The Bay Area's shelter-in-place order has brought countless events usually held as in-person gatherings online. We're aiming to support local businesses in San Francisco and Oakland by highlighting five of these events each day.
Got a suggestion for an online event based in SF or Oakland? Email our events reporter, Teresa Hammerl.
Here's your SF event calendar for Thursday, May 14. Sit in on a discussion of 50 Years of San Francisco Pride, explore how different species handle being with others in the wild or take part in a writing workshop — all from the comfort of your couch.
Lavender Talks: Fifty Years of SF Pride
With SF Pride celebrations canceled, organizers are working to create opportunities for community gathering online. To kick off Pride Season, they're partnering with the Commonwealth Club to produce a series of panel discussions called Lavender Talks, taking place every other Thursday afternoon through Pride weekend.
Join LGBTQ+ advocates Ken Jones, Teddy Witherington, Michelle Meow, and Jacquelene Bishop via Zoom as they discuss "50 Years of San Francisco Pride." Moderated by SF Pride board president Carolyn Wysinger, the discussion will look back at the first half-century of North America’s biggest LGBTQ+ Pride organization.
When: Thursday, May 14, 12 p.m.
How to join: Via Commonwealth Club's website
Price: Free, donations are welcome
Writing the Storm: Poetry in Upheaval Writing Workshop
Recognizing the need to stay engaged and inspired while maintaining social distancing during the COVID-19 crisis, the Asian Art Museum is shifting its programs to online platforms.
Writing the Storm is an all-levels poetry workshop led by Bay Area-based author and poet Jason Bayani that will engage poetics and poiesis (the act of making) through the processes of observation and discovery. This generative workshop is expected to explore how we can access mindfulness in times of upheaval and disruption to fulfill a need to create, document, and unravel our experiences.
Participants will have a chance to write and also to share their writing.
When: Thursday, May 14, 4 p.m.
How to join: Via Eventbrite
Price: $10
Cara Black - Three Hours In Paris - Virtual Author Talk
Later, join the Bookshop West Portal for a virtual author event with Cara Black, author of the best-selling Aimee Leduc series. Black will read from and discuss her new spy thriller, "Three Hours in Paris," a pulse-pounding stand-alone novel in which she travels back to June 1940, when Paris fell to the Nazis and Adolf Hitler spent a total of three hours in the city.
Autographed copies of the book are available.
When: Thursday, May 14, 6 p.m.
How to join: Via Crowdcast
Price: Free
Virtual NightLife, Vol. 4
Join California Academy of Sciences for their ongoing Virtual NightLife series. Learn why birds flock together with Dr. Jack Dumbacher, the Academy’s curator of ornithology and mammalogy, who will explain the science behind why birds (and other organisms) gather in groups. Oakland’s dance group Cunamacué will then share dance inspired by generations of Afro-Peruvian culture, and artist and filmmaker Ivan Cash will screen his short film, “A Social Distance,” exploring the theme of connection under quarantine.
Later, Jocelyn Jackson (People's Kitchen Collective and JUSTUS Kitchen) and Aileen Suzara (PKC collaborator and Sariwa) will allow a glimpse into their kitchens to explore the life cycle of the sweet potato, and share stories of the sweet potato’s cultural, ecological, and ancestral significance in their lives.
When: Thursday, May 14, 7 p.m.
How to join: Via YouTube
Price: Free
No Place Like Home: A Virtual Livestream Benefit Series
On Thursday, catch sets and conversations from three local artists, benefiting San Francisco venues Slim's and the Great American Music Hall.
The event is hosted by Noise Pop, a long-standing independent concert promoter, in response to the devastating impact of COVID-19 on the independent live music communities in the greater Bay Area. Noise Pop is partnering with independent music artists and venues across the Bay Area to raise funds for those heavily impacted by COVID-19, as well as promote awareness of their vital cultural contributions.
When: Thursday, May 14, 7 p.m.
How to join: Via Eventbrite
Price: Free, donations are welcome
