Live VCs decisions breakdown, on real cases.
We’ll have 7 invited VC partners/guests, sharing what they are currently backing, and how their decision-making have changed.
Laurel Lunar New Year
This Laurel tradition returns with a procession led by Sifu “Master” Lacey of the Buk Sing Choy Lay Fut Kung Fu Academy of Fremont as they unleash two amazing Lions accompanied by drummers, firecrackers, and offerings to bring luck and welcome the Year of the Fire Horse. Businesses will be “blessed” by the Lions for a year of good luck!
Black Broadway
Celebrate Black History Month with Black Broadway, a powerful cabaret presented by San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Company (SFBATCO).
Performing February 20 & 21 at Feinstein’s at the Nikko, Black Broadway celebrates the songs, artists, and legacy of Black excellence on the Broadway stage, featuring music from Ain’t Misbehavin’, Porgy & Bess, The Wiz, Ragtime, The Lion King, Dreamgirls, The Color Purple and more! Expect unforgettable anthems, show-stopping vocals, and a few thrilling surprises, all brought to life by some of the Bay Area’s most dynamic performers.
Virtual | 6th International Conference on Cancer Research and Treatment
We are pleased to welcome you to the 6th International Conference on Cancer Research and Treatment, scheduled for November 20–21, 2026, in Bangkok, Thailand. This international forum will bring together leading researchers, clinicians, oncologists, and healthcare professionals to discuss recent advancements and emerging trends in cancer biology, diagnosis, prevention, and treatment. The conference aims to promote interdisciplinary collaboration and scientific exchange, addressing both translational research and clinical applications that improve patient outcomes. Key discussions will focus on innovative therapeutic strategies, precision oncology, immunotherapy, and advances in cancer care.
THE MEETUP: Bay Area
THE MEETUP: Bay Area, presented by AfroTech, brings innovators, creatives, and industry leaders together for impactful conversations and real connections. This event offers a vibrant space to network, get inspired, and turn introductions into collaborations across tech and culture.
Ruthie Foster & Blind Boys of Alabama
Get ready for an unforgettable night of soul-stirring music as Grammy Winner powerhouse Ruthie Foster brings her blend of blues, gospel, and folk to the stage. The evening also features the legendary Blind Boys of Alabama, whose rich harmonies and timeless spirit have inspired audiences for decades. Two extraordinary performances, one incredible night of music.
SFNOMA: MLK Symposium
Join us for an engaging panel discussion featuring leaders from across the AEC+ industry—Architecture, Engineering, Construction, and allied fields. Through personal stories and lived experiences, each panelist will offer insights and guidance on navigating the profession today, addressing both the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead, and inspiring meaningful change in the built environment.
Hybrid | 2026 Black Men’s Brain Health Conference
The staggering amount of ethnoracial inequalities in healthcare has been documented and researched for decades. Today, the 2026 BMBH Conference continues this effort to better understand the health inequities that affect Black men as they age across the life course.
The fifth annual BMBH Conference, with no registration fee, will reinvent how communities engage in and benefit from scientific research. For too long, the scientific and medical fields have been criticized for research that provides little lasting value to participating communities. By centering community voices, this conference aims to tap into genuine engagement and transform Black men’s roles in brain health and AD/ADRD research.
Tri-Valley Theatre Company The Addams Family
THE ADDAMS FAMILY, a comical feast that embraces the wackiness in every family, features an original story and it’s every father’s nightmare: Wednesday Addams, the ultimate princess of darkness, has grown up and fallen in love with a sweet, smart young man from a respectable family – a man her parents have never met. And if that wasn’t upsetting enough, Wednesday confides in her father and begs him not to tell her mother. Now, Gomez Addams must do something he’s never done before – keep a secret from his beloved wife, Morticia. Everything will change for the whole family on the fateful night they host a dinner for Wednesday’s “normal” boyfriend and his parents.
Children’s Creative Lab
Our children’s after-school drawing and painting class is designed for kids ages 7-15, welcoming all skill levels from beginners to more experienced young artists. In this fun and supportive environment, students will explore various techniques and mediums, including pencils, watercolors, and acrylics. Each session includes guided instruction, creative projects, and opportunities for self-expression. The goal is to build confidence, develop artistic skills, and foster a love for art.
