Skywatchers: The Slow Art of Belonging with ABD Productions

Join us for a special evening with Skywatchers artist-activists, including their founder Anne Bluethenthal. Founded in 2011, Skywatchers brings artists into durational collaboration with residents of San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood. They believe that relationship is the first site of social change, that large-scale transformation begins with intimate, interpersonal interaction, engendering change for all involved—artists, participants, and audiences. Centering resident lives and experiences, the multi-disciplinary, mixed-ability ensemble creates art works that amplify neighborhood stories, interrogating the poverty industrial complex, illuminating narratives too often invisible in our collective cultural production, and positioning community voices in the civic discourse through the arts. The Skywatchers Ensemble of Tenderloin residents and artists co-create multi-disciplinary art works that range from formal and site-specific performance to intervention, ritual, visual art, and multi-media works as part of a long-term community-embedded social practice. This evening will include presentations of Skywatchers art and conversations with the artists. Part of the JSSJ "Open Doors" Sukkot Program.

USF accommodates individuals with disabilities. If you need a disability-related accommodation or wheelchair access information, please contact Victoria Farlow, Program Assistant, Swig Program in Jewish Studies and Social Justice at 415-422-6601 or vfarlow@usfca.edu Requests should be made by September 19.