News + Press
Art + Action Newsletter
October 15, 2020
Join San Francisco’s Office of Civic Engagement & Immigrant Affairs (OCEIA) for a last push TONIGHT from 5-7pm to increase the 2020 Census response rate in the city’s most undercounted neighborhoods. San Francisco is one of the Census’ hardest-to-count counties nationwide, due to its substantial population of homeless, immigrants, low-income residents, young children, and renters.
Read the full newsletter HERE.
Art + Action Newsletter
October 14, 2020
TOMORROW IS THE FINAL DAY.
BE SURE YOU + YOURS ARE COUNTED.
Read the full newsletter HERE.
Art + Action Newsletter
October 3, 2020
Poet, educator, and community leader Terisa Siagatonu reminds us just how much we all have on the line in her Census spoken word piece, which you can watch HERE. The 2020 Census continues to be embroiled in political controversy and litigation. The current administration is creating chaos and confusion—in an attempt to skew congressional representation, redistricting, and critical community funding for the next 10 years—to stop people from getting their fair share.
Read the full newsletter HERE.
San Francisco Chronicle: “The cable cars are back — but only for photos”
September 27, 2020
Ana Teresa Fernandez and Arleene Correa Valencia’s SOMOS VISIBLES project was highlighted in SF Chronicle’s article about the reappearance of the iconic San Francisco cable car and the inspiring and powerful workforce who keeps them running.
Read the full article HERE.
Art + Action Newsletter
September 26, 2020
Breaking news + HOPE, a DIY protest poster stencil workshop with Sanctuary City Project. A federal judge just barred the Trump administration from ending the 2020 Census early—blocking the current administration’s efforts to skew congressional representation, redistricting, and critical community funding for the next 10 years. The administration’s plan to end the Census early would have cost our communities literally BILLIONS of dollars of federal funding. Undercounting has real consequences both for individuals and their communities, with each person counted directing $20,000 of federal tax dollars to the top 55 federal programs, including Head Start, Medicare and Medicaid, as well as many other essential programs that will help our communities recover from COVID-19.
The Census will now continue through October 31. This is a victory for our communities! Completing your Census + voting are more than civic duties–they’re acts of hope.
Read the full newsletter HERE.
NBC News: “From caravans to influencers, Asian American groups get creative on census push”
September 25, 2020
Executive Director of San Francisco’s Office of Civic Engagement & Immigrant Affairs (OCEIA), Adrienne Pon, describes the partnership with Art+Action around the COME TO YOUR CENSUS campaign—and the impetus to harness artists’ voices to mobilize communities to participate in the 2020 Census.
Read the full article HERE.
Hyperallergic: “A Call for Creativity in the Final Weeks of the 2020 Census”
September 23, 2020
Ford Foundation’s Lane Harwell and Erika Wood highlight Art+Action’s COME TO YOUR CENSUS campaign within the leading artists, designers, filmmakers, writers, and organizations who are powerfully crafting and circulating art and stories that illustrate what is at stake in the 2020 Census.
Read the full article HERE.
Cool: “Billboards use local art to spur action with the US Census”
September 22, 2020
The driving force behind the 6 Feet Away Gallery, as well as the Color Jax Blue mural project, Brooks’s initiatives drew a lot of press, both locally and nationally. All of which brought her to the attention of Art + Action, an organization based in San Francisco. “They do a lot of different, significant things,” she says. “With their help, Jacksonville joins a national campaign to bring in artists from all over the country to do billboards in areas that needed more advocacy and awareness related to the Census this year.”
Read the full article HERE.
Art + Action Newsletter
September 18, 2020
Art+Action Coalition Partner, Bi-Rite is offering entry into a $100 sweepstakes before the Census ends . In addition, Art+Action is continuing to offer our COME TO YOUR CENSUS totebags, t-shirts from our Coalition Partner Levi’s, and new ‘Our Voices Matter’ facemask to anyone who completes their Census.
Art+Action has unveiled two new billboards (at US 1010 N / O Bayshore Boulevard + Bay Bridge / Toll Plaza), highlighting artists Arleene Correa Valencia + Ana Teresa Fernández’ participatory project SOMOS VISIBLES / WE ARE NOT INVISIBLE.
Read the full newsletter HERE.
