnR_2000-160x104.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/ScopaBnR_2000-768x498.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/ScopaBnR_2000-1536x996.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sally Scopa, ‘Wilkinson Park,’ 2025; Acrylic on antique stereocard. \u003ccite>(Bass & Reiner)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Sally Scopa, ‘Atmospheric River’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003ca href=\"https://www.bassandreiner.com/\">Bass & Reiner\u003c/a>, San Francisco\u003cbr>\nJan. 10–March 28, 2026\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I once picked up a set of tarot-like cards at the flea market that looked a lot like Sally Scopa’s paintings and drawings: enigmatic, ethereal, speckled with airbrushed gradients. Scopa describes the dots covering her paintings as “tiny, condensed beads of moisture” that submerge or dissolve lines of sight. Recently emerged from our own atmospheric river, this blurred view of the world is a familiar one. Visit this show for a gentle reentry into the regular flow of work and life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13985157\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1600px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13985157\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/MSF-webpage-image-2-1600-x-969.jpg\" alt=\"black-and-white image of small chid in front of cable car with passengers\" width=\"1600\" height=\"969\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/MSF-webpage-image-2-1600-x-969.jpg 1600w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/MSF-webpage-image-2-1600-x-969-160x97.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/MSF-webpage-image-2-1600-x-969-768x465.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/MSF-webpage-image-2-1600-x-969-1536x930.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ken Snodgrass, Municipal Railway Photographer, detail of ‘Cable Car with Passengers Passing Washington Mason Cable Car House, Photographed for Annual Report,’ Oct. 7, 1965. \u003ccite>(SFMTA Photo Archive)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>‘\u003ca href=\"https://www.sfartscommission.org/experience-art/exhibitions/moving-san-francisco\">Moving San Francisco: Views from the SFMTA Photo Archive 1903–Now\u003c/a>’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>San Francisco City Hall\u003cbr>\nJan. 15–June 18, 2026\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a selection of photographs from the 200,000 images that make up the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency’s photo archive, \u003ci>Moving San Francisco\u003c/i> charts the history of the city’s public transit system. Cable cars, buses and trains may be the ostensible focus of these images, but the story of San Francisco’s people and its physical growth is a welcome byproduct. The SFMTA needs all the good will (and riders) it can get right now, as the agency faces a budget deficit that could exceed $300 million annually. Long live MUNI!\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13985159\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13985159\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/SOLO058-image_2000.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"2000\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/SOLO058-image_2000.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/SOLO058-image_2000-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/SOLO058-image_2000-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/SOLO058-image_2000-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Barbara Stauffacher Solomon, ‘This is not a ping pong table #8,’ 1990; Oil on canvas with removable net. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of the Estate of Barbara Stauffacher Solomon and Anthony Meier, Mill Valley; Photo by Chris Grunder, San Francisco)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Barbara Stauffacher Solomon, ‘\u003ca href=\"https://www.anthonymeier.com/exhibitions/barbara-stauffacher-solomon\">Garden = Grid = City\u003c/a>’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>Anthony Meier Gallery, Mill Valley\u003cbr>\nJan. 15–February 27, 2026\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Barbara Stauffacher Solomon passed away in 2024, she had a supergraphic painted across the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art lobby (\u003ca href=\"https://www.sfmoma.org/exhibition/barbara-stauffacher-solomon-strips-of-stripes/\">still there\u003c/a>), and an asphalt artwork planned for the Minna Street corridor (\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13904311/minna-natoma-art-corridor-sfac-sfmoma-public-works\">now under construction\u003c/a>). But she didn’t have local gallery representation, and opportunities to see her smaller scale artwork in person were rare. \u003ci>Garden = Grid = City\u003c/i> is the artist’s first exhibition at Anthony Meier Gallery, which now represents her estate. Included in this show of works on paper, paintings and a supergraphic are Solomon’s Ping-Pong table paintings, hung on the wall with a net attached, capturing the artist’s playful, devastatingly clever approach to making art.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13985160\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 872px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13985160\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/Solee-Darrell_Garden-of-earthly-delights_2025_Dye-on-silk-velvet_38x32-inches.jpg\" alt=\"abstract painting, washy bright colors on dark background\" width=\"872\" height=\"584\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/Solee-Darrell_Garden-of-earthly-delights_2025_Dye-on-silk-velvet_38x32-inches.jpg 872w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/Solee-Darrell_Garden-of-earthly-delights_2025_Dye-on-silk-velvet_38x32-inches-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/Solee-Darrell_Garden-of-earthly-delights_2025_Dye-on-silk-velvet_38x32-inches-768x514.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 872px) 100vw, 872px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Solée Darrell, ‘Garden of earthly delights,’ 2025; Dye on silk velvet. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of the artist and Part 2 Gallery)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>‘\u003ca href=\"https://bolinasmuseum.org/exhibitions/pure-passage-solee-darrell/\">Pure Passage: Soleé Darrell\u003c/a>’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>Bolinas Museum\u003cbr>\nJan. 17–March 29, 2026\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I can’t think of a better setting for Solée Darrell’s dreamy silk velvet paintings than Bolinas. The Oakland artist’s alchemical use of powdered and liquid dye continues in a solo exhibition just steps away from the crashing waves of the Pacific.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca href=\"https://sfartweek.com/\">SF Art Week\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>All over the Bay Area\u003cbr>\nJan. 17–25, 2026\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Established in 2024, SF Art Week enters its third year with over 100 participating institutions, some as far-flung as the \u003ca href=\"https://sfartweek.com/santa-cruz-museum-of-art-history\">Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History\u003c/a> and the Sonoma winery/outdoor sculpture garden the \u003ca href=\"https://sfartweek.com/donum-estate/\">Donum Estate\u003c/a>. The week kicks off on \u003ca href=\"https://www.eventbrite.com/e/sfaw-x-ica-sf-kickoff-party-at-transamerica-pyramid-center-tickets-1979263461293\">Jan. 17 with a party\u003c/a> hosted by the now-itinerant ICA San Francisco at the Transamerica Pyramid, followed by \u003ca href=\"https://sfartweek.com/marin-art-day/\">Marin Art Day\u003c/a> on Jan. 18. The best news for us locals is that most of these shows will still be up after the whirlwind week comes to a close.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13985156\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1002px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13985156\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/25_21.jpg\" alt=\"view of two long pier buildings with Marin Headlands and Golden Gate bridge in background\" width=\"1002\" height=\"668\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/25_21.jpg 1002w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/25_21-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/25_21-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1002px) 100vw, 1002px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The FOG Design+Art fair takes place at Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture. \u003ccite>(FOG Design+Art)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>The Fairs\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cb>\u003ca href=\"https://www.fogfair.com\">FOG Design+Art\u003c/a>\u003c/b>\u003cbr>\nFort Mason, San Francisco\u003cbr>\nJan. 22–25, 2026\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The big, carpeted daddy of San Francisco art fairs, FOG brings an international roster of art and design galleries to one of the city’s most picturesque spots. The addition of FOG FOCUS two years ago opened the door (a crack) to smaller galleries showing less blue-chip, more emerging artists, but this thing remains extremely high-end. A hidden gem in the midst of all the shiny surfaces is the \u003ca href=\"https://www.fogfair.com/programming/\">series of talks\u003c/a> put on by the fair, featuring local luminaries getting candid on stage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cb>\u003ca href=\"https://www.atriumfair.com/\">Atrium & Skylight Above\u003c/a>\u003c/b>\u003cbr>\nMinnesota Street Project, San Francisco\u003cbr>\nJan. 22–25, 2026\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For those seeking a slightly more affordable art experience, Minnesota Street Project has pulled together its own version of a fair, with booths set up within the atrium, and a curated program of off-kilter, artist-run projects showing upstairs in the former Rena Bransten space. Guests include Cambria’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.cruisecontrolcambria.com/\">Cruise Control Contemporary\u003c/a>, San Francisco residency \u003ca href=\"https://www.spaceprogramsf.com/\">The Space Program\u003c/a>, and Oakland’s \u003ca href=\"https://coneshapetop.com/\">Cone Shape Top\u003c/a>. It’s a welcome experiment at a time when art fairs have become terrifyingly expensive for galleries to participate in. Best of all, admission is free.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cb>\u003ca href=\"https://art-fair-mont.com/\">Art.Fair.Mont\u003c/a>\u003c/b>\u003cbr>\nFairmont Hotel, San Francisco\u003cbr>\nJan. 19–20, 2026\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nine galleries, hailing from places as near as Oakland and as far away as Zimbabwe, are part of this “boutique” art fair in the hotel’s Pavilion Room. Admission is free with a $10 suggested donation, and the whole thing was organized by GCS Agency, recent host of \u003ci>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13983681/epicenter-skateboarding-book-review-jacob-rosenberg-vaillancourt-fountain-preservation\">Epicenter\u003c/a>\u003c/i>, an exhibition of Jacob Rosenberg’s photography of Embarcadero Center’s early ’90s skating scene.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13985161\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1970px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13985161\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/OpenInvitational_2000.jpg\" alt=\"gallery view with many multicolored paintings, sculptures, t-shirts and rugs\" width=\"1970\" height=\"1402\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/OpenInvitational_2000.jpg 1970w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/OpenInvitational_2000-160x114.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/OpenInvitational_2000-768x547.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/OpenInvitational_2000-1536x1093.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1970px) 100vw, 1970px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An installation view of Open Invitational in Miami, Florida in 2024. \u003ccite>(Oriol Tarridas)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>\u003ci>\u003ca href=\"https://www.creativityexplored.org/events-exhibitions/ce-x-openinvitational\">Creativity Explored X Open Invitational\u003c/a>\u003c/i>\u003c/b>\u003cbr>\nEast Cut Pop-Up (215 Fremont St.), San Francisco\u003cbr>\nJan. 23–25, 2026\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Creativity Explored and progressive art studios from across the country will exhibit (and sell) work by artists with disabilities. This San Francisco event builds on fairs organized by Open Invitational in New York and Miami, alongside those cities’ major art weeks. As artists with disabilities increasingly enter museums exhibitions and collections, this fair is a testament to their place in every strata of the art world.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13985158\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13985158\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/03_Cha_Permutations-1976_2000.jpg\" alt=\"black-and-white image of Asian woman from neck up\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1440\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/03_Cha_Permutations-1976_2000.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/03_Cha_Permutations-1976_2000-160x115.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/03_Cha_Permutations-1976_2000-768x553.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/03_Cha_Permutations-1976_2000-1536x1106.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, still from ‘Permutations,’ 1976; 16mm film; black and white, silent, 10 min. \u003ccite>(BAMPFA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>‘\u003ca href=\"https://bampfa.org/program/theresa-hak-kyung-cha-multiple-offerings\">Theresa Hak Kyung Cha: Multiple Offerings\u003c/a>’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive\u003cbr>\nJan. 24–April 19, 2026\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I couldn’t be more excited for this show. Cha, an interdisciplinary artist who studied art practice, comparative literature and film at UC Berkeley, has often been defined by what might have been — she died in 1982, at the age of 31. But more recently, her remarkable use of deconstructed language, her avant-garde approach and her influence on later generations of Asian American artists, notably \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101878885/poet-cathy-park-hong-on-minor-feelings-and-anti-asian-racism-in-the-age-of-covid\">Cathy Park Hong\u003c/a>, who wrote about Cha in her 2020 book \u003ci>Minor Feelings\u003c/i>, have made it clear just how prolific Cha was in her short career. This will be her first retrospective in 25 years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13985154\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1830px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13985154\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/dani-lopez-drink-me.jpg\" alt=\"textile in red, white, black and gray with text 'drink me'\" width=\"1830\" height=\"1220\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/dani-lopez-drink-me.jpg 1830w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/dani-lopez-drink-me-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/dani-lopez-drink-me-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/dani-lopez-drink-me-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1830px) 100vw, 1830px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">dani lopez, detail of ‘Just know it won’t hurt so much forever (REPRISE),’ 2024; Handwoven cotton. \u003ccite>(Richmond Art Center)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>While you’re at it, why don’t you …\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Explore the foundations of Viola Frey’s practice at Walnut Creek’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.bedfordgallery.org/exhibitions/current-season/viola-frey-foundations\">Bedford Gallery\u003c/a> (Jan. 10–April 5)? Fill in the blanks of Cybele Lyle and Carrie Hott’s \u003ca href=\"https://etaletc.com/#/\">Et al. solos\u003c/a> by attending the openings on Jan. 16? Or see women become one with their environments in Anoushka Mirchandani’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.icasanjose.org/upcoming-exhibitions/mybodywasariveronce/\">ICA San José exhibition\u003c/a> (Jan. 16–Aug. 23). Get a solid \u003ci>\u003ca href=\"https://www.wattis.org/our-program/on-view/8-hours-of-rest\">8 Hours of Rest\u003c/a>\u003c/i> with artist SoiL Thornton at the Wattis Institute (Jan. 20–March 7)? Find out what happens when \u003ci>\u003ca href=\"https://richmondartcenter.org/exhibitions/dani-lopez/\">3 Dykes Walk Into a Bar…\u003c/a>\u003c/i> at dani lopez’s Richmond Art Center textile show (Jan. 21–March 14)?\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "marty-supreme-review-timothee-chalamet-josh-safdie",
