A program designed to support Tenderloin artists is currently accepting submissions, and cash prizes await local artists. Launched by nonprofit organization Wildflowers Institute late last year, the program is open to anyone who lives or works in the Tenderloin neighborhood, with 40-60 artists to each receive $1,000 in recognition of their work.
Earlier this year, ArtPlace America granted Wildflowers Institute $62,500 for an arts-based project to help identify and highlight the Tenderloin's rich artistic community. ArtPlace, an arts nonprofit created by several federal agencies and foundations, also funded the Market Street Prototyping Festival earlier this year.
Artists working in theater, poetry, music, painting, photography, collage, and other arts media are eligible. The only specification is that the work somehow tells a story of the Tenderloin. "There are remarkable hidden gems in the Tenderloin," said Wildflowers Institute President Hanmin Liu. "There has been some great work done with supporting arts organizations, but very little has been done to identify independent individuals. Part of our work has been to map these gems, and we have now identified over 600 artists working in this neighborhood."
Nonprofits Tenderloin Housing Clinic and Central City SRO are supporting Wildflowers' search for artists. Community Organizer Baljeet Heyer has been helping to spread the word of the contest among the communities she works with on a daily basis. So far, her search has been successful: She's helped facilitate submissions from approximately 80 artists in the neighborhood, ranging from residents of SROs to homeless individuals to employees of local businesses in the area.
As to why she thinks the project is important, Baljeet tells us that it's "unfair to look at a place and only focus on its challenges." Art and the support of artists, she believes, can highlight a community's identity.
Winning artists will be selected by a panel of judges, and will receive not only $1,000, but also the opportunity to exhibit work at a new gallery opening up in the neighborhood. The new gallery will be located just down the street from the Tenderloin Museum at 236 Leavenworth St., which is being converted to an exhibition space by the Tenderloin Housing Clinic, and will serve as a venue for local artists to share their work.
Artist submissions are being accepted through September 4th. JPGs, video files, PDFs of poems, and any other digital copies of work can be submitted for consideration to nectar {at} wildflowers {dot} org. For questions, contact Wildflowers Institute at the email above, or call them at (415) 775-1151.
We'll let you know which artists make the cut, and when the gallery will open its doors in the neighborhood. In the meantime, spread the word among those artists you may know who live and work in the Tenderloin neighborhood.