Tampa Bay Times: “Tampa artist’s work appears on national campaign for the Census”
September 18, 2020
COME TO YOUR CENSUS, a national campaign to encourage people to fill out the 2020 Census , landed in Florida over the summer. Florida artists were commissioned to create imagery for the billboard campaign, including Tampa-based photographer Selina Roman. Roman answered the call put out by Art+Action, a San Francisco-based coalition commissioned by San Francisco’s Office of Civic Engagement and Immigrant Affairs, and the Ford Foundation, led by curator Amy Kisch.
Read the full article HERE.
Art+Action Newsletter
September 10, 2020
Join us online this Tuesday, September 15 at 1pm with Art+Action Coalition Partner Creativity Explored for Come To Your Census Artists, a conversation about art, disability advocacy, and participating in the Census—the most democratic process our country offers. Moderated by exhibition curator Cléa Massiani, panelists include artist and CE collaborator Ana Teresa Fernández, Art+Action Founder + Artistic Director of Social Impact Amy Kisch and Executive Producer + Project Director Brittany Ficken, Executive Director of San Francisco’s Office of Civic Engagement and Immigrant Affairs Adrienne Pon, and Director of the San Francisco Mayor’s Office on Disability Nicole Bohn. People with disabilities make up 22% of the American public, yet they traditionally have been among the most under-counted populations.
Read the full newsletter HERE.
Latinx Spaces: “ART+ACTION BRINGS THE ‘COME TO YOUR CENSUS’ CAMPAIGN TO TEXAS”
September 9, 2020
With support from Ford Foundation, and less than 4 weeks left to try to ensure our communities get their fair share of federal funding and political representation for the next decade, Art+Action has harnessed the powerful artwork of Texas-based artists—Armando Aguirre, Andy Benavides, Kim Bishop, Sarah Bork, Caroline Ryan, and Xavier Schipani—and unveiled COME TO YOUR CENSUS billboards in Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, Brownsville, and Austin.
Read the full article HERE.
Art+Action Newsletter
September 3, 2020
Art+Action is thrilled to announce the artist winners of our COME TO YOUR CENSUS billboard open call in Texas and Florida. With less than 4 weeks left to try to ensure our communities get their fair share of federal funding and political representation for the next decade, we’re honored to harness the powerful voices of Texas-based artists—Armando Aguirre, Andy Benavides, Kim Bishop, Sarah Bork, Caroline Ryan, and Xavier Schipani—and Florida-based artists—Marsha Hatcher, Toni Smailagic, Jonathan Brooks, Selina Roman, Ignacio Marino Larrique, and Mateo Serna Zapata—on billboards throughout Texas and Florida, supported by the Ford Foundation.
Read the full newsletter HERE.
Art+Action Newsletter
August 28, 2020
Art+Action brings artists Arleene Correa Valencia + Ana Teresa Fernández’ participatory SOMOS VISIBLES / WE ARE NOT INVISIBLE to the Labor Day weekend Latino COVID -19 Healing & Recovery Fair: Salud es Poder event on Sunday, September 6 from 1-5pm.
Stephanie Syjuco + Brian Singer bring their potent imagery to Art+Action’s Money + Power wheatpasting + postering initiative.
Read the full newsletter HERE.
Art+Action Newsletter
August 12, 2020
With seven weeks left to try to ensure our communities get their fair share of federal funding and political representation for the next decade, Art+Action is bringing the COME TO YOUR CENSUS campaign to Texas and Florida, supported by the Ford Foundation.
Read the full newsletter HERE
Art+Action Newsletter
July 24, 2020
This week, the White House issued a memorandum that attempts to exclude undocumented people from the 2020 Census count for purposes of congressional apportionment. It is a clear constitutional requirement that the Census counts everyone living in the United States—every immigrant, every child, every neighbor, every student, everyone. Citizens and non-citizens have been included in the Census and for congressional representation throughout our nation’s history, including under both Republican and Democratic administrations. Your political representation should reflect what your state really looks like.
Read the full newsletter HERE
Creativity Explored Newsletter
August 23, 2020
Completing the US census is a form of activism and resistance. The census brings money, resources, and political power to your community. Our partners at Art+Action have created a host of educational resources to ensure we’re all counted.