"title": "Manic ‘Marty Supreme’ Smashes the American Dream",
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"headTitle": "Manic ‘Marty Supreme’ Smashes the American Dream | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>Rooting for the underdog, on the field or in a movie, is one of America’s greatest traditions. You can trace it all the way back to our time-honored, tea-stained origin story of a ragtag band of farmers and shopkeepers taking on the British Empire. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID='arts_13984386']\u003cem>Marty Supreme\u003c/em> (opening Dec. 25), Josh Safdie’s beautifully crafted runaway train with an astonishing Timothée Chalamet as its pedal-to-the-metal engineer, turns the basic underdog dynamic, with all its brio and bravery and desperation and bullshit, into a feverish exposé of the fury and folly of the American Dream. If that isn’t your cup of mead, friend, what kind of patriot are you?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Josh Safdie’s best films (\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13872331/uncut-gems-glittering-darkly\">Uncut Gems\u003c/a>\u003c/em> and \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2017/08/11/542423079/stylishly-gritty-this-chase-thriller-really-is-a-good-time\">Good Time\u003c/a>\u003c/em>, co-directed with his brother Bennie, who also directed a sports movie on his own this year, \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13982077/smashing-machine-movie-review-mark-kerr-biopic-mma-dwayne-rock-johnson\">The Smashing Machine\u003c/a>\u003c/em>) center on men who know only one direction (forward) and one speed (faster). Are those protagonists (played by Adam Sandler and Robert Pattinson) and Marty running toward something or away from something? It’s a trick question, of course.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13984493\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/r3_1.1.1_2000.jpg\" alt=\"blurry image of man running down busy city street with valise\" width=\"2000\" height=\"838\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13984493\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/r3_1.1.1_2000.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/r3_1.1.1_2000-160x67.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/r3_1.1.1_2000-768x322.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/r3_1.1.1_2000-1536x644.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Timothée Chalamet in ‘Marty Supreme.’ \u003ccite>(A24)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Chalamet’s Marty Mauser is inspired by the late Marty Reisman, who titled his (ghostwritten) 1974 autobiography \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://archive.org/details/moneyplayercon00reis\">The Money Player: The Confessions of America’s Greatest Table Tennis Champion and Hustler\u003c/a>\u003c/em>. But we have no clue this skinny kid is an athlete when we are introduced to him in the early 1950s. He’s conning a customer in his uncle’s Lower East Side shoe store into buying the too-tight pair he’s passing off as her size.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She’s too savvy to fall for Marty’s spiel — much of the tension in \u003cem>Marty Supreme\u003c/em> derives from whether people will fold or stiffen in the face of his high-speed verbal onslaughts — but she’s instantly displaced by the arrival of a young woman who has some urgent footwear business with Marty that takes them downstairs to the storeroom.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Marty Supreme\u003c/em>’s early scenes, set in confined spaces, convey the claustrophobia driving its namesake to exceed the world’s expectations and escape the crummy, anonymous life everyone around him seems fated to. But we aren’t prepared for Marty’s lunatic ambition, and his off-putting brand of American exceptionalism in which he effortlessly shifts from hero to victim to suit his schemes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13985002\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/MartySupremeScene_2000.jpg\" alt=\"black man and white man gesture over ping pong table in bowling alley\" width=\"2000\" height=\"838\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13985002\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/MartySupremeScene_2000.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/MartySupremeScene_2000-160x67.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/MartySupremeScene_2000-768x322.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/MartySupremeScene_2000-1536x644.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Tyler, the Creator and Timothée Chalamet in a scene from ‘Marty Supreme.’ \u003ccite>(A24)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>We are both charmed by and leery of this showman, gambler and flamboyant self-promoter who, we come to see, is indifferent to the damage he leaves in his wake. If Marty is a kind of forerunner for larger-than-life competitors like Muhammad Ali, Evel Knievel, Pete Rose and John McEnroe, he’s also cut from the same cloth as the “pal” who borrowed your car and lied about the scratches and dents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most filmmakers would be content to highlight the working-class desolation of Marty’s milieu, and let the high-stakes drama of far-flung table-tennis tournaments and New Jersey bowling alley scams rivet the viewer. Safdie and co-writer Ronald Bronstein bravely go further, repeatedly reminding us of Marty’s Jewishness in ways that are edgy and shocking.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In one scene, Marty cajoles fellow player Béla (Hungarian actor Géza Rohrig of the shattering 2015 concentration-camp saga \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/11241009/shallow-focus-creates-depth-of-feeling-in-son-of-saul\">Son of Saul\u003c/a>\u003c/em>) to reveal the tattooed numbers on his arm to a stranger. Later, on a trip to the Middle East, Marty shamelessly chips off a piece from a pyramid that he gifts to his mother with the line, “We built it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13985003\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/MartySupremeGwen_2000.jpg\" alt=\"blond woman in hat looking up\" width=\"2000\" height=\"838\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13985003\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/MartySupremeGwen_2000.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/MartySupremeGwen_2000-160x67.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/MartySupremeGwen_2000-768x322.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/MartySupremeGwen_2000-1536x644.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gwyneth Paltrow in ‘Marty Supreme.’ \u003ccite>(A24)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>It isn’t enough for Marty to make some money, get his picture in the papers and travel abroad. Nor is it enough to capture the attention of a one-time movie star (Gwyneth Paltrow) with a rich husband. Sadly, he isn’t satisfied with success.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If I were a lousy psychotherapist, I might see \u003cem>Marty Supreme\u003c/em> as a Holocaust-revenge movie. Marty’s taking (back) what’s his (or what he sees as the Jewish people’s). The problem with that interpretation is that Marty directs his white-hot frenzy at anyone in his path, including erstwhile friends and supporters. He combines the ambition of \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ADWjL42OGc\">Duddy Kravitz\u003c/a>, the zero-to-60 acceleration of the Roadrunner and the relentlessness of the Terminator with their accompanying lack of scruples.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Marty Supreme\u003c/em> is far and away one of the best movies of 2025, and its brilliant execution extends to the way it guides your feelings toward its anti-hero. There comes a point, sooner or later, where you will stop taking Marty’s side. You may even hope for his comeuppance, as I did. And then there’s a turn where Safdie and Chalamet will likely make you root for Marty again.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>American movies typically encourage us to cheer for the underdog. \u003cem>Marty Supreme\u003c/em> makes you question that simple loyalty, and ponder how much a child of immigrants who seeks to prove that the streets are paved with gold is allowed to get away with.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"title": "Manic ‘Marty Supreme’ Smashes the American Dream | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Rooting for the underdog, on the field or in a movie, is one of America’s greatest traditions. You can trace it all the way back to our time-honored, tea-stained origin story of a ragtag band of farmers and shopkeepers taking on the British Empire. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cem>Marty Supreme\u003c/em> (opening Dec. 25), Josh Safdie’s beautifully crafted runaway train with an astonishing Timothée Chalamet as its pedal-to-the-metal engineer, turns the basic underdog dynamic, with all its brio and bravery and desperation and bullshit, into a feverish exposé of the fury and folly of the American Dream. If that isn’t your cup of mead, friend, what kind of patriot are you?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Josh Safdie’s best films (\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13872331/uncut-gems-glittering-darkly\">Uncut Gems\u003c/a>\u003c/em> and \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2017/08/11/542423079/stylishly-gritty-this-chase-thriller-really-is-a-good-time\">Good Time\u003c/a>\u003c/em>, co-directed with his brother Bennie, who also directed a sports movie on his own this year, \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13982077/smashing-machine-movie-review-mark-kerr-biopic-mma-dwayne-rock-johnson\">The Smashing Machine\u003c/a>\u003c/em>) center on men who know only one direction (forward) and one speed (faster). Are those protagonists (played by Adam Sandler and Robert Pattinson) and Marty running toward something or away from something? It’s a trick question, of course.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13984493\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/r3_1.1.1_2000.jpg\" alt=\"blurry image of man running down busy city street with valise\" width=\"2000\" height=\"838\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13984493\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/r3_1.1.1_2000.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/r3_1.1.1_2000-160x67.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/r3_1.1.1_2000-768x322.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/r3_1.1.1_2000-1536x644.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Timothée Chalamet in ‘Marty Supreme.’ \u003ccite>(A24)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Chalamet’s Marty Mauser is inspired by the late Marty Reisman, who titled his (ghostwritten) 1974 autobiography \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://archive.org/details/moneyplayercon00reis\">The Money Player: The Confessions of America’s Greatest Table Tennis Champion and Hustler\u003c/a>\u003c/em>. But we have no clue this skinny kid is an athlete when we are introduced to him in the early 1950s. He’s conning a customer in his uncle’s Lower East Side shoe store into buying the too-tight pair he’s passing off as her size.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She’s too savvy to fall for Marty’s spiel — much of the tension in \u003cem>Marty Supreme\u003c/em> derives from whether people will fold or stiffen in the face of his high-speed verbal onslaughts — but she’s instantly displaced by the arrival of a young woman who has some urgent footwear business with Marty that takes them downstairs to the storeroom.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Marty Supreme\u003c/em>’s early scenes, set in confined spaces, convey the claustrophobia driving its namesake to exceed the world’s expectations and escape the crummy, anonymous life everyone around him seems fated to. But we aren’t prepared for Marty’s lunatic ambition, and his off-putting brand of American exceptionalism in which he effortlessly shifts from hero to victim to suit his schemes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13985002\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/MartySupremeScene_2000.jpg\" alt=\"black man and white man gesture over ping pong table in bowling alley\" width=\"2000\" height=\"838\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13985002\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/MartySupremeScene_2000.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/MartySupremeScene_2000-160x67.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/MartySupremeScene_2000-768x322.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/MartySupremeScene_2000-1536x644.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Tyler, the Creator and Timothée Chalamet in a scene from ‘Marty Supreme.’ \u003ccite>(A24)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>We are both charmed by and leery of this showman, gambler and flamboyant self-promoter who, we come to see, is indifferent to the damage he leaves in his wake. If Marty is a kind of forerunner for larger-than-life competitors like Muhammad Ali, Evel Knievel, Pete Rose and John McEnroe, he’s also cut from the same cloth as the “pal” who borrowed your car and lied about the scratches and dents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most filmmakers would be content to highlight the working-class desolation of Marty’s milieu, and let the high-stakes drama of far-flung table-tennis tournaments and New Jersey bowling alley scams rivet the viewer. Safdie and co-writer Ronald Bronstein bravely go further, repeatedly reminding us of Marty’s Jewishness in ways that are edgy and shocking.