Viola Frey: Foundations
Foundations explores the formative years of legendary Bay Area artist Viola Frey from 1965 to 1987, tracing her pivotal shift from two-dimensional works to groundbreaking three-dimensional forms. Rarely exhibited paintings, drawings, photographs, and ceramics emphasize her practice and spectacularly illustrate the artist’s mind and her cyclical reinvention of ideas. This exhibition draws from the Artists’ Legacy Foundation’s deep holdings in addition to seminal works from private and institutional collections.
Candlelight: Tribute to Juan Gabriel on Strings
⭐ Candlelight concerts bring the magic of a live, multi-sensory musical experience to awe-inspiring locations like never seen before in San Francisco. Get your tickets now to discover the music of Juan Gabriel on Strings at The Marker Union Square San Francisco under the gentle glow of candlelight.
Candlelight: Tribute to Coldplay
⭐ Candlelight concerts bring the magic of a live, multi-sensory musical experience to awe-inspiring locations like never seen before in San Francisco. Get your tickets now to discover the music of Coldplay at The Marker Union Square San Francisco under the gentle glow of candlelight.
Candlelight: Featuring Vivaldi’s Four Seasons and More
⭐ Candlelight concerts bring the magic of a live, multi-sensory musical experience to awe-inspiring locations like never seen before in San Francisco. Get your tickets now to discover the music of Vivaldi at St. Ignatius Church under the gentle glow of candlelight.
Gallery Chats at OMCA
Join us for Gallery Chats, an opportunity to chat with and ask questions of our enthusiastic and knowledgeable OMCA Facilitators. Gallery Chats put a twist on the traditional museum tour by encouraging meaningful conversations and fresh interpretations to connect with the artwork, artifacts, and stories in our galleries.
ThursDates at OMCA with Mia Pixley & Crochet Jam
Ease into an evening of creativity and connection at ThursDates, where music, movement, and hands-on art come together in the warm after-hours shine of OMCA. Start with Crochet Jam, a relaxed, no-rules finger-knitting experience rooted in African American weaving traditions, where you can weave, chat, and unwind at your own pace. In the same gallery, lose yourself in the meditative sounds of Mia Pixley, whose cello, voice, and spoken word combine classical and experimental influences to create stirring, transformative melodies. All the while, DJ Mark DiVita fills Town Fare with eclectic beats, setting a vibrant and inviting atmosphere with cocktails, bites, and mingling among new friends or old.
67th Annual White Elephant Sale Open Warehouse Days
Don’t miss the 67th Annual White Elephant Sale’s Open Warehouse Days! Join us for this beloved Bay Area tradition and the largest rummage sale in Northern California.
Browse without the crowds on select days between January 29 and February 21, between 10 am and 2 pm. New merchandise will be added throughout the sale. Reserve your spot for $7 per day.
Beyond Conflict: Democracy, Perception, and Dialogue
Join us for an extraordinary conversation with Sabina Cudic, Dr. Shady ElGhazaly Harb, Gabriela Ramos Patino, and David Koranyi, four remarkable voices exploring the roots of conflict and the strategies we can use to bridge seemingly impossible divides, and introduced with a special performance by Jeanette Andrews.
Produced in collaboration with Beyond Conflict and California College of the Arts, this event brings together an artist who examines the power of shifting perception alongside leaders and diplomats whose work has navigated major conflicts and authoritarianism across the globe. Together, they will share examples and insights drawn from real experiences responding to democracy under pressure, navigating extreme polarization, and resisting the erosion of democratic systems. The conversation will also explore the vital role artists play in nurturing understanding and belonging.
Michael League’s Elipsis
Night one of Michael League’s residency marks the SFJAZZ debut of his all-star Elipsis project featuring a trio of respected bandleaders and in-demand collaborators — master drummer Antonio Sánchez (Pat Metheny, Chick Corea, Danilo Pérez) and percussion virtuoso Pedrito Martinez (Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Paul Simon). They are joined by Latin GRAMMY-nominated vocalist, keyboardist, bandleader, and composer Glenda del E (Alejandro Sanz) for an evening of “future folklore,” balancing each member’s deep roots with a common desire to move the music in unexplored new directions.