Read the full newsletter HERE
#CreativeUplift: “California’s arts and culture organizations share the importance of community involvement in the 2020 Census for future funding and resources”
August 21, 2020
Every ten years, residents across the country and California complete the Census in order to have a detailed count of all people in the United States. The collected data is instrumental in determining federal funding for vital community services and congressional representation in every state, territory, and Washington D.C for the next decade.
Read the full article HERE
Art+Action Newsletter
August 20, 2020
Art+Action is activating neighborhoods to get Money + Power throughout San Francisco (Mission, Bayview, Dogpatch, SOMA, Castro, Noe Valley, Marina, Pac Heights, Presidio, Tenderloin, Haight-Ashbury), Miami, Tampa, Jacksonville, Houston, Austin, and Dallas for the COME TO YOUR CENSUS campaign.
Featured Artist and children’s book author Innosanto Nagara reads his illustrated book Counting on Community, followed by a counting activity, to encourage us all to count ourselves in the 2020 Census to help support our communities, on Coalition Partner San Francisco Public Library’s Sweet Stories with SFPL series.
Read the full newsletter HERE
KALW 91.7 FM: “Art+Action Founder Amy Kisch Wants You To Come To Your Census”
August 18, 2020
Amy Kisch is the founder of Art+Action Coalition. She’s working with other artists and non-profits to urgently get the word out about the 2020 Census. She shares why it’s important for everyone to be counted.
Read the full article HERE
Art+Action Newsletter
August 6, 2020
In breaking news, the current administration has forced the Census Bureau to stop all Census data gathering a month early—on September 30 instead of October 31—as part of their efforts to erase and under-resource our communities. This change destroys the integrity and accuracy of the census for partisan gain—and will skew Congressional representation, redistricting, and critical funding for every state in the country for the next 10 years.
Read the full newsletter HERE
Art+Action Newsletter
July 28, 2020
We are proud to announce that in support of the Art+Action Coalition’s COME TO YOUR CENSUS campaign, the Ford Foundation has awarded us a grant to bring our initiative to Florida and Texas—so we can make the next three months truly count in states where many communities are being left behind.
Read the full newsletter HERE
Art+Action Newsletter
July 16, 2020
Each year on Tax Day—this year, July 15—you give the U.S. government your money. Once every 10 years, citizens and non-citizens alike have the opportunity to take that money back for your community! When you complete your 2020 Census, you direct $20,000 ($2,000 a year for the next ten years) of federal funding to your community.
Read the full newsletter HERE
Art+Action Newsletter
July 10, 2020
Harness‘ America Ferrera and Wilmer Valderrama join forces with Stacey Abrams, Kerry Washington, Sandra Oh, Rosario Dawson, Meryl Streep, Queen Latifah, Justin Timberlake, Tan France, and other artists and activists to explain why you need to be counted.
Read the full newsletter HERE
Medium: “A Visual Census: Imaging a More Perfect Union”
July 8, 2020
Does art have the capacity to move people to action, deepen public discussions around civic agency, and serve as a vehicle to civic participation? This is the fundamental premise of Art+Action — a coalition for civic participation across art, creative, community, business, technology, philanthropy, and government sectors led by San Francisco’s Office of Civic Engagement and Immigrant Affairs (OCEIA) and Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (YBCA). Art+Action launched a city-wide arts-driven campaign, COME TO YOUR CENSUS, in an effort to galvanize communities to participate in the 2020 Census and receive their fair share of resources and representation.
Read the full article HERE
Art+Action Newsletter
July 2, 2020
Here, which Miguel Arzabe created for Art+Action’s COME TO YOUR CENSUS campaign, is an homage to the cultures of resistance to oppression that continue to exist in the Bay Area. A nineteenth-century colonial engraving of a California Native American is recontextualized and reclaimed by weaving in the 1960’s raised fist symbol for black power and self determination.
Read the full newsletter HERE
Art+Action Newsletter
June 24, 2020
Pride month is here, and while we’re all celebrating differently this year, let’s make the 2020 Census our chance to be seen and to be counted. In 2020, the Census has taken some steps forward when it comes to LGBTQIA+ people being counted: for the first time in history, same-sex relationships can be identified in one question. Even though gender that isn’t binary cannot yet be recorded, YOU decide how you want to answer the gender question—regardless of what is on your birth certificate. Progress, not perfection. It’s still vital to participate, because there is so much at stake for our communities.
