Saturday

September 21, 1:30PM - 6:30PM

Question Bridge

Join us for an afternoon symposium

about identity, race, and place with artists, activists, and thought leaders from the Bay Area and beyond

Question Bridge: Black Males is a groundbreaking transmedia art project launched in 2012. Weaving together the voices of black men of all ages and backgrounds into a powerful dialogue, this work illuminates a diversity of thought, character, and identity rarely portrayed in American media. Directed by artists Chris Johnson and Hank Willis Thomas, Question Bridge creates a platform for representing and redefining black male identity in the U.S.

This fall, Question Bridge: Bayview Hunters Point brings this landmark work to one of San Francisco’s last black neighborhoods. Presented at NOW Hunters point, this public program infuses the ongoing artwork with new energy and voices through an immersive, large-format public installation. A half-day symposium and highlights from a season-long engagement with NOW Hunters Point visitors will expand the conversation.

Our hope is to foster meaningful connections between this iconic artwork and a community whose story helped to inspire it, while also offering the Bay Area arts community a new perspective on a neighborhood with a deep yet underappreciated artistic legacy.

NOW Hunters Point is pleased to invite you to join the conversation.

Tickets are required for the afternoon symposium which you can reserve here.

The Public Exhibition is free and does not require a separate registration. Read more about the Public Exhibition here.

Moderated by: Liz Ogbu, Founder of Studio O 

Introduction by: Chris Johnson, Question Bridge Creator

Featured Roundtable Panelists: 

Jimmie Fails, actor and co-writer of “The Last Black Man in San Francisco” film

JIMMIE FAILS can be seen starring in A24’s THE LAST BLACK MAN IN SAN FANCISCO, which premiered at Sundance 2019. Jimmie co-wrote with his best friend and longtime collaborator, Joe Talbot directed with Plan B producing. It is a fable-like story based on Jimmie’s life and the gentrification of San Francisco. Other cast include; Jonathan Majors, Danny Glover, Mike Epps and Finn Wittrock. The film won two awards at Sundance and received critical acclaim.

Jimmie and Joe previously collaborated on the short AMERICAN PARADISE, which premiered at 2017 Sundance and was a creative precursor to the feature.

Michael McAfee, President and CEO of Policy Link

Michael McAfee, President, oversees strategy development, the alignment of PolicyLink assets, and the achievement of policy wins that ensure all people in America have economic security, live in healthy communities of opportunity, and benefit from a just society. He came to PolicyLink in 2011 as the inaugural director of the Promise Neighborhoods Institute at PolicyLink. Under his leadership, PolicyLink emerged as a national leader in building cradle-to-career systems that ensure children and youth in our nation’s most distressed communities have a pathway into the middle class.

Mwende “FreeQuency” Katwiwa, award-winning, internationally touring poet, author, host, youth worker, social-justice speaker

Mwende “FreeQuency” Katwiwa is a 28 year old Kenyan, Immigrant, Queer Womyn writer and speaker. The 2018 Women of the World Poetry Slam Champion, a 2017 TEDWomen speaker and ranked 3rd at the 2015 Individual World Poetry Slam, FreeQuency is a highly sought after performer, host, social justice teaching artist and workshop leader. Having spent their life at the intersection of arts, education and activism, they and/or their work in Reproductive Justice, #BlackLivesMatter organizing & activism, LGBTQ+ advocacy and writing have been featured on The Independent, the New York Times, OkayAfrica, Upworthy, TEDx, For Harriet, Teen Vogue, Huffington Post, Everyday Feminism, & other outlets. You can view their work at www.freequencyspeaks.com

Deborah M Cullinan, CEO of Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (YBCA)

Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (YBCA) CEO Deborah Cullinan is one of the nation’s leading thinkers on the pivotal role arts organizations can play in shaping our social and political landscape, and has spent years mobilizing communities through arts and culture. Deborah is committed to revolutionizing the role art centers play in public life and during her tenure at YBCA, she has launched several bold new programs, engagement strategies, and civic coalitions. Prior to joining YBCA in 2013, she was the Executive Director of San Francisco’s Intersection for the Arts. She is a co-founder of CultureBank and ArtsForum SF, Vice Chair of the Yerba Buena Gardens Conservancy, co-chair of the San Francisco Arts Alliance and on the board of the Community Arts Stabilization Trust. Her passion for using art and creativity to shift culture has made her a sought-after speaker at events and conferences around the world.

Tyra Fennell, Founding Director of  Imprint City

Tyra Fennell is the founding director of Imprint City, an organization activating underutilized areas in neighborhoods with arts projects that encourage increased foot traffic in support of local merchants. Imprint City’s staple event is the annual BayviewLIVE Festival, solely dedicated to urban arts and culture. Tyra also serves as the vice chair of San Francisco’s African American Arts and Cultural District located in the Bayview Hunters Point.

Malik Seneferu,  self-taught painter, draughtsman, muralist, poet and illustrator.

Malik paved his own way as a self-taught painter, draughtsman, muralist, poet and illustrator. Seneferu is also Kwanzaa facilitator and Maafa drummer and is creator of his assorted artMagnets of over 70 selected works of art. Seneferu’s work has traveled to Durban South Africa’s “War against Racism” in 2001, Kenya, London, Haiti & Italy with over 50 solo art exhibits through out the San Francisco Bay Area.

Ashara Ekundayo, independent curator and creative industries entrepreneur

Ashara Ekundayo is an independent curator and creative industries entrepreneur working internationally across arts, community, government, and social innovation spaces. Through her consulting company AE Creative, LLC she designs and manages multidimensional projects and fosters collaborative relationships through the use of mindfulness, permaculture principles and creative arts practice. She is a co-founder at Impact Hub Oakland, and in December 2017 she opened Ashara Ekundayo Gallery exclusively featuring the artwork of Black womxn and women of the African Diaspora to investigate and inspire social and spiritual inquiry at the nexus of fact, the Black feminist imaginary, and Afrofuturism through visual and performance exhibition.  She is the author of two forthcoming books, “Artist As First Responder,” and ”Riot Babies.”