Free Art Workshop: Watercolor Resist Painting
Create art inspired by programs at YBCA in this series of drop-in art workshops for participants of all ages. Each workshop will explore different practices and art-making methods. Materials will be provided, and participants will be able to take their artwork home as a souvenir.
Learn how to paint with watercolor using resist techniques. Explore the expressive and dreamlike nature of watercolor washes. This workshop is inspired by P. Staff’s work in the The Prince of Homburg exhibition, presented by YBCA.
Simon Phillips Protocol V
Jazz. Rock. Jazz-rock. Across more than five decades, legendary drummer Simon Phillips has shown an uncanny ability to excel in most any musical environment. Precision, intensity, and emotion are hallmarks of Simon’s sound in every setting.
While still in his teens, Simon gained a reputation as someone who could make music sound good, leading to lots of London recording sessions. By his twenties, Simon had already worked with iconic figures including Jeff Beck, Jack Bruce, Pete Townshend, Al Di Meola, Jon Anderson, Jan Hammer, Stanley Clarke, Jon Lord, Mike Oldfield, Brian Eno, and others. Several of these artists had been important pioneers of the jazz-rock genre in the early and mid-1970s, also called fusion.
Club Nouveau: 40th Anniversary & Jay King’s Bday Party
Rumor has it…the Bay Area’s iconic R&B group Club Nouveau is marking an incredible 40 years in the industry. The group that gave us timeless hits like “Jealousy,” “Lean on Me,” “Situation #9,” and “Why You Treat Me So Bad” is returning to celebrate a legacy that reshaped Hip Hop, Soul, and the sound of the Bay. Four decades later, their influence still echoes—sampled, celebrated, and forever soulful. Club Nouveau continues to embody the harmony of love, life, and pain, reminding us why their music will always be there to LEAN ON!.
Elew Plays Sting
A native of Camden, New Jersey, Eric Lewis began his musical studies at 2 years old and would ultimately receive the Rodgers and Hammerstein full merit scholarship to the Manhattan School of Music. A Dean’s List student, upon graduation, he toured the world, recorded and performed with Wynton Marsalis & the Jazz at Lincoln Centre Orchestra, Elvin Jones, Cassandra Wilson, Roy Hargrove, and John Hendricks, among others.
In 1999, Eric won the Thelonious Monk International Piano Competition, at the time, the most coveted prize in all of Jazz. A three-time Grammy nominee, ELEW has solidified his place as one of the most electrifying and innovative pianists of his generation.
Orbiting Bodies
Orbiting Bodies examines affinities shared in the work of SFAI alumni artists spanning the decades. Bodies in orbit can be those of the SFAI community flowing together, the stationary orbit of one’s partner in front of the camera, or a child’s repetitive revolutions around a parent as they both age. Other times these bodies are planetary, keeping ancient celestial time. Threaded through the projector in inventive ways, film can even diverge from its usual path and orbit itself. The work and community of SFAI artists orbit one another across the years. These films investigate our perception of time, sometimes in collaboration with composers of music, another time-based medium. This program, the second screening in a two-part series curated by Steve Anker and Mark Wilson, includes films made between the 1970s and 2000s by alumni and allied institute figures at SFAI or later in their careers.
Family Studio: Watercolors!
Enjoy hands-on art making and creative exploration for the whole family! We believe in the joy of making, so come ready to relax, experiment, and enjoy yourself.
Every Family Studio includes the following free activities:
- Drop-in art-making
- Book raffle
- Space to play with blocks
- Children’s books to browse and read
67th Annual White Elephant Preview Sale
Organized by the Oakland Museum Women’s Board (OMWB), the White Elephant Sale is the largest rummage sale in Northern California and the biggest annual fundraising event benefiting the Oakland Museum of California (OMCA). The sale returns for the 2026 season, starting with its Preview Sale on January 25, 10 am–3 pm, and running through the beginning of March.
