San Francisco, home to some of the finest artistic and cultural institutions in the US, has adopted an innovative method to people by offering a unique experience. “When San Francisco’s museums and performing arts organizations temporarily closed to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus, their drive to share and inspire kicked into high gear. The result is a broad and colorful spectrum of ways to experience the enrichment of San Francisco while sheltering in place,” a release issued by San Francisco Travel states.
According to the release, the de Young and Legion of Honor museums, SFMOMA, the Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University and Alcatraz Island are featured on Google Arts & Culture. This highly interactive platform practically gives one a private tour of the world’s greatest museums.
SFMOMA, the Asian Art Museum, the de Young and Legion of Honor museums, the Walt Disney Family Museum and the Chinese Historical Society of America are also participating in the Instagram #Museumfromhome phenomenon, which delivers artwork right to followers’ smartphones and other digital devices. The Contemporary Jewish Museum will also participate in #Museumfromhome, as well as #jewseumfromhome via @jewseum on Instagram and Twitter. The Asian Art Museum also participates in #MuseumMomentofZen.
Here are highlights of arts and cultural experiences available remotely from major San Francisco institutions:
San Francisco Symphony and Michael Tilson Thomas (MTT)
In light of the COVID-19 closures, the San Francisco Symphony is making available nine one-hour documentary episodes of “Keeping Score” with Michael Tilson Thomas (MTT). The program traces the lives of eight influential composers from around the world. MTT, now completing his 25th and final season as Music Director of the SFS, explores the motivations and influences behind major classical works by Tchaikovsky, Beethoven, Copland, Stravinsky, Berlioz, Ives, Shostakovich, and Mahler. Each episode is accompanied by a one-hour concert program by the San Francisco Symphony.
Unlimited free streaming is available on the Symphony’s YouTube channel. Episodes are released Wednesdays and Saturdays through April 11, 2020.
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA)
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art’s (SFMOMA) “Artist Interviews” series offers nearly 300 artist interviews with some of the most forward-thinking artists of our time, in their own words, as they share their stories, creative processes and how they bring their visions to life in our artist interview series. Artists interviewed include Dawoud Bey, Judy Chicago, Olafur Eliasson, JR, Ellsworth Kelly and Kara Walker, among others.
Its arts and culture “Raw Material” podcast features a different “podcaster-in-residence” each season to explore modern and contemporary art through a new lens. The series is currently in season six.
SFMOMA’s online and live interdisciplinary commissioning platform “Open Space” is anchored in the Bay Area but casts a wide net, commissioning and supporting critical + experimental + poetic ruminations by artists, writers and thinkers from all over the world.
