MEDIA RELEASE

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – The San Francisco Planning Department and Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (YBCA) hosted a celebratory affair last night to announce the 50 selected teams that will participate in the first ever Market Street Prototyping Festival.

Held from April 9th-11th, 2015 on Market Street’s public sidewalks from the Embarcadero to Van Ness, the Festival will showcase the most innovative ideas that encourage a more active, inviting and enjoyable Market Street. Submissions for the Festival came from a broad range of local artists, students, architects, builders and makers.
“San Francisco is a leader of artistic and civic innovation and we are creating healthy, vibrant and inclusive neighborhoods,” said San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee. “The Market Street Prototyping Festival helps us celebrate art and innovation as we transform our public spaces along Market Street.”

Selected teams were announced among a crowd of more than 200 people at YBCA by “Design Captains” – top professionals from leading creation and innovation organizations like The Exploratorium, The Studio for Urban Projects, Gehl Architects, California College of the Arts and Autodesk, and “Community Cohorts,” - community leaders that will act as a voice for their representative district. Captains and Cohorts will provide ongoing advice and guidance to the teams throughout the five-month incubation process to build, experiment and get feedback from assigned mentors and residents in preparation for the festival.

A diverse jury of more than 50 makers, artists, thought leaders and community stakeholders reviewed the hundreds of submissions received by the October 10th deadline. Chosen projects include ideas for an urban living room, a revolving “Zen door,” interactive light installations, wayfinding signage to boost the walkability of the City, and a visual and oral exploration of San Francisco's forgotten waterways. Ideas were chosen based on their creativity, sense of community, potential to make Market Street a more vibrant public space and ability to identify Market Street as uniquely San Francisco.

“There were no easy decisions during the selection process, but I’m thrilled with our final teams,” said Neil Hrushowy, Manager of the City Design Group at the San Francisco Planning Department. “The ideas we’ll be cultivating are truly indicative of the creativity and forward-thinking that makes San Francisco so exceptional.”

Uniting urban development with the arts is a key element of the Festival, and is reflected in the unique partnership between the Planning Department and the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in making it a reality. “This kind of collaboration between city government, civic innovators and the arts is revolutionary,” said Deborah Cullinan, Executive Director of the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. “Not only will we will see magical creativity on Market Street in April, we hope to learn from this process and replicate it as a new collaborative approach to activating the public life of our City.”

The Market Street Prototyping Festival is made possible through a $225,000 grant from Knight Foundation.

For more information and for a list of all the selected teams, visit http://marketstreetprototyping.org

SPONSORS:
Autodesk
San Francisco Department of the Environment
Wells Fargo
PG&E


About Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (YBCA)
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (YBCA), located in San Francisco’s Yerba Buena cultural district, is one of the nation’s leading multidisciplinary contemporary arts centers. With a belief that contemporary art is at the heart of community life, YBCA brings audiences and artists of all backgrounds together to express and experience creativity. The organization is known for nurturing emerging artists at the forefront of their fields and presenting works that blend art forms and explore the events and ideas of our time. As part of its commitment to the San Francisco Bay Area, YBCA supports the local arts community and reflects the region’s diversity of people and thought through its arts and public programming. For more information, visit http://ybca.org.

About the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation
Knight Foundation supports transformational ideas that promote quality journalism, advance media innovation, engage communities and foster the arts. The foundation believes that democracy thrives when people and communities are informed and engaged. For more information, visit http://KnightFoundation.org.

About San Francisco Planning Department
The San Francisco Planning Department, under the direction of the Planning Commission, plays a central role in shaping the future of our City by generating an extraordinary vision for the General Plan and in neighborhood plans; fostering exemplary design through planning controls; improving our surroundings through environmental analysis; preserving our unique heritage; encouraging a broad range of housing and a diverse job base; and enforcing the Planning Code. For more information, visit http://sfplanning.org.
 

Media Contact: Gina Simi
415.575.9119 | gina.simi@sfgov.org