Read the full newsletter HERE
Art+Action Newsletter
June 18, 2020
Artist Emory Douglas’ Father’s Love speaks to love and Black joy at a moment when we all need to be reminded what matters most. This Father’s Day, we encourage you to spend quality time with your loved ones, and make sure your family counts. They’re depending on you. Fill out your Census, and tell everyone you know. Come to your Census.
Read the full newsletter HERE
48 Hills: “See Black Women Emphasizes ‘Who Gets Counted,’ in Census and Beyond”
May 25, 2020
Coalition partners YBCA and Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD) collaborated with arts organizer and curator Ashara Ekundayo to present a two-part conversation called See Black Women. Part of Art+Action’s COME TO YOUR CENSUS campaign, the conversation calls attention to Black women’s often overlooked contributions to the arts, and who “counts” in society.
Read the full article HERE
Art+Action Newsletter
May 25, 2020
Art+Action teamed up with Creativity Explored + San Francisco Public Library to share this shelter-in-place coloring activity: Antonio Benjamin’s Houses. What, where, and who is your home? There’s a rainbow of possibilities. Get your markers, crayons, glitter, and whatever else colors your fancy!
Read the full newsletter HERE
KALW 91.7 FM: “Black Female Artists Call for Their Community to be Counted in the Census”
May 20, 2020
Arts organizer Ashara Ekundayo talks about her two-part series See Black Women, hosted in collaboration with coalition partners YBCA and Museum of the African Diaspora, in which she speaks with Black female artists about being counted in the Census and the greater society.
Listen to the full interview HERE
Art+Action Newsletter
May 18, 2020
Art+Action Featured Artist and children’s book author Innosanto Nagara reads his illustrated book Counting on Community to encourage us all to count ourselves in the 2020 Census to help support our communities.
Read the full newsletter HERE
Art+Action Newsletter
May 11, 2020
Learn more about Come to Your Census: See Black Women, a two-part livestream forum featuring nine Bay Area black womxn artists and curators. Art+Action and our Coalition Partner Hospitality House present artist Txutxo Perez‘ at-home video demonstration of How to Make a Linocut Print on IGTV.
Read the full newsletter HERE
CityLab: “The Art of the Census”
April 30, 2020
Museum exhibits at San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and New York’s Museum of the City of New York showcase work inspired by the decennial counts of the U.S. Census Bureau. Like the census itself, the shows are going online.
Read the story HERE
Art+Action Newsletter
May 4, 2020
In collaboration with San Francisco’s Public Library, Art+Action commissioned artist Anna Sergeeva to create a series of YOU MATTER images from the community generated “Shades of San Francisco” photography archive.
Read the full newsletter HERE
Art+Action Newsletter
April 27, 2020
In solidarity with the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation’s (NCBCP) Black Youth Vote (BYV!) #CountMeBlack Youth Census Week, Art+Action shared Lava Thomas’ Come to Your Census, Students posters.
Read the full newsletter HERE
Hyperallergic: “Why the 2020 US Census Matters for the Arts”
April 16, 2020
Many months ago, before the coronavirus pandemic changed our lives and took hold of our collective psyche, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (YBCA) was approached by independent curator and activist Amy Kisch. She had been commissioned by San Francisco’s Office of Civic Engagement and Immigrant Affairs (OCEIA) to develop an arts-driven campaign around the 2020 US Census—a once-a-decade population count that plays a fundamental role in our democracy.
Read the story HERE
Art+Action Newsletter
April 20, 2020
“The Butterfly Effect: Migration is Beautiful” at-home art activity video demonstration, kids teaching kids about the 2020 Census and how to make a butterfly installation.
Read the full newsletter HERE
Art+Action Newsletter
April 14, 2020
In solidarity with National Latino Census Week of Action, led by NALEO Educational Fund, Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, and Voto Latino, Art+Action shared For Freedoms’, Freedom From Want, COME TO YOUR CENSUS posters in Spanish, Chinese, English, and Tagalog.
Read the full newsletter HERE
Video: “Art in a Time of Crisis”
April 8, 2020
A conversation with community organizer Manny Yekutial and Deborah Cullinan, CEO of Yerba Buena Center for the Arts—Art+Action’s HQ + Lead Partner—about the role of art in a time of crisis, highlighting the cross-sector Art+Action Coalition, its COME TO YOUR CENSUS campaign, and its Founder + Artistic Director of Social Impact Amy Kisch.