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In one scene, Marty cajoles fellow player Béla (Hungarian actor Géza Rohrig of the shattering 2015 concentration-camp saga \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/11241009/shallow-focus-creates-depth-of-feeling-in-son-of-saul\">Son of Saul\u003c/a>\u003c/em>) to reveal the tattooed numbers on his arm to a stranger. Later, on a trip to the Middle East, Marty shamelessly chips off a piece from a pyramid that he gifts to his mother with the line, “We built it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13985003\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/MartySupremeGwen_2000.jpg\" alt=\"blond woman in hat looking up\" width=\"2000\" height=\"838\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13985003\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/MartySupremeGwen_2000.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/MartySupremeGwen_2000-160x67.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/MartySupremeGwen_2000-768x322.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/MartySupremeGwen_2000-1536x644.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gwyneth Paltrow in ‘Marty Supreme.’ \u003ccite>(A24)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>It isn’t enough for Marty to make some money, get his picture in the papers and travel abroad. Nor is it enough to capture the attention of a one-time movie star (Gwyneth Paltrow) with a rich husband. Sadly, he isn’t satisfied with success.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If I were a lousy psychotherapist, I might see \u003cem>Marty Supreme\u003c/em> as a Holocaust-revenge movie. Marty’s taking (back) what’s his (or what he sees as the Jewish people’s). The problem with that interpretation is that Marty directs his white-hot frenzy at anyone in his path, including erstwhile friends and supporters. He combines the ambition of \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ADWjL42OGc\">Duddy Kravitz\u003c/a>, the zero-to-60 acceleration of the Roadrunner and the relentlessness of the Terminator with their accompanying lack of scruples.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Marty Supreme\u003c/em> is far and away one of the best movies of 2025, and its brilliant execution extends to the way it guides your feelings toward its anti-hero. There comes a point, sooner or later, where you will stop taking Marty’s side. You may even hope for his comeuppance, as I did. And then there’s a turn where Safdie and Chalamet will likely make you root for Marty again.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>American movies typically encourage us to cheer for the underdog. \u003cem>Marty Supreme\u003c/em> makes you question that simple loyalty, and ponder how much a child of immigrants who seeks to prove that the streets are paved with gold is allowed to get away with.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "jerry-nagano-great-theater-organist-stanford-california-pizza-joynt",
"title": "Meet Jerry Nagano, One of the Bay Area’s Last Great Theater Organists",
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"headTitle": "Meet Jerry Nagano, One of the Bay Area’s Last Great Theater Organists | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>Jerry Nagano is a walking, talking, breathing slice of nostalgia.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The organist has spent years as a popular pre- and post-show staple in the lobbies of the \u003ca href=\"https://stanfordtheatre.org/aboutWurlitzer.html\">Stanford Theatre\u003c/a> in Palo Alto and the \u003ca href=\"https://sanjosetheaters.org/theaters/california-theatre/\">California Theatre\u003c/a> in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/san-jose\">San Jose\u003c/a>. But where Nagano still gets his biggest shoutouts is from those who recognize him from a gig he started back in the late 1980s — at Hayward’s Ye Olde Pizza Joynt, where delicious pies were being served alongside tunes from Nagano’s Mighty Wurlitzer organ.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Being in the Bay Area, if someone comes up to me and says, ‘I heard you at…,’ it’s almost always at the Pizza Joynt,” said Nagano, who took up the organ as a kid in his native Los Angeles because he didn’t feel the thrill or challenge of a piano.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13984826\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13984826\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/20251210_JERRYNAGANO_DECEMBER_GH-17-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/20251210_JERRYNAGANO_DECEMBER_GH-17-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/20251210_JERRYNAGANO_DECEMBER_GH-17-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/20251210_JERRYNAGANO_DECEMBER_GH-17-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/20251210_JERRYNAGANO_DECEMBER_GH-17-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jerry Nagano plays the California Theatre’s 1928 Wurlitzer lobby organ in San Jose on Dec. 10, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In the 1970s, pizza paired with organs was all the rage nationwide. But in the following decade, organs and organists began to disappear. Pizza and entertainment entered a new phase in 1977, when Atari founder Nolan Bushnell planted his latest creation in San Jose, the very first Chuck E. Cheese’s Pizza Time Theatre.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hungry customers flocked to see Chuck E. Cheese and his buddies, such as Jasper T. Jowls and a lion named “The King” that sang in the style of Elvis. But even as pizza and pipes were ready to enter their swan song, Ye Olde Pizza Joynt had plenty of great years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ye Olde Pizza Joynt opened on Hesperian Boulevard in 1958, but a fire silenced the organ — and some of the East Bay’s best pizza — for good in 2003. Fortunately, despite smoke damage to the organ’s console, the pipes were salvaged, protected by the thick oak shutters that controlled the volume.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nagano started at Ye Olde around 1988 and played there until 1997, serving as one of only four organists the place ever had. The most famous of those was Bill Langford, who played at Ye Olde for 18 years until 1981. “My audiences were the children of Bill Langford,” Nagano said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13984824\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13984824\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/20251210_JERRYNAGANO_DECEMBER_GH-7-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/20251210_JERRYNAGANO_DECEMBER_GH-7-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/20251210_JERRYNAGANO_DECEMBER_GH-7-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/20251210_JERRYNAGANO_DECEMBER_GH-7-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/20251210_JERRYNAGANO_DECEMBER_GH-7-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Organist Jerry Nagano poses with the lobby pipe organ at the California Theatre in San Jose on Dec. 10, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Nagano played organ full time for his first five years at Ye Olde. Five nights a week, he perched at his instrument, with vinyl albums emblazoned with \u003cem>Jerry\u003c/em> for sale off to the side. Monkey toys crashing cymbals and a train whistle added even more texture. Despite the fun of his gig, he now had a mortgage in San Jose, and the prospects of a 40-year career as an organist wasn’t going to get things paid.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nagano, who has an undergraduate degree from UCLA, began taking computer classes at De Anza College in Cupertino during the day, which first led to a job at NASA and then a career at Stanford as an electrical engineer from 1998 to 2024. Five days a week in Hayward became two.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite his new full-time gig, Nagano found a way to keep his very unique skill going.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When I started this year from hell of doing college classes, going to NASA and playing at the Pizza Joynt, someone decided, ‘OK, you don’t have enough to do, so let’s throw another something on your plate for you to spin — would you be the Tuesday night organist at the Stanford Theatre?’” Nagano recalled. “That was one of my two free nights, so another night was taken up.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13984823\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13984823\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/20251210_JERRYNAGANO_DECEMBER_GH-5-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/20251210_JERRYNAGANO_DECEMBER_GH-5-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/20251210_JERRYNAGANO_DECEMBER_GH-5-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/20251210_JERRYNAGANO_DECEMBER_GH-5-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/20251210_JERRYNAGANO_DECEMBER_GH-5-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Organist Jerry Nagano plays the lobby’s restored 1928 Wurlitzer pipe organ at the California Theatre in San Jose on Dec. 10, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Now 67 years old, Nagano splits his time between the Stanford Theatre and the California Theatre, the organ programming in both venues supported by the Packard Humanities Institute. Nagano has a knack for dazzling audiences with tunes that often fit the bills of the respective venues, especially at Stanford, which specializes in playing vintage films as far back as the silent era.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Opera San Jose General Director and CEO Shawna Lucey understands that in today’s modern era, where competition for one’s entertainment dollar is fierce, opera is more than a rustic stage and beautiful singing. Going to the opera is an event, where patrons bask in the thrill of the world’s greatest vocal compositions. Nagano has been a staple for those attending the California’s many events since 2008, and having a Bay Area icon in the house just amplifies the setting even more. [aside postid='arts_13984704']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s a special thing from this region that we have remarkable talent, and Jerry is delighting audiences with the sounds of one of the most classic American experiences. It just doesn’t get any better than that,” said Lucey, whose father, like Nagano, is a retired electrical engineer. “We have Jerry play, but he doesn’t just play. He talks to our audiences and explains things about the Wurlitzer organ, which is really exciting for our patrons and audiences both young and old.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Watching Nagano dive into the two-, three- or four-manual organ is to watch an American master in motion. In the dimly lit lobby of the California Theatre, where the 1928 two-manual instrument is housed, each keyboard has 61 keys, with 32 more notes at his nimble feet. That’s not to mention the plethora of sound buttons that surround the keys just above, featuring every brass, woodwind or percussion sound imaginable. [aside postid='arts_13984286']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Mighty Wurlitzer and all its iterations have seen their best days. In the Bay Area, those days are largely attributed to the few folks like Nagano, keeping a tradition alive that is straight from the pages of classic Americana. Nagano still enjoys playing, still loves sitting down and cranking out a Broadway tune, even keeping tricks up his sleeve from newer shows like \u003cem>Hamilton\u003c/em> or classic rock bands such as Led Zeppelin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The only rules Nagano has are his own. No matter the setting — in fancy dress at the opera, enjoying a film from the golden age of cinema, or, back in the day, scarfing down pepperoni slices with your family — Nagano’s number-one rule is all about having fun.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There are many other organists in the business that play better and more accurately than I do, and I always refer to them as the organists that want to impress people,” Nagano said. “That was the point where I said, ‘I would much rather entertain my audience than impress them, so I will work on giving my audience a fun, good time.’ You might be impressed or you might not be, but I sure hope you have a good time while you’re listening.”\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Jerry Nagano is a walking, talking, breathing slice of nostalgia.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The organist has spent years as a popular pre- and post-show staple in the lobbies of the \u003ca href=\"https://stanfordtheatre.org/aboutWurlitzer.html\">Stanford Theatre\u003c/a> in Palo Alto and the \u003ca href=\"https://sanjosetheaters.org/theaters/california-theatre/\">California Theatre\u003c/a> in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/san-jose\">San Jose\u003c/a>. But where Nagano still gets his biggest shoutouts is from those who recognize him from a gig he started back in the late 1980s — at Hayward’s Ye Olde Pizza Joynt, where delicious pies were being served alongside tunes from Nagano’s Mighty Wurlitzer organ.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Being in the Bay Area, if someone comes up to me and says, ‘I heard you at…,’ it’s almost always at the Pizza Joynt,” said Nagano, who took up the organ as a kid in his native Los Angeles because he didn’t feel the thrill or challenge of a piano.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13984826\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13984826\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/20251210_JERRYNAGANO_DECEMBER_GH-17-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/20251210_JERRYNAGANO_DECEMBER_GH-17-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/20251210_JERRYNAGANO_DECEMBER_GH-17-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/20251210_JERRYNAGANO_DECEMBER_GH-17-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/20251210_JERRYNAGANO_DECEMBER_GH-17-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jerry Nagano plays the California Theatre’s 1928 Wurlitzer lobby organ in San Jose on Dec. 10, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In the 1970s, pizza paired with organs was all the rage nationwide. But in the following decade, organs and organists began to disappear. Pizza and entertainment entered a new phase in 1977, when Atari founder Nolan Bushnell planted his latest creation in San Jose, the very first Chuck E. Cheese’s Pizza Time Theatre.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hungry customers flocked to see Chuck E. Cheese and his buddies, such as Jasper T. Jowls and a lion named “The King” that sang in the style of Elvis. But even as pizza and pipes were ready to enter their swan song, Ye Olde Pizza Joynt had plenty of great years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ye Olde Pizza Joynt opened on Hesperian Boulevard in 1958, but a fire silenced the organ — and some of the East Bay’s best pizza — for good in 2003. Fortunately, despite smoke damage to the organ’s console, the pipes were salvaged, protected by the thick oak shutters that controlled the volume.