Candlelight: 90s Hip-Hop on Strings
⭐ Candlelight concerts bring the magic of a live, multi-sensory musical experience to awe-inspiring locations like never seen before in San Francisco. Get your tickets now to discover the music of 90s Hip-Hop on Strings at International Art Museum of America under the gentle glow of candlelight.
Vocal Open Mic
Join Angharad Jones and a piano trio of experienced jazz musicians for an open mic open to all! Please bring 3 charts per song (one for each band member) in the appropriate key. Singers will get to sing one or two tunes with a great group of instrumentalists in front of a supportive audience – mostly fellow vocalists – in a wonderful venue.
Takács Quartet with Jordan Bak, viola*
As it enters its 51st season, the renowned Takács Quartet continues to deepen its connections to timeless masterworks and enliven the string quartet repertoire through fresh artistic collaborations.
For its first concert this season, the group is joined by award-winning Jamaican American violist Jordan Bak in his Cal Performances debut for a rare performance of Mozart’s revelatory viola quintets in C major (K. 515) and G minor (K. 516). Bak adds his “haunting lyrical grace” (Gramophone) to the Takács’ telepathic ensemble blend in these works of exceptional melodic beauty and textural clarity. Schubert’s dramatic single-movement Quartettsatz opens the program.
Stella Heath: Stella Swings Ella
Stella Swings Ella is a joyous celebration of the life and music of Ella Fitzgerald. Vocalist Stella Heath leads a stellar band on a journey through Ella’s iconic repertoire from her early swing-band days with Chick Webb to her timeless recordings from the Great American Songbook.
With dynamic arrangements, rich storytelling, and infectious rhythm, the show brings new light to Ella’s brilliance while honoring her impeccable phrasing, wit and heart. Heath’s luminous voice channels the joy and spontaneity that made Ella a legend, while the band keeps the energy sizzling and swinging—blending vintage authenticity with modern sparkle.
Candlelight: Queen vs. ABBA
⭐ Candlelight concerts bring the magic of a live, multi-sensory musical experience to awe-inspiring locations like never seen before in San Francisco. Get your tickets now to discover the music of Queen vs. ABBA at St Ignatius Church under the gentle glow of candlelight.
FOG Design+Art Fair
Celebrating today’s leading contributors to the worlds of design and visual arts, FOG Design+Art brings together international art galleries, prominent 20th-century and contemporary design dealers, and a weekend of exciting programs.
ThursDates at OMCA with Sketchboard Co. Live Figure Drawing & Trivia Night
Unwind in the gentle pulse of ThursDates at OMCA with a signature cocktail and smooth beats from DJ Mark DiVita, setting the perfect backdrop for a relaxed evening of creativity and connection. This Thursday, make new connections with a “Spaces of Belonging” trivia night in Town Fare, while Sketchboard Co. hosts uninstructed live figure drawing sessions in the Gallery of California Art.
We welcome all skill levels, including those who have never drawn before and want to try drawing. Art supplies and clipboards will be available for use, and your artwork will be yours to take home or exchange with others. Nude or partially clothed models representing the diversity of the Bay Area will be posing in the galleries for times ranging from 2 to 20 minutes.
Sunday in the Park with George
Sunday in the Park with George is a 1984 musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Lapine. It was inspired by the French pointillist painter Georges Seurat’s painting A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte.
PHER & Friends — A Night of Jazz, R&B and Soul
PHER, the Oakland native and global singing sensation formerly known as Chris Turner, is a versatile artist with a solid foundation in both jazz tradition and classic soul. Equally comfortable in either genre, PHER’s talent and passion for music have made him a standout figure in the industry. Honing his skills in the vibrant Bay Area music scene through programs like The Young Musicians Program, SF School of the Arts, and the SFJazz Allstars, PHER eventually made his way to New York, where he studied at the New School and collaborated with a star-studded list of jazz, soul, R&B, and hip-hop artists. His dedication to music education led him to join the faculty of his alma mater in 2013, teaching voice to students of all levels, including pop artists such as Sean Kingston, 070Shake, and WolfTyla.