Watch the conversation HERE
Art+Action Newsletter
April 6, 2020
Art+Action Featured Artist Leah Nichols’ step-by-step How To: 2020 Census postcard in Chinese, English, Spanish, and Tagalog.
Read the full newsletter HERE
Medium: “Let’s Reimagine it All”
April 5, 2020
Deborah Cullinan, CEO of YBCA—Art+Action’s HQ + Lead Partner—shares the story behind the partnership with Art+Action’s Founder + Artistic Director of Social Impact Amy Kisch, the creation of the COME TO YOUR CENSUS campaign, powered by San Francisco’s Office of Civic Engagement & Immigrant Affairs (OCEIA), and how the role of artists and creative thinkers is needed now more an ever.
Read the story HERE
Smithsonian Magazine: “This Art Campaign Wants You to Participate in the 2020 Census”
April 2, 2020
Art+Action has responded to COVID-19 by shifting from public events to social media and online outreach—and continuing to offer their open-sourced multi-lingual arts-driven Census toolkit—to advocate for the health and strength of our communities for the next decade.
Read the article HERE
The Art Newspaper: “Coronavirus Complicates US Census—and the Arts Funding Tied to it”
April 1, 2020
Art+Action has launched a multi-pronged initiative to reach Bay Area residents in hard-to-count communities, and galvanize the art world to get behind the national headcount.
Read the article HERE
Hyperallergic: “Come to Your Census: The 2020 Census is an Essential Service”
April 1, 2020
Participating in the 2020 Census helps to secure the long-term health and strength of our communities. In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s clear that completing the Census is more vital now than ever.
Read the article HERE
Hyperallergic: YBCA Presents “Come to Your Census: Who Counts in America”
April 1, 2020
Learn more about YBCA’s digital art and civic engagement experience as part of an arts-driven citywide campaign led by the Art+Action coalition, commissioned by the City of San Francisco’s Office of Civic Engagement and Immigrant Affairs (OCEIA).
Read the article HERE
Art+Action Newsletter
March 30, 2020
Art+Action Youth Open Call Winner, a San Francisco 7th Grader from Lower Haight, Isha Lucia Thorne’s artwork, “Bright Voices.”
Read the full newsletter HERE
7×7: “Spring Arts Preview”
March 3, 2020
7×7 calls out YBCA’s digital art and civic experience Come to Your Census: Who Counts in America? in its roundup of art openings this Spring.
Read the article HERE
KIQI 1010AM: Interview with Artists Arlene Correa Valencia and Sergio de la Torre
February 6, 2020
Marcos Gutierrez of KIQI 1010AM interviews Art+Action featured artists Arleene Correa Valencia and Sergio de la Torre for #HechoenCalifornia and Art+Action’s arts-driven #2020Census Campaign.
Listen to the recording HERE
The Art Newspaper: “San Francisco Fairs Reflect the Bay Area’s Widening Wealth Gap”l
January 20, 2020
San Francisco as a cultural mecca with FOG and Untitled, the new SFMOMA, Pace and Gagosian, civic art programs like Art+Action, and the development of artist enclaves such as Minnesota Street Project.
Read the article HERE
KTVU: “Nancy Pelosi Helps Launch New Census Campaign in San Francisco”
January 17, 2020
Channel 2 News covers the unveiling of the COME TO YOUR CENSUS campaign with the SF COUNTS 2020 Census launch with Mayor London N. Breed and Speaker Nancy Pelosi at San Francisco City Hall.
Read the article HERE
Art+Action Newsletter
January 16, 2020
Announcing Art+Action—San Francisco’s first coalition for civic participation across art, creative, community, business, technology, philanthropy, activist, and government sectors—has launched an arts-driven campaign to mobilize participation in the 2020 U.S. Census—a 9-question, 10 minute survey, that determines how federal funding and political representation are distributed over the next 10 years.
Read the full newsletter HERE
Art+Action Newsletter
October 4, 2019
Sanctuary City Project’s mobile tricycle silkscreen cart will be the first in Art+Action’s series of art activations which will be held throughout the greater SF Bay Area through October 31, 2020.
Read the full newsletter HERE