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nagano started at Ye Olde around 1988 and played there until 1997, serving as one of only four organists the place ever had. The most famous of those was Bill Langford, who played at Ye Olde for 18 years until 1981. “My audiences were the children of Bill Langford,” Nagano said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13984824\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13984824\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/20251210_JERRYNAGANO_DECEMBER_GH-7-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/20251210_JERRYNAGANO_DECEMBER_GH-7-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/20251210_JERRYNAGANO_DECEMBER_GH-7-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/20251210_JERRYNAGANO_DECEMBER_GH-7-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/20251210_JERRYNAGANO_DECEMBER_GH-7-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Organist Jerry Nagano poses with the lobby pipe organ at the California Theatre in San Jose on Dec. 10, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Nagano played organ full time for his first five years at Ye Olde. Five nights a week, he perched at his instrument, with vinyl albums emblazoned with \u003cem>Jerry\u003c/em> for sale off to the side. Monkey toys crashing cymbals and a train whistle added even more texture. Despite the fun of his gig, he now had a mortgage in San Jose, and the prospects of a 40-year career as an organist wasn’t going to get things paid.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nagano, who has an undergraduate degree from UCLA, began taking computer classes at De Anza College in Cupertino during the day, which first led to a job at NASA and then a career at Stanford as an electrical engineer from 1998 to 2024. Five days a week in Hayward became two.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite his new full-time gig, Nagano found a way to keep his very unique skill going.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When I started this year from hell of doing college classes, going to NASA and playing at the Pizza Joynt, someone decided, ‘OK, you don’t have enough to do, so let’s throw another something on your plate for you to spin — would you be the Tuesday night organist at the Stanford Theatre?’” Nagano recalled. “That was one of my two free nights, so another night was taken up.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13984823\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13984823\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/20251210_JERRYNAGANO_DECEMBER_GH-5-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/20251210_JERRYNAGANO_DECEMBER_GH-5-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/20251210_JERRYNAGANO_DECEMBER_GH-5-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/20251210_JERRYNAGANO_DECEMBER_GH-5-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/20251210_JERRYNAGANO_DECEMBER_GH-5-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Organist Jerry Nagano plays the lobby’s restored 1928 Wurlitzer pipe organ at the California Theatre in San Jose on Dec. 10, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Now 67 years old, Nagano splits his time between the Stanford Theatre and the California Theatre, the organ programming in both venues supported by the Packard Humanities Institute. Nagano has a knack for dazzling audiences with tunes that often fit the bills of the respective venues, especially at Stanford, which specializes in playing vintage films as far back as the silent era.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Opera San Jose General Director and CEO Shawna Lucey understands that in today’s modern era, where competition for one’s entertainment dollar is fierce, opera is more than a rustic stage and beautiful singing. Going to the opera is an event, where patrons bask in the thrill of the world’s greatest vocal compositions. Nagano has been a staple for those attending the California’s many events since 2008, and having a Bay Area icon in the house just amplifies the setting even more. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s a special thing from this region that we have remarkable talent, and Jerry is delighting audiences with the sounds of one of the most classic American experiences. It just doesn’t get any better than that,” said Lucey, whose father, like Nagano, is a retired electrical engineer. “We have Jerry play, but he doesn’t just play. He talks to our audiences and explains things about the Wurlitzer organ, which is really exciting for our patrons and audiences both young and old.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Watching Nagano dive into the two-, three- or four-manual organ is to watch an American master in motion. In the dimly lit lobby of the California Theatre, where the 1928 two-manual instrument is housed, each keyboard has 61 keys, with 32 more notes at his nimble feet. That’s not to mention the plethora of sound buttons that surround the keys just above, featuring every brass, woodwind or percussion sound imaginable. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Mighty Wurlitzer and all its iterations have seen their best days. In the Bay Area, those days are largely attributed to the few folks like Nagano, keeping a tradition alive that is straight from the pages of classic Americana. Nagano still enjoys playing, still loves sitting down and cranking out a Broadway tune, even keeping tricks up his sleeve from newer shows like \u003cem>Hamilton\u003c/em> or classic rock bands such as Led Zeppelin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The only rules Nagano has are his own. No matter the setting — in fancy dress at the opera, enjoying a film from the golden age of cinema, or, back in the day, scarfing down pepperoni slices with your family — Nagano’s number-one rule is all about having fun.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There are many other organists in the business that play better and more accurately than I do, and I always refer to them as the organists that want to impress people,” Nagano said. “That was the point where I said, ‘I would much rather entertain my audience than impress them, so I will work on giving my audience a fun, good time.’ You might be impressed or you might not be, but I sure hope you have a good time while you’re listening.”\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "best-movies-moments-films-2025",
"title": "The Best Movie Moments of 2025",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>This week, we’re looking back on the best art, music, food, movies and more from the year. \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/best-of-2025\">See our entire Best of 2025 guide here\u003c/a>. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The imperative of narrative films, indeed of all storytelling, is forward movement. Our insistent, perennial question is, “And \u003cem>then\u003c/em> what happened?” But “what” only matters if we care about “who,” and how they react and respond to what happens.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The characters who stuck with me this year were on singular, propulsive journeys. They may have boarded a ship or hopped a train or ridden a spaceship, or stayed home and picked up a camera or a Ping-Pong paddle. They made unexpected and valuable discoveries, and I was glad to be along for the ride.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13984487\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/LEGS04_Courtesy-of-A24_2000.jpg\" alt=\"woman on therapist couch, man taking notes beside her\" width=\"2000\" height=\"808\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13984487\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/LEGS04_Courtesy-of-A24_2000.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/LEGS04_Courtesy-of-A24_2000-160x65.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/LEGS04_Courtesy-of-A24_2000-768x310.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/LEGS04_Courtesy-of-A24_2000-1536x621.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Conan O’Brien and Rose Byrne in ‘If I Had Legs I’d Kick You.’ \u003ccite>(Logan White/A24)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>‘\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13982228/rose-byrne-astonishes-in-the-gripping-if-i-had-legs-id-kick-you\">If I Had Legs I’d Kick You\u003c/a>’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Mary Bronstein’s desperate portrait of a struggling mother (and therapist) on her own begins with an extreme close-up of Linda (Rose Byrne) not-so-calmly listening to \u003cem>her\u003c/em> therapist and young daughter. This intimate, uncomfortable sequence is the whole movie in a nutshell: The camera never strays far from Linda’s face, immersing us in the cascading pressures that threaten to submerge her. Linda’s trajectory is a downward spiral (physician, heal thyself!), but my therapist tells me it’s always darkest just before the dawn.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13984488\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/NOUVELLE_VAGUE_n_00_50_48_21_2000.jpg\" alt=\"two men pushing cart with concealed camera trail man and woman on parisian street\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1459\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13984488\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/NOUVELLE_VAGUE_n_00_50_48_21_2000.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/NOUVELLE_VAGUE_n_00_50_48_21_2000-160x117.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/NOUVELLE_VAGUE_n_00_50_48_21_2000-768x560.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/NOUVELLE_VAGUE_n_00_50_48_21_2000-1536x1121.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Guillaume Marbeck as Jean-Luc Godard, Aubry Dullin as Jean-Paul Belmondo and Zoey Deutch as Jean Seberg in ‘Nouvelle Vague.’ \u003ccite>(Netflix)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>‘\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13983246/nouvelle-vague-movie-review-french-new-wave-linklater-on-godard-breathless\">Nouvelle Vague\u003c/a>’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Jean-Luc Godard was the last of his many film-critic peers to direct a feature film. That made the cocky auteur slightly insecure, yet he made zero concessions to his radical approach or compromises to his unique vision. Richard Linklater’s marvelous French-language, black-and-white recreation of the making of \u003cem>Breathless\u003c/em> in Paris in 1959 chronicles the many ways the artist willfully risked a fall. Like provoking a mid-day café brawl with his producer, a physical manifestation of the philosophical tensions between art and commerce, improvisation and script, inspiration and pragmatism. Vive la révolution du cinéma!\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13984489\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/SentimentalValue_Renate_Reinsve_Stellan_Skarsga%CC%8Ard_Photo-Christian-Belgaux_2000.jpg\" alt=\"older man faces younger woman in front of hedge\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1202\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13984489\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/SentimentalValue_Renate_Reinsve_Stellan_Skarsgård_Photo-Christian-Belgaux_2000.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/SentimentalValue_Renate_Reinsve_Stellan_Skarsgård_Photo-Christian-Belgaux_2000-160x96.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/SentimentalValue_Renate_Reinsve_Stellan_Skarsgård_Photo-Christian-Belgaux_2000-768x462.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/SentimentalValue_Renate_Reinsve_Stellan_Skarsgård_Photo-Christian-Belgaux_2000-1536x923.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Stellan Skarsgård and Renate Reinsve in ‘Sentimental Value.’ \u003ccite>(Christian Belgaux/NEON)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>‘\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13983315/sentimental-value-movie-review-joachim-trier-drama-stellan-skarsgard\">Sentimental Value\u003c/a>’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In Joachim Trier’s richly layered drama, the fight over artistic expression is a family affair. You might think that legendary filmmaker Gustav Borg (Stellan Skarsgård) holds all the cards. However, his daughter Nora (Renate Reinsve) is a drama queen. Really. She’s a phenom whose acute stage fright — which she shockingly invokes to make out backstage with the stage manager — threatens to derail the opening night of her latest buzzy play. Trier blurs and blots the line between art and life in this dramatic opening, setting the terms of Gustav and Nora’s relationship.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13984490\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/rev-1-OBAA-20250623_High_Res_JPEG_2000.jpg\" alt=\"seated young woman looks furtively to right\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13984490\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/rev-1-OBAA-20250623_High_Res_JPEG_2000.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/rev-1-OBAA-20250623_High_Res_JPEG_2000-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/rev-1-OBAA-20250623_High_Res_JPEG_2000-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/rev-1-OBAA-20250623_High_Res_JPEG_2000-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Chase Infiniti as Willa Ferguson in ‘One Battle After Another.’ \u003ccite>(Warner Bros. Pictures)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>‘\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13981463/one-battle-after-another-movie-review-leonardo-dicaprio-paul-thomas-anderson-immigration-revolution-action\">One Battle After Another\u003c/a>‘\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Paul Thomas Anderson’s would-be SoCal epic is framed as a long-running grudge match between erstwhile revolutionaries and the military clampdown. (\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XEnTxlBuGo\">Which side are you on, which side are you on?\u003c/a>) Willa (Chase Infiniti), a mixed-race teenager of unambiguous innocence, is caught in the crossfire. In a rare quiet moment amid the battlefield chaos and cacophony, alone in a sun-blazed car while men fight over her, she peers through the shadows on the windshield and takes her life into her own hands. Now Willa’s journey truly begins, while everyone else keeps on running in circles over the same old ground.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13984491\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/08_4243_D012_00172_R_rgb_2000.jpg\" alt=\"woman with shaved head and white cream on skin sits on bed, hands bound\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13984491\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/08_4243_D012_00172_R_rgb_2000.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/08_4243_D012_00172_R_rgb_2000-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/08_4243_D012_00172_R_rgb_2000-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/08_4243_D012_00172_R_rgb_2000-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Emma Stone as Michelle in director Yorgos Lanthimos’ ‘Bugonia.’Focus Features release. \u003ccite>(Atsushi Nishijima/Focus Features)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>‘\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13982740/bugonia-movie-review-emma-stone-jesse-plemons-yorgos-lanthimos\">Bugonia\u003c/a>’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>High-powered biotech CEO Michelle (Emma Stone) isn’t on a journey so much as a mission. But it isn’t apparent until Michelle has been kidnapped and chained in a mad conspiracy theorist’s basement. Abused, humiliated and covered in blood, Michelle refuses to be a victim for even a nanosecond. Stone’s commitment to frequent collaborator Yorgos Lanthimos is extraordinary, notably in the moment her face hardens into a mask of fearless fury.