Bay Area Now 8

Bay Area Now 8

For twenty years, the BAY AREA NOW biennial at Yerba Buena Center tor the Arts (YBCA) has been the San Francisco Bay Area’s best opportunity to bring national exposure to its local art scene. Our campaign sought to rejuvenate the region’s image as a hotbed of thoughtful and challenging art during a turbulent time for cultural institutions nationwide.

Local Artists Rise to the National Stage

BAY AREA NOW has become a career milestone for artists who achieve national & international acclaim. We enlisted a nationally-renowned photographer to elevate the BAY AREA NOW brand and establish YBCA’s central role in telling the story of our influential, homegrown art community.

The Resilience of Bay Area Artists

Bay Area news is filled with stories of artists threatened by gentrification and an adverse political climate. I created a story of resilient artists who are thriving amidst these turbulent times. I introduced each biennial artist on social media from three different angles – 1) their personal story, 2) their use of local art studios, and 3) their artwork at the biennial. I paid special attention to the artists’ personal journeys – as immigrants, minorities, and creative activists – celebrating their contributions to the tide of cultural change in the United States.

Exploring Social Issues Through Art

We filmed biennial artists at work in the Bay Area, creating art that connects to issues dominating the national news — from racism and immigration to ecology. Shot by Plus M Productions, I story-edited and oversaw each cut of the videos to portray a community of socially engaged artists from diverse backgrounds, each of them creating art under different circumstances, and persevering amidst a rapidly changing city.

Building Suspense with Documentary Photography

We built suspense for the Opening Night by revealing the art installation process with a beauty and commitment to storytelling uncommon in our field. I shot a documentary photo series that honored the labor behind art exhibitions – which coincided with a high-profile art labor movement making national news at the time. The quality of the photo series drew praise within the local arts community, and the same considered approach to depicting art labor was adopted by other institutions & galleries soon thereafter.

An Instagram Stories Magazine

We wanted to stand out on the then-emerging platform of Instagram Stories. Contrary to the ‘quick & dirty’ look dominating IG Stories at the time, we took the format seriously, and made care & depth of storytelling our brand. I led our strategy and established a stylish magazine aesthetic for our weekly artist profiles. We created a memorable campaign, with our followers praising the unexpected depth of our IG Stories.

Speaking Artist to Artist

The biennial was an important opportunity to gather prominent local artists before they were propelled to larger art cities like New York and Los Angeles. We captured these conversations to convey the importance of art institutions to provide a space for local artists to support each other in direct dialogue around their practices.