IAM is honored to support the Lower Polk Art Walk, a quarterly perambulation and arts-activation project centered around the outdoor murals and neighborhood galleries that have blossomed between the Tenderloin and Russian Hill in San Francisco.

To learn more, check out the Lower Polk Art Walk Blog and Facebook page for maps, announcements, and calls for participation.

You can also download a map of participating galleries and the key alleyway murals in the neighborhood.

IAM is the fiscal sponsor of Livable Environments, the producer of the Art Walk, because this event is much more than an urban stroll.

It’s an opportunity to build community and participation by staging large, outdoor art activities, and by commissioning new murals that capture the color, history, diversity and visual narrative of this uniquely San Francisco neighborhood.

It’s an effort to use art to activate a neighborhood caught between economic accomplishment and inequity, from the gallery walls to the alleys outside. We do so love ‘em for it.

The Lower Polk Art Walk debuted in 2011, and ran every quarter from July to October. Plans are already underway for a new series of outdoor mural tours, happenings and commissions in 2012.

To learn more, contact the Art Walk via email — or just stay tuned for updates from IAM.

IAM is honored to fiscally sponsor Chinese Whispers, a community storytelling project by artist Rene Yung about folk memories of the Chinese who helped build the Transcontinental Railroad and settlements of the American West.

Get Involved in 2012!

Chinese Whispers: Golden Gate is a multimedia event that will feature three Chinese community storytellers recounting the early pioneer history of the Chinese in San Francisco and the Bay Area, together with projections by Rene Yung and soundscapes by Jeremiah Moore.

Target dates: Late January-early February 2012.

CW needs space for this event! Your referrals are needed for free or affordable facilities that can hold approximately 50 people, with a PA, good stage lighting, and either a screen or white walls for the projections. The facility should ideally located near Chinatown or Clement/Geary corridor, and appeal to Chinese American families as well as audiences with curiosity about cross-cultural innovations.

Contact Chinese Whispers to support this event with referrals or offers of event space, donated food or refreshments, pro bono or nonprofit-discounted services, a loaner PA, co-sponsorship with your organization, or pure volunteer energy.

Donate to Chinese Whispers! Your gift will support research, production and interviews with diverse individuals along the route of the Transcontinental Railroad from San Francisco to Ogden, Utah, creating a linked series of storytelling events that connect forgotten individuals with the larger historical context — and with parallel social issues in America today.

Meet the Artist
Artist Rene Yung recognizes that stories and creative expression help build community and connect people with their shared histories. Chinese Whispers takes a big-picture look at some of the historic forces that brought the Chinese to America, and then animates that history with real stories of the individuals who lived it.

Donate to Chinese Whispers