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13984492\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/Train_Dreams_u_00_43_38_15_R_2000.jpg\" alt=\"white man holds axe, looks up at massive tree\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1373\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13984492\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/Train_Dreams_u_00_43_38_15_R_2000.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/Train_Dreams_u_00_43_38_15_R_2000-160x110.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/Train_Dreams_u_00_43_38_15_R_2000-768x527.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/Train_Dreams_u_00_43_38_15_R_2000-1536x1054.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Joel Edgerton as Robert Grainier in ‘Train Dreams.’ \u003ccite>(Netflix)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>‘\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13983447/train-dreams-review-movie\">Train Dreams\u003c/a>’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Looking straight down on a green Pacific Northwest forest, we watch a branch inexorably fall from a great height onto a man. Is it random bad luck? God’s mighty hand? Nature’s way of avenging the violence that loggers do to trees? Or the accidental handiwork of another laborer? Robert Grainier (Joel Edgerton), the simple protagonist of Clint Bentley’s meditation on the effects of 20th-century progress on one individual, grapples as best he can with these and other questions. \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13984493\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/r3_1.1.1_2000.jpg\" alt=\"blurry image of man running down busy city street with valise\" width=\"2000\" height=\"838\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13984493\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/r3_1.1.1_2000.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/r3_1.1.1_2000-160x67.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/r3_1.1.1_2000-768x322.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/r3_1.1.1_2000-1536x644.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Timothée Chalamet in ‘Marty Supreme.’ \u003ccite>(A24)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>‘Marty Supreme’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Table-tennis hotshot/shoe salesman Marty Mauser’s manic drive to escape the shabby New York confines of his 1950s existence is, essentially, one battle after another. Here’s one: Dead-set on flying to London for a major tournament, the perpetually broke Marty (Timothée Chalamet) forces a co-worker at gunpoint to open the safe so he can take his “back pay.” Josh Safdie’s astonishing film is a nonstop barrage of extreme moments. Alas, for all his sound and fury, Marty ain’t going nowhere.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13984494\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/TTAL_SG_00067_v2_2000.jpg\" alt=\"people in 18th-century clothes raise arms together on ship deck\" width=\"2000\" height=\"828\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13984494\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/TTAL_SG_00067_v2_2000.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/TTAL_SG_00067_v2_2000-160x66.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/TTAL_SG_00067_v2_2000-768x318.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/TTAL_SG_00067_v2_2000-1536x636.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Amanda Seyfried and ensemble in ‘The Testament of Ann Lee.’ \u003ccite>(Searchlight Pictures)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>‘The Testament of Ann Lee’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Mona Fastvold’s entrancing recreation of the Shaker religious movement contemplates the utopian aspirations of faith. In a turning point in the English sect’s development, its single-minded leader Ann Lee (Amanda Seyfried) declares that its future is in the New World. En route, a mid-Atlantic storm threatens the ship. Lee and her followers commandeer the deck for ecstatic prayer, braving the rain and the jeers of the disbelieving crew. On a rough and uncertain journey, it is helpful to be accompanied by your God, or a strong director. Some would say they are the same thing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Eight scintillating scenes from (some of) the year’s most compelling cinematic journeys.",
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"title": "The Best Movie Moments of 2025 | KQED",
"description": "Eight scintillating scenes from (some of) the year’s most compelling cinematic journeys.",
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"headline": "The Best Movie Moments of 2025",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>This week, we’re looking back on the best art, music, food, movies and more from the year. \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/best-of-2025\">See our entire Best of 2025 guide here\u003c/a>. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The imperative of narrative films, indeed of all storytelling, is forward movement. Our insistent, perennial question is, “And \u003cem>then\u003c/em> what happened?” But “what” only matters if we care about “who,” and how they react and respond to what happens.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The characters who stuck with me this year were on singular, propulsive journeys. They may have boarded a ship or hopped a train or ridden a spaceship, or stayed home and picked up a camera or a Ping-Pong paddle. They made unexpected and valuable discoveries, and I was glad to be along for the ride.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13984487\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/LEGS04_Courtesy-of-A24_2000.jpg\" alt=\"woman on therapist couch, man taking notes beside her\" width=\"2000\" height=\"808\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13984487\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/LEGS04_Courtesy-of-A24_2000.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/LEGS04_Courtesy-of-A24_2000-160x65.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/LEGS04_Courtesy-of-A24_2000-768x310.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/LEGS04_Courtesy-of-A24_2000-1536x621.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Conan O’Brien and Rose Byrne in ‘If I Had Legs I’d Kick You.’ \u003ccite>(Logan White/A24)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>‘\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13982228/rose-byrne-astonishes-in-the-gripping-if-i-had-legs-id-kick-you\">If I Had Legs I’d Kick You\u003c/a>’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Mary Bronstein’s desperate portrait of a struggling mother (and therapist) on her own begins with an extreme close-up of Linda (Rose Byrne) not-so-calmly listening to \u003cem>her\u003c/em> therapist and young daughter. This intimate, uncomfortable sequence is the whole movie in a nutshell: The camera never strays far from Linda’s face, immersing us in the cascading pressures that threaten to submerge her. Linda’s trajectory is a downward spiral (physician, heal thyself!), but my therapist tells me it’s always darkest just before the dawn.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13984488\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/NOUVELLE_VAGUE_n_00_50_48_21_2000.jpg\" alt=\"two men pushing cart with concealed camera trail man and woman on parisian street\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1459\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13984488\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/NOUVELLE_VAGUE_n_00_50_48_21_2000.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/NOUVELLE_VAGUE_n_00_50_48_21_2000-160x117.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/NOUVELLE_VAGUE_n_00_50_48_21_2000-768x560.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/NOUVELLE_VAGUE_n_00_50_48_21_2000-1536x1121.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Guillaume Marbeck as Jean-Luc Godard, Aubry Dullin as Jean-Paul Belmondo and Zoey Deutch as Jean Seberg in ‘Nouvelle Vague.’ \u003ccite>(Netflix)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>‘\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13983246/nouvelle-vague-movie-review-french-new-wave-linklater-on-godard-breathless\">Nouvelle Vague\u003c/a>’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Jean-Luc Godard was the last of his many film-critic peers to direct a feature film. That made the cocky auteur slightly insecure, yet he made zero concessions to his radical approach or compromises to his unique vision. Richard Linklater’s marvelous French-language, black-and-white recreation of the making of \u003cem>Breathless\u003c/em> in Paris in 1959 chronicles the many ways the artist willfully risked a fall. Like provoking a mid-day café brawl with his producer, a physical manifestation of the philosophical tensions between art and commerce, improvisation and script, inspiration and pragmatism. Vive la révolution du cinéma!\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13984489\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/SentimentalValue_Renate_Reinsve_Stellan_Skarsga%CC%8Ard_Photo-Christian-Belgaux_2000.jpg\" alt=\"older man faces younger woman in front of hedge\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1202\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13984489\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/SentimentalValue_Renate_Reinsve_Stellan_Skarsgård_Photo-Christian-Belgaux_2000.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/SentimentalValue_Renate_Reinsve_Stellan_Skarsgård_Photo-Christian-Belgaux_2000-160x96.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/SentimentalValue_Renate_Reinsve_Stellan_Skarsgård_Photo-Christian-Belgaux_2000-768x462.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/SentimentalValue_Renate_Reinsve_Stellan_Skarsgård_Photo-Christian-Belgaux_2000-1536x923.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Stellan Skarsgård and Renate Reinsve in ‘Sentimental Value.’ \u003ccite>(Christian Belgaux/NEON)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>‘\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13983315/sentimental-value-movie-review-joachim-trier-drama-stellan-skarsgard\">Sentimental Value\u003c/a>’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In Joachim Trier’s richly layered drama, the fight over artistic expression is a family affair. You might think that legendary filmmaker Gustav Borg (Stellan Skarsgård) holds all the cards. However, his daughter Nora (Renate Reinsve) is a drama queen. Really. She’s a phenom whose acute stage fright — which she shockingly invokes to make out backstage with the stage manager — threatens to derail the opening night of her latest buzzy play. Trier blurs and blots the line between art and life in this dramatic opening, setting the terms of Gustav and Nora’s relationship.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13984490\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/rev-1-OBAA-20250623_High_Res_JPEG_2000.jpg\" alt=\"seated young woman looks furtively to right\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13984490\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/rev-1-OBAA-20250623_High_Res_JPEG_2000.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/rev-1-OBAA-20250623_High_Res_JPEG_2000-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/rev-1-OBAA-20250623_High_Res_JPEG_2000-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/rev-1-OBAA-20250623_High_Res_JPEG_2000-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Chase Infiniti as Willa Ferguson in ‘One Battle After Another.’ \u003ccite>(Warner Bros. Pictures)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>‘\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13981463/one-battle-after-another-movie-review-leonardo-dicaprio-paul-thomas-anderson-immigration-revolution-action\">One Battle After Another\u003c/a>‘\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Paul Thomas Anderson’s would-be SoCal epic is framed as a long-running grudge match between erstwhile revolutionaries and the military clampdown. (\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XEnTxlBuGo\">Which side are you on, which side are you on?\u003c/a>) Willa (Chase Infiniti), a mixed-race teenager of unambiguous innocence, is caught in the crossfire. In a rare quiet moment amid the battlefield chaos and cacophony, alone in a sun-blazed car while men fight over her, she peers through the shadows on the windshield and takes her life into her own hands. Now Willa’s journey truly begins, while everyone else keeps on running in circles over the same old ground.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13984491\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/08_4243_D012_00172_R_rgb_2000.jpg\" alt=\"woman with shaved head and white cream on skin sits on bed, hands bound\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13984491\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/08_4243_D012_00172_R_rgb_2000.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/08_4243_D012_00172_R_rgb_2000-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/08_4243_D012_00172_R_rgb_2000-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/08_4243_D012_00172_R_rgb_2000-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Emma Stone as Michelle in director Yorgos Lanthimos’ ‘Bugonia.’Focus Features release. \u003ccite>(Atsushi Nishijima/Focus Features)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>‘\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13982740/bugonia-movie-review-emma-stone-jesse-plemons-yorgos-lanthimos\">Bugonia\u003c/a>’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>High-powered biotech CEO Michelle (Emma Stone) isn’t on a journey so much as a mission. But it isn’t apparent until Michelle has been kidnapped and chained in a mad conspiracy theorist’s basement. Abused, humiliated and covered in blood, Michelle refuses to be a victim for even a nanosecond. Stone’s commitment to frequent collaborator Yorgos Lanthimos is extraordinary, notably in the moment her face hardens into a mask of fearless fury.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13984492\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/Train_Dreams_u_00_43_38_15_R_2000.jpg\" alt=\"white man holds axe, looks up at massive tree\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1373\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13984492\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/Train_Dreams_u_00_43_38_15_R_2000.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/Train_Dreams_u_00_43_38_15_R_2000-160x110.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/Train_Dreams_u_00_43_38_15_R_2000-768x527.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/Train_Dreams_u_00_43_38_15_R_2000-1536x1054.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Joel Edgerton as Robert Grainier in ‘Train Dreams.’ \u003ccite>(Netflix)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>‘\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13983447/train-dreams-review-movie\">Train Dreams\u003c/a>’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Looking straight down on a green Pacific Northwest forest, we watch a branch inexorably fall from a great height onto a man. Is it random bad luck? God’s mighty hand? Nature’s way of avenging the violence that loggers do to trees? Or the accidental handiwork of another laborer? Robert Grainier (Joel Edgerton), the simple protagonist of Clint Bentley’s meditation on the effects of 20th-century progress on one individual, grapples as best he can with these and other questions. \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13984493\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/r3_1.1.1_2000.jpg\" alt=\"blurry image of man running down busy city street with valise\" width=\"2000\" height=\"838\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13984493\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/r3_1.1.1_2000.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/r3_1.1.1_2000-160x67.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/r3_1.1.1_2000-768x322.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/r3_1.1.1_2000-1536x644.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Timothée Chalamet in ‘Marty Supreme.’ \u003ccite>(A24)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>‘Marty Supreme’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Table-tennis hotshot/shoe salesman Marty Mauser’s manic drive to escape the shabby New York confines of his 1950s existence is, essentially, one battle after another. Here’s one: Dead-set on flying to London for a major tournament, the perpetually broke Marty (Timothée Chalamet) forces a co-worker at gunpoint to open the safe so he can take his “back pay.” Josh Safdie’s astonishing film is a nonstop barrage of extreme moments. Alas, for all his sound and fury, Marty ain’t going nowhere.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13984494\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/TTAL_SG_00067_v2_2000.jpg\" alt=\"people in 18th-century clothes raise arms together on ship deck\" width=\"2000\" height=\"828\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13984494\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/TTAL_SG_00067_v2_2000.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/TTAL_SG_00067_v2_2000-160x66.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/TTAL_SG_00067_v2_2000-768x318.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/TTAL_SG_00067_v2_2000-1536x636.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Amanda Seyfried and ensemble in ‘The Testament of Ann Lee.’ \u003ccite>(Searchlight Pictures)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>‘The Testament of Ann Lee’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Mona Fastvold’s entrancing recreation of the Shaker religious movement contemplates the utopian aspirations of faith. In a turning point in the English sect’s development, its single-minded leader Ann Lee (Amanda Seyfried) declares that its future is in the New World. En route, a mid-Atlantic storm threatens the ship. Lee and her followers commandeer the deck for ecstatic prayer, braving the rain and the jeers of the disbelieving crew. On a rough and uncertain journey, it is helpful to be accompanied by your God, or a strong director. Some would say they are the same thing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "best-bay-area-theater-plays-musicals-2025",
"title": "The Best Bay Area Theater We Saw in 2025",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>This week, we’re looking back on the best art, music, food, movies and more from the year. \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/best-of-2025\">See our entire Best of 2025 guide here\u003c/a>. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2025, Bay Area theater was loaded with innovative artists producing great shows, coupled with a hope that the local scene will soon see healthier days.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During a spate of theater closures, funding challenges and diminished audiences, there’s been \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13978734/how-to-save-bay-area-theater-from-collapse-and-closures\">no shortage of ideas\u003c/a> from the Bay Area’s top theater brass as to how Bay Area theater can survive. There were also plenty of victories to be had on our region’s stages in 2025.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Below, theater critics and regular KQED contributors Nicole Gluckstern and David John Chávez share their most significant Bay Area theater happenings of 2025.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13984280\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1600px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/unnamed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1600\" height=\"1047\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13984280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/unnamed.jpg 1600w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/unnamed-160x105.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/unnamed-768x503.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/unnamed-1536x1005.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Syrian-Armenian-American artist Sona Tatoyan talks about her friend, Turkish political activist Osman Kavala, as renowned oud player Ara Dinkjian accompanies her in ‘AZAD,’ at Golden Thread.\u003cbr> \u003ccite>(David Allen Studio)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>The beautiful spectacle of ‘AZAD’ at Golden Thread\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Written and performed by Sona Tatoyan, a Syrian Armenian American theatre-maker and Storyteller, \u003ci>AZAD\u003c/i> defied categorization in its April premiere at Golden Thread. With its compelling personal narrative, it presented like a solo show but relied on a taut ensemble of puppeteers, centenarian Karagöz puppets and a live musician to create an expansive, visionary performance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>AZAD\u003c/em> excavated painful, rigorously researched histories that rarely see the spotlight, putting the audience and performer through an intense emotional wringer that never relied on cliché or manipulation to elicit a response. With atmospheric projections designed by Camilla Tassi, and meticulous scenic design by Marcelo Martínez García, this Jared Mezzocchi-directed piece was a visual and virtuosic standout. —\u003ci>Nicole Gluckstern\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13984283\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 960px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/unnamed-6.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"960\" height=\"640\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13984283\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/unnamed-6.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/unnamed-6-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/unnamed-6-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mona (Lauren Marcus, left) and waitress Edna Louise (Ashley Cowl, center) get reacquainted with Joanne (Shakina) in the musical ‘Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean: A New Musical’ at TheatreWorks Silicon Valley.\u003cbr> \u003ccite>(Kevin Berne)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>‘Jimmy Dean’ came back to Mountain View\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>It is insanely hard to write a new hit musical. Just take a peek at the constant stream of revivals that have hit theaters in recent years. That’s what made TheatreWorks Silicon Valley’s \u003ci>Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean: A New Musical\u003c/i> such an achievement. A darling of the company’s 2024 New Works Festival, the show premiered this past summer, featuring every component of what makes a musical unforgettable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Start with the insightful book from Ashley Robinson, the playful, fierce music from Dan Gillespie Sells and unbeatable lyrics by Shakina. Add a terrific creative team led by director Giovanna Sardelli, and you’ve got a magical show. As an added bonus, it was thrilling to see an unapologetic transgender narrative, with Shakina stunning as a vision in white. —\u003cem>David John Chávez\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13984276\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1600px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/unnamed-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1600\" height=\"1065\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13984276\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/unnamed-2.jpg 1600w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/unnamed-2-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/unnamed-2-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/unnamed-2-1536x1022.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Juicy (Devin A. Cunningham) stares down the ghost of Pap (Ron Chapman) in ‘Fat Ham’ at SF Playhouse.\u003cbr> \u003ccite>(Jessica Palopoli)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>The Pulitzer-winning ‘Fat Ham’ astounded at SF Playhouse\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>A singular upside of the COVID lockdown was the rare chance to stream innovative performances from around the world. One such toothsome treat was the world premiere of the Pulitzer-winning \u003ci>Fat Ham\u003c/i>, by James Ijames, staged as a digital production by Philadelphia’s Wilma Theater. This first taste whetted my appetite for more. At SF Playhouse, \u003ci>Fat Ham\u003c/i> brought a deeply humorous, deeply human reimagining of \u003ci>Hamlet\u003c/i>, in which a grieving Juicy (Devin Cunningham) contemplated mortality and morality as his mother (Jenn Stephens) and new stepfather-uncle (Ron Chapman) celebrated their hasty nuptials with a backyard barbeque.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Deftly directed by Margo Hall, the actors pushed each punchline and outrageous misfortune to its absolute limit, flipping the existential dread of Denmark’s saddest prince into a flamboyant embrace of life’s possibilities. —\u003ci>Nicole Gluckstern\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13984278\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/unnamed-3.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"560\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13984278\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/unnamed-3.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/unnamed-3-160x112.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/unnamed-3-768x538.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Tshembe (Jeuneé Simon) faces guard Eric (Monique Crawford) as Madame Nielsen (Jacinta Kaumbulu) sits and looks on in Oakland Theater Project’s production of ‘Les Blancs.’\u003cbr> \u003ccite>(Ben Krantz Studio)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>A powerful Lorraine Hansberry revival in Oakland\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>If there’s any Bay Area company outgrowing their britches faster than a teenager on a growth spurt, it’s Oakland Theater Project. In their charming space at the Flax Art & Design building, their current production of \u003ci>Cabaret\u003c/i> is sold out for the entire run weeks before closing. Ideally, they’d be able to move into a permanent space worthy of their fierce, bold reputation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Take their fantastic production of \u003ci>Les Blancs\u003c/i>. Though it lacks the name recognition of \u003ci>A Raisin in the Sun\u003c/i>, it carries major weight in the theater world as Lorraine Hansberry’s final work, adapted by her ex-husband Robert Nemiroff. The story is also the only one of Hansberry’s to be set in Africa, using beats, rhythms and dance to signify Black and African cultures. Presenting a clash between white colonialism and Black liberation, the story and production were both memorable and explosive. —\u003ci>David John Chávez\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13984281\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1600px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/unnamed-4.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1600\" height=\"1065\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13984281\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/unnamed-4.jpg 1600w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/unnamed-4-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/unnamed-4-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/unnamed-4-1536x1022.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Marga Gomez in ‘The Search for Signs\u003cbr>of Intelligent Life in the Universe,’ the last production at famed Berkeley institution Aurora Theatre before the company ceased operations.\u003cbr> \u003ccite>(Kevin Berne)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Marga Gomez helped bid goodnight to Aurora Theatre\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The first play I bought as a teenage theatre nerd, Jane Wagner’s inventive \u003ci>The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life In the Universe\u003c/i> was written to showcase the versatile talents of her wife, Lily Tomlin — a tough act to follow in any era. Thankfully, Aurora Theatre made the inspired move to cast Bay Area powerhouse Marga Gomez in its 2025 revival.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A comedian, MC, actor and seasoned solo show creator/performer, Gomez switches seamlessly between characters, scenarios and timelines without elaborate props or costume changes — making her a stellar choice to fill Tomlin’s cosmic shoes. Adding to the pressure of the performance was the concurrent announcement that Aurora Theatre would cease operations for the foreseeable future. At least Gomez ensured they went out with a (big) bang. \u003ci>—Nicole Gluckstern\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13984279\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1116px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/unnamed-5.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1116\" height=\"735\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13984279\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/unnamed-5.jpg 1116w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/unnamed-5-160x105.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/unnamed-5-768x506.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1116px) 100vw, 1116px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Theoretical physicist Marianne (Vivienne Truong) and beekeeper Roland (George Alexander K.), one of three couples with the same names and dialogue in ‘Constellations’ at the Pear Theatre in Mountain View.\u003cbr> \u003ccite>(Reed Flores)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>‘Constellations’ offered a terrific way forward\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>On the surface, there was nothing terribly flashy about Nick Payne’s \u003ci>Constellations\u003c/i> at the Pear Theatre in Palo Alto. A group of actors — George Alexander K., Raven Douglas, Thomas Nguyen, Sahil Singh, Elana Swartz and Vivienne Truong — enter an open space, pair off and begin spilling their guts. The pairings were different at each performance, and at the end of the show, the audience got to make decisions for the next audience coming in the following night. