This podcast is a collection of pieces produced by Robynn (Nonogirl) Takayama on art and culture, race and immigration, environmental justice, and her community's heroes.
The San Francisco Arts Commission awarded the first ever Artistic Legacy Grant to Alleluia Panis. This program offers one grant for $40,000 to an arts organization that is deeply rooted in a historically marginalized San Francisco community to recognize its long-time artistic director and that person’s leadership in the cultural community. The artistic legacy grant [...]
Click here to listen. When Michelle Cruz Gonzales read excerpts from The Spitboy Rule: Tales of a Xicana in a Female Punk Band this summer, she took me back to the early ’90s when I was in school at UC Santa Cruz, first heard seminal Bay Area band Jawbreaker, and discovered my church being sandwiched [...]
Click here to listen. We know that art can have a profound impact on people’s lives. Studies have shown how nursing home patients transform when they are given ipods with music from their youth, how young people who participate in the arts outperform their peers, and how dancing is good for your brain. Hospitality House, [...]
Use the player above, or click here to listen. For many Latinos, mental health was once a taboo subject. But in the 1970’s, Dr. Concha Saucedo Martinez did her part to change that by founding the Instituto Familiar de la Raza in San Francisco’s Mission District. Dr. Saucedo revolutionized mental health practices by providing her [...]
The American Conservatory Theater, or A.C.T., is an internationally recognized theatre and school that puts on magnificent shows every year. But most people don’t know about their offices on Market Street, where they manage their massive costume collection. CREDITS Audio produced by Stephanie Foo Photos by R.J. Lozada Video edited by Kirthi Nath Executive producer [...]
Use the player above, or click here to listen. Central Market was once the hub of big-screen entertainment celebrating seven theaters within two-blocks during the pre-television era. Today, these historic theaters, may be found in three states: abandoned, in the sex biz, or still going. The Warfield on Market Streets is STILL going and regularly [...]
Use the player above, or click here to listen. Hibernia Bank, at the corner of McAllister and Jones streets, is arguably one of the city’s most prized historical buildings. Over a century old, it survived the 1906 earthquake. But today, people pass the boarded up building without batting an eye. CREDITS Audio produced by Robynn [...]
Use the player above, or click here to listen. Until this spring, we knew almost nothing about the palatial white facade going up on at 1025 Market Street. We heard rumors of saffron-robed monks shuffling in and out – and about a live stream flowing through the building. This March, the International Art Museum of [...]
Use the player above, or click here to listen. For Apex Express, I talked with Hiroshi Fukurai, professor at UC Santa Cruz, for a more critical look at what’s going on in Japan. Professor Fukurai was born in Sendai, the epicenter of last month’s monstrous 9.0 earthquake. His family still lives in the region. He [...]