SFMTA and San Francisco Beautiful to Kick-Off Muni Art 2019
San Francisco—The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) and San Francisco Beautiful (SFB) today announced that the kick-off of the 2019 Muni Art Project will take place on January 9, 2019 at 11 am on the Polk Street steps of San Francisco’s City Hall.
“It is a pleasure to co-host the Muni Art kick-off for the second year in a row, as we celebrate the transformation of San Francisco’s public transit system into a space for art and poetry,” said Supervisor Sandra Lee Fewer.
The 2019 theme, “Connecting Our Community” is a collaboration with The Poetry Society of America (sponsors of Poetry in Motion ®) who pre-selected five poems that each Muni artist creatively interpreted.
“This year’s theme resonates with what we strive to do for our riders every single day,” said Ed Reiskin, SFMTA Director of Transportation. By pairing artwork with our new buses, we’re enhancing the overall customer experience on Muni by connecting communities with local artists.”
Now in its fourth year, Muni Art is the only public art project that exclusively features San Francisco artists and poets. The artists’ original work and five poems selected by the Poetry Society of America, is presented on 100 Muni buses throughout San Francisco from January through April, 2019. Over 750,000 Muni riders will experience Muni Art 2019!
A Muni bus with a selection of the art will be on site at the event for the public to tour. Also on January 9th, the public is invited to a panel discussion and book signing with the artists and poets at the Koret Auditorium in the Main Library, 100 Larkin Street, beginning at 5:30 pm.
The 2019 Muni artists are:
Nick Cook - High School Student, Marin
Arthur Koch - San Francisco
Bhavna Misra - Alameda
Crystal Vielula - San Francisco
Christine Weibel - San Francisco
The five poets and poems are:
Francisco X. Alarcon – “One Big Family”, “Una Gran Familia”
Brenda Hillman - from “Time Problem”
Jane Hirshfield - “Optimism”
Cedar Sigo - from “Our Lives”
C. Dale Young - from “The Bridge”
In addition to the poet panels, each artist also has three panels to freely use reflecting the theme for a total of eight original works that will line both interior display sides of the buses and conform to the specifications of Muni display space. In addition, each artist will be awarded $1,250 at the press conference. Readings by the poets at local libraries are scheduled for Spring 2019.
“San Francisco Beautiful is so grateful to the SFMTA for making Muni Art 2019 possible,” said Darcy Brown, executive director of San Francisco Beautiful. “This project is the definition of real public art; not a destination but a delightful daily encounter.”
This year, the Muni Art Project is funded by members of San Francisco Beautiful and the Union Square BID.
For more details on the winners of the Muni Art Project, please visit www.sfbeautiful.org/muniart. Examples of each artists’ work can be found at the SFMTA Muni Art webpage sfmta.com/muniart.