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You’d be forgiven in thinking this sounds gimmicky. But under the direction of Reed Flores, it proved that theater need not have bells and whistles, just a great story and fantastic performances that grip the audience. If Bay Area theater is going to survive, phenomenal shows like this one will need to be at its forefront. —\u003ci>David John Chávez\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13984284\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1600px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/unnamed-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1600\" height=\"1066\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13984284\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/unnamed-1.jpg 1600w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/unnamed-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/unnamed-1-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/unnamed-1-1536x1023.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Katherine Park, Elana Swartz, Carl Lucania and Alejandra Wahl took their ‘Tempest’ to the ocean with Berkeley Shakespeare Company.\u003cbr> \u003ccite>(Sara Nicole Mindful)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Fabulous backdrops that reinvigorated the classics\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Theatre-makers love a copyright-free classic, but some productions really push their source material to exciting extremes. This year, standouts included Nate Currier’s first-time adaptation of \u003ci>The Epic of Gilgamesh\u003c/i> at Marin Shakespeare Company, and a site-expansive production of \u003ci>The Tempest\u003c/i> at the windswept Point Montara Lighthouse and Hostel.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Currier’s \u003ci>Gilgamesh\u003c/i> combined action-hero vigor with bare-bones physical staging, honoring the poetry of the 4,000-year-old original with a modern vernacular — somewhat reminiscent of Maria Dahvana Headley’s “bro”-tinged \u003ci>Beowulf\u003c/i>. Meanwhile, Stuart Bousel’s \u003ci>Tempest\u003c/i>, produced by Berkeley Shakespeare Company, utilized its proximity to the ocean and uniquely intimate interiors to create a truly magical realm for its artists and audiences alike. —\u003ci>Nicole Gluckstern\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13984282\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1452px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/24sanfrancisco1-superJumbo.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1452\" height=\"1040\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13984282\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/24sanfrancisco1-superJumbo.jpg 1452w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/24sanfrancisco1-superJumbo-160x115.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/24sanfrancisco1-superJumbo-768x550.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1452px) 100vw, 1452px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">(L–R) Outgoing American Conservatory Theater artistic director Pam MacKinnon and incoming Golden Thread Productions artistic director Nabra Nelson. \u003ccite>(ACT / Golden Thread)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Seismic comings and goings in San Francisco\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Two theater companies are going into the new year with big shifts at the top. Sahar Assaf, who’s made Golden Thread Productions her artistic home for the past four years, is turning over the reins as artistic director to Nabra Nelson, who has a wealth of experience in arts administration. Nelson is a multi-hyphenate artist, having delved into playwriting, dramaturgy, consultant, director and community engagement, among other roles. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, Pam MacKinnon concludes her eight years leading American Conservatory Theater at the end of the 2025-2026 season. Soon returning to New York City, she plans to rekindle her freelance directing career. Succeeding longtime A.C.T. leader Carey Perloff, MacKinnon dove deeply into commissions with big names, and oversaw some tough times for the company, including the COVID shutdown and the closure of A.C.T.’s highly regarded MFA program. —\u003ci>David John Chávez\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13984293\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1060px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/113301VdVSD-Opening-Night2025-09-05-21_59_03Philip-Pavliger_Web_654x390.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1060\" height=\"632\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13984293\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/113301VdVSD-Opening-Night2025-09-05-21_59_03Philip-Pavliger_Web_654x390.jpg 1060w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/113301VdVSD-Opening-Night2025-09-05-21_59_03Philip-Pavliger_Web_654x390-160x95.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/113301VdVSD-Opening-Night2025-09-05-21_59_03Philip-Pavliger_Web_654x390-768x458.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1060px) 100vw, 1060px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Joan Baez joined the circus and starred in ‘The Soiled Dove’ in Alameda. \u003ccite>(Philip Pavliger / Vau de Vire Society)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>‘The Soiled Dove’ flew high in Alameda\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Is there anything more synonymous with the Bay Area performing arts than circuses and sin? I hope not, because I’m here for all of it. The Vau de Vire Society’s wicked and wonderful Barbary Coast dinner theatre extravaganza, \u003ci>The Soiled Dove\u003c/i>, has been a perennial crowd-pleaser for over 10 years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This year’s Alameda revival prominently featured legendary singer-songwriter and social activist Joan Baez — whose six-decade career continues to flourish — while the seasoned circus and cabaret performers who make up Vau de Vire’s core company soared. Viva, Vau de Vire! —\u003ci>Nicole Gluckstern\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13984277\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 803px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/unnamed-7.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"803\" height=\"630\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13984277\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/unnamed-7.jpg 803w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/unnamed-7-160x126.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/unnamed-7-768x603.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 803px) 100vw, 803px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Magic Theatre’s artistic director Sean San José made a return to the Fort Mason stage in ‘Aztlan’ by Luis Alfaro.\u003cbr> \u003ccite>(Jay Yamada)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Life after prison in the poetic ‘Aztlán’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Anytime transcendent poet and playwright Luis Alfaro collaborates with the Magic Theatre, it’s a massive win. This past summer, their pairing yielded the powerful \u003ci>Aztlán\u003c/i>, rooted in Alfaro’s intimate knowledge of the Central Valley. With imagery from Mayan and Mexica folklore, the story of a parolee trying to reinvent his life outside of prison walls was aided by David Arevalo’s costume design, Alejandro Acosta’s sharp lighting design, and dazzling scenic design by Tanya Orellana.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Beautifully directed by El Teatro Campesino’s Kinan Valdez, Alfaro’s story featured a great cast of Magic regulars. An added bonus? Sean San José’s thrilling return to the stage as an evil-minded deity. —\u003ci>David John Chávez\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>This week, we’re looking back on the best art, music, food, movies and more from the year. \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/best-of-2025\">See our entire Best of 2025 guide here\u003c/a>. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2025, Bay Area theater was loaded with innovative artists producing great shows, coupled with a hope that the local scene will soon see healthier days.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During a spate of theater closures, funding challenges and diminished audiences, there’s been \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13978734/how-to-save-bay-area-theater-from-collapse-and-closures\">no shortage of ideas\u003c/a> from the Bay Area’s top theater brass as to how Bay Area theater can survive. There were also plenty of victories to be had on our region’s stages in 2025.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Below, theater critics and regular KQED contributors Nicole Gluckstern and David John Chávez share their most significant Bay Area theater happenings of 2025.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13984280\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1600px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/unnamed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1600\" height=\"1047\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13984280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/unnamed.jpg 1600w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/unnamed-160x105.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/unnamed-768x503.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/unnamed-1536x1005.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Syrian-Armenian-American artist Sona Tatoyan talks about her friend, Turkish political activist Osman Kavala, as renowned oud player Ara Dinkjian accompanies her in ‘AZAD,’ at Golden Thread.\u003cbr> \u003ccite>(David Allen Studio)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>The beautiful spectacle of ‘AZAD’ at Golden Thread\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Written and performed by Sona Tatoyan, a Syrian Armenian American theatre-maker and Storyteller, \u003ci>AZAD\u003c/i> defied categorization in its April premiere at Golden Thread. With its compelling personal narrative, it presented like a solo show but relied on a taut ensemble of puppeteers, centenarian Karagöz puppets and a live musician to create an expansive, visionary performance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>AZAD\u003c/em> excavated painful, rigorously researched histories that rarely see the spotlight, putting the audience and performer through an intense emotional wringer that never relied on cliché or manipulation to elicit a response. With atmospheric projections designed by Camilla Tassi, and meticulous scenic design by Marcelo Martínez García, this Jared Mezzocchi-directed piece was a visual and virtuosic standout. —\u003ci>Nicole Gluckstern\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13984283\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 960px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/unnamed-6.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"960\" height=\"640\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13984283\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/unnamed-6.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/unnamed-6-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/unnamed-6-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mona (Lauren Marcus, left) and waitress Edna Louise (Ashley Cowl, center) get reacquainted with Joanne (Shakina) in the musical ‘Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean: A New Musical’ at TheatreWorks Silicon Valley.\u003cbr> \u003ccite>(Kevin Berne)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>‘Jimmy Dean’ came back to Mountain View\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>It is insanely hard to write a new hit musical. Just take a peek at the constant stream of revivals that have hit theaters in recent years. That’s what made TheatreWorks Silicon Valley’s \u003ci>Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean: A New Musical\u003c/i> such an achievement. A darling of the company’s 2024 New Works Festival, the show premiered this past summer, featuring every component of what makes a musical unforgettable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Start with the insightful book from Ashley Robinson, the playful, fierce music from Dan Gillespie Sells and unbeatable lyrics by Shakina. Add a terrific creative team led by director Giovanna Sardelli, and you’ve got a magical show. As an added bonus, it was thrilling to see an unapologetic transgender narrative, with Shakina stunning as a vision in white. —\u003cem>David John Chávez\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13984276\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1600px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/unnamed-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1600\" height=\"1065\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13984276\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/unnamed-2.jpg 1600w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/unnamed-2-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/unnamed-2-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/unnamed-2-1536x1022.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Juicy (Devin A. Cunningham) stares down the ghost of Pap (Ron Chapman) in ‘Fat Ham’ at SF Playhouse.\u003cbr> \u003ccite>(Jessica Palopoli)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>The Pulitzer-winning ‘Fat Ham’ astounded at SF Playhouse\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>A singular upside of the COVID lockdown was the rare chance to stream innovative performances from around the world. One such toothsome treat was the world premiere of the Pulitzer-winning \u003ci>Fat Ham\u003c/i>, by James Ijames, staged as a digital production by Philadelphia’s Wilma Theater. This first taste whetted my appetite for more. At SF Playhouse, \u003ci>Fat Ham\u003c/i> brought a deeply humorous, deeply human reimagining of \u003ci>Hamlet\u003c/i>, in which a grieving Juicy (Devin Cunningham) contemplated mortality and morality as his mother (Jenn Stephens) and new stepfather-uncle (Ron Chapman) celebrated their hasty nuptials with a backyard barbeque.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Deftly directed by Margo Hall, the actors pushed each punchline and outrageous misfortune to its absolute limit, flipping the existential dread of Denmark’s saddest prince into a flamboyant embrace of life’s possibilities. —\u003ci>Nicole Gluckstern\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13984278\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/unnamed-3.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"560\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13984278\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/unnamed-3.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/unnamed-3-160x112.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/unnamed-3-768x538.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Tshembe (Jeuneé Simon) faces guard Eric (Monique Crawford) as Madame Nielsen (Jacinta Kaumbulu) sits and looks on in Oakland Theater Project’s production of ‘Les Blancs.’\u003cbr> \u003ccite>(Ben Krantz Studio)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>A powerful Lorraine Hansberry revival in Oakland\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>If there’s any Bay Area company outgrowing their britches faster than a teenager on a growth spurt, it’s Oakland Theater Project. In their charming space at the Flax Art & Design building, their current production of \u003ci>Cabaret\u003c/i> is sold out for the entire run weeks before closing. Ideally, they’d be able to move into a permanent space worthy of their fierce, bold reputation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Take their fantastic production of \u003ci>Les Blancs\u003c/i>. Though it lacks the name recognition of \u003ci>A Raisin in the Sun\u003c/i>, it carries major weight in the theater world as Lorraine Hansberry’s final work, adapted by her ex-husband Robert Nemiroff. The story is also the only one of Hansberry’s to be set in Africa, using beats, rhythms and dance to signify Black and African cultures. Presenting a clash between white colonialism and Black liberation, the story and production were both memorable and explosive. —\u003ci>David John Chávez\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13984281\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1600px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/unnamed-4.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1600\" height=\"1065\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13984281\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/unnamed-4.jpg 1600w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/unnamed-4-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/unnamed-4-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/unnamed-4-1536x1022.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Marga Gomez in ‘The Search for Signs\u003cbr>of Intelligent Life in the Universe,’ the last production at famed Berkeley institution Aurora Theatre before the company ceased operations.\u003cbr> \u003ccite>(Kevin Berne)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Marga Gomez helped bid goodnight to Aurora Theatre\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The first play I bought as a teenage theatre nerd, Jane Wagner’s inventive \u003ci>The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life In the Universe\u003c/i> was written to showcase the versatile talents of her wife, Lily Tomlin — a tough act to follow in any era. Thankfully, Aurora Theatre made the inspired move to cast Bay Area powerhouse Marga Gomez in its 2025 revival.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A comedian, MC, actor and seasoned solo show creator/performer, Gomez switches seamlessly between characters, scenarios and timelines without elaborate props or costume changes — making her a stellar choice to fill Tomlin’s cosmic shoes. Adding to the pressure of the performance was the concurrent announcement that Aurora Theatre would cease operations for the foreseeable future. At least Gomez ensured they went out with a (big) bang. \u003ci>—Nicole Gluckstern\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13984279\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1116px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/unnamed-5.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1116\" height=\"735\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13984279\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/unnamed-5.jpg 1116w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/unnamed-5-160x105.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/unnamed-5-768x506.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1116px) 100vw, 1116px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Theoretical physicist Marianne (Vivienne Truong) and beekeeper Roland (George Alexander K.), one of three couples with the same names and dialogue in ‘Constellations’ at the Pear Theatre in Mountain View.\u003cbr> \u003ccite>(Reed Flores)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>‘Constellations’ offered a terrific way forward\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>On the surface, there was nothing terribly flashy about Nick Payne’s \u003ci>Constellations\u003c/i> at the Pear Theatre in Palo Alto. A group of actors — George Alexander K., Raven Douglas, Thomas Nguyen, Sahil Singh, Elana Swartz and Vivienne Truong — enter an open space, pair off and begin spilling their guts. The pairings were different at each performance, and at the end of the show, the audience got to make decisions for the next audience coming in the following night. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You’d be forgiven in thinking this sounds gimmicky. But under the direction of Reed Flores, it proved that theater need not have bells and whistles, just a great story and fantastic performances that grip the audience. If Bay Area theater is going to survive, phenomenal shows like this one will need to be at its forefront. —\u003ci>David John Chávez\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13984284\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1600px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/unnamed-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1600\" height=\"1066\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13984284\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/unnamed-1.jpg 1600w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/unnamed-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/unnamed-1-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/unnamed-1-1536x1023.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Katherine Park, Elana Swartz, Carl Lucania and Alejandra Wahl took their ‘Tempest’ to the ocean with Berkeley Shakespeare Company.\u003cbr> \u003ccite>(Sara Nicole Mindful)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Fabulous backdrops that reinvigorated the classics\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Theatre-makers love a copyright-free classic, but some productions really push their source material to exciting extremes. This year, standouts included Nate Currier’s first-time adaptation of \u003ci>The Epic of Gilgamesh\u003c/i> at Marin Shakespeare Company, and a site-expansive production of \u003ci>The Tempest\u003c/i> at the windswept Point Montara Lighthouse and Hostel.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Currier’s \u003ci>Gilgamesh\u003c/i> combined action-hero vigor with bare-bones physical staging, honoring the poetry of the 4,000-year-old original with a modern vernacular — somewhat reminiscent of Maria Dahvana Headley’s “bro”-tinged \u003ci>Beowulf\u003c/i>. Meanwhile, Stuart Bousel’s \u003ci>Tempest\u003c/i>, produced by Berkeley Shakespeare Company, utilized its proximity to the ocean and uniquely intimate interiors to create a truly magical realm for its artists and audiences alike. —\u003ci>Nicole Gluckstern\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13984282\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1452px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/24sanfrancisco1-superJumbo.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1452\" height=\"1040\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13984282\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/24sanfrancisco1-superJumbo.jpg 1452w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/24sanfrancisco1-superJumbo-160x115.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/24sanfrancisco1-superJumbo-768x550.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1452px) 100vw, 1452px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">(L–R) Outgoing American Conservatory Theater artistic director Pam MacKinnon and incoming Golden Thread Productions artistic director Nabra Nelson. \u003ccite>(ACT / Golden Thread)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Seismic comings and goings in San Francisco\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Two theater companies are going into the new year with big shifts at the top. Sahar Assaf, who’s made Golden Thread Productions her artistic home for the past four years, is turning over the reins as artistic director to Nabra Nelson, who has a wealth of experience in arts administration. Nelson is a multi-hyphenate artist, having delved into playwriting, dramaturgy, consultant, director and community engagement, among other roles. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, Pam MacKinnon concludes her eight years leading American Conservatory Theater at the end of the 2025-2026 season. Soon returning to New York City, she plans to rekindle her freelance directing career. Succeeding longtime A.C.T. leader Carey Perloff, MacKinnon dove deeply into commissions with big names, and oversaw some tough times for the company, including the COVID shutdown and the closure of A.C.T.’s highly regarded MFA program. —\u003ci>David John Chávez\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13984293\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1060px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/113301VdVSD-Opening-Night2025-09-05-21_59_03Philip-Pavliger_Web_654x390.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1060\" height=\"632\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13984293\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/113301VdVSD-Opening-Night2025-09-05-21_59_03Philip-Pavliger_Web_654x390.jpg 1060w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/113301VdVSD-Opening-Night2025-09-05-21_59_03Philip-Pavliger_Web_654x390-160x95.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/113301VdVSD-Opening-Night2025-09-05-21_59_03Philip-Pavliger_Web_654x390-768x458.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1060px) 100vw, 1060px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Joan Baez joined the circus and starred in ‘The Soiled Dove’ in Alameda. \u003ccite>(Philip Pavliger / Vau de Vire Society)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>‘The Soiled Dove’ flew high in Alameda\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Is there anything more synonymous with the Bay Area performing arts than circuses and sin? I hope not, because I’m here for all of it. The Vau de Vire Society’s wicked and wonderful Barbary Coast dinner theatre extravaganza, \u003ci>The Soiled Dove\u003c/i>, has been a perennial crowd-pleaser for over 10 years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This year’s Alameda revival prominently featured legendary singer-songwriter and social activist Joan Baez — whose six-decade career continues to flourish — while the seasoned circus and cabaret performers who make up Vau de Vire’s core company soared. Viva, Vau de Vire! —\u003ci>Nicole Gluckstern\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13984277\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 803px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/unnamed-7.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"803\" height=\"630\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13984277\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/unnamed-7.jpg 803w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/unnamed-7-160x126.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/unnamed-7-768x603.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 803px) 100vw, 803px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Magic Theatre’s artistic director Sean San José made a return to the Fort Mason stage in ‘Aztlan’ by Luis Alfaro.\u003cbr> \u003ccite>(Jay Yamada)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Life after prison in the poetic ‘Aztlán’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Anytime transcendent poet and playwright Luis Alfaro collaborates with the Magic Theatre, it’s a massive win. This past summer, their pairing yielded the powerful \u003ci>Aztlán\u003c/i>, rooted in Alfaro’s intimate knowledge of the Central Valley. With imagery from Mayan and Mexica folklore, the story of a parolee trying to reinvent his life outside of prison walls was aided by David Arevalo’s costume design, Alejandro Acosta’s sharp lighting design, and dazzling scenic design by Tanya Orellana.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
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"marketplace": {
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"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
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"mindshift": {
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"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
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"order": 12
},
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"info": "For decades, the process for how police police themselves has been inconsistent – if not opaque. In some states, like California, these proceedings were completely hidden. After a new police transparency law unsealed scores of internal affairs files, our reporters set out to examine these cases and the shadow world of police discipline. On Our Watch brings listeners into the rooms where officers are questioned and witnesses are interrogated to find out who this system is really protecting. Is it the officers, or the public they've sworn to serve?",
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},
"perspectives": {
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"order": 14
},
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/planet-money/id290783428?mt=2",
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"politicalbreakdown": {
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"tagline": "Politics from a personal perspective",
"info": "Political Breakdown is a new series that explores the political intersection of California and the nation. Each week hosts Scott Shafer and Marisa Lagos are joined with a new special guest to unpack politics -- with personality — and offer an insider’s glimpse at how politics happens.",
"airtime": "THU 6:30pm-7pm",
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"order": 5
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"possible": {
"id": "possible",
"title": "Possible",
"info": "Possible is hosted by entrepreneur Reid Hoffman and writer Aria Finger. Together in Possible, Hoffman and Finger lead enlightening discussions about building a brighter collective future. The show features interviews with visionary guests like Trevor Noah, Sam Altman and Janette Sadik-Khan. Possible paints an optimistic portrait of the world we can create through science, policy, business, art and our shared humanity. It asks: What if everything goes right for once? How can we get there? Each episode also includes a short fiction story generated by advanced AI GPT-4, serving as a thought-provoking springboard to speculate how humanity could leverage technology for good.",
"airtime": "SUN 2pm",
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"source": "Possible"
},
"link": "/radio/program/possible",
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"spotify": "https://open.spotify.com/show/730YpdUSNlMyPQwNnyjp4k"
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},
"pri-the-world": {
"id": "pri-the-world",
"title": "PRI's The World: Latest Edition",
"info": "Each weekday, host Marco Werman and his team of producers bring you the world's most interesting stories in an hour of radio that reminds us just how small our planet really is.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 2pm-3pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-World-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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},
"radiolab": {
"id": "radiolab",
"title": "Radiolab",
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