Etienne Charles Trio
Trinidad born Etienne Charles is a performer, composer and storyteller, who is constantly searching for untold tales and sounds with which to tell them. His lush trumpet sound, varied compositional textures and pulsating percussive grooves enable him to invoke trance, soothing and exciting listeners while referencing touchy and sometimes controversial subjects in his music. Highlighting marginalized communities and engaging with them has been his mission, evident with projects such as his Guggenheim Fellowship Project, Carnival: The Sound of a People Vol. 1, San Jose Suite, Creole Soul, Gullah Roots, Folklore and his latest commission, San Juan Hill – A New York Story. His concerts engage, enlighten, educate and enrich audiences with energized multidisciplinary performance utilizing original composition, thematic improvisation, dance, short films and spoken word to create a holistic experience. A firm believer in music and performance as a tool for provoking thought and dialogue, Charles’s themes speak to the status quo while drawing parallels to history.
Etienne Charles Trio
Trinidad born Etienne Charles is a performer, composer and storyteller, who is constantly searching for untold tales and sounds with which to tell them. His lush trumpet sound, varied compositional textures and pulsating percussive grooves enable him to invoke trance, soothing and exciting listeners while referencing touchy and sometimes controversial subjects in his music. Highlighting marginalized communities and engaging with them has been his mission, evident with projects such as his Guggenheim Fellowship Project, Carnival: The Sound of a People Vol. 1, San Jose Suite, Creole Soul, Gullah Roots, Folklore and his latest commission, San Juan Hill – A New York Story. His concerts engage, enlighten, educate and enrich audiences with energized multidisciplinary performance utilizing original composition, thematic improvisation, dance, short films and spoken word to create a holistic experience. A firm believer in music and performance as a tool for provoking thought and dialogue, Charles’s themes speak to the status quo while drawing parallels to history.
Etienne Charles Trio
Trinidad born Etienne Charles is a performer, composer and storyteller, who is constantly searching for untold tales and sounds with which to tell them. His lush trumpet sound, varied compositional textures and pulsating percussive grooves enable him to invoke trance, soothing and exciting listeners while referencing touchy and sometimes controversial subjects in his music. Highlighting marginalized communities and engaging with them has been his mission, evident with projects such as his Guggenheim Fellowship Project, Carnival: The Sound of a People Vol. 1, San Jose Suite, Creole Soul, Gullah Roots, Folklore and his latest commission, San Juan Hill – A New York Story. His concerts engage, enlighten, educate and enrich audiences with energized multidisciplinary performance utilizing original composition, thematic improvisation, dance, short films and spoken word to create a holistic experience. A firm believer in music and performance as a tool for provoking thought and dialogue, Charles’s themes speak to the status quo while drawing parallels to history.
Itzhak Perlman with the San Francisco Symphony
Experience the magic of Itzhak Perlman live with the San Francisco Symphony in celebration of his 80th birthday season. Known for his unmistakable sound and joyful presence, Perlman brings a lifetime of musical mastery to this unforgettable program.
Joshua Bell & Academy of St Martin in the Fields
Joshua Bell and the Academy of St Martin in the Fields return to Davies Symphony Hall for a program featuring Johannes Brahms’s Violin Concerto and Robert Schumann’s Symphony No. 1, Spring.
SF Symphony Youth Orchestra
The next-gen talents of the SF Symphony Youth Orchestra journey into realms both spiritual and earthly. Jean Sibelius’s rousing anthem, Finlandia, places us amid a nation’s struggle for identity, while Jennifer Higdon’s blue cathedral depicts “a symbolic doorway into and out of this world.” Gustav Mahler’s Fourth Symphony picks up the thread with its glowing finale, sung by soprano Hannah Cho.
SoundBox: Dream Awake
In SoundBox: Dream Awake, violinist and curator Alexi Kenney leads us into a realm infused with nocturnal energy and psychedelic fantasy. Experience the unnerving and visceral confusion of waking life, the wild fear and frenzy of a shadowy nightmare, and a finale warmed and calmed by the clarifying rays of the rising sun.
Artist Salon: Concert and Conversation with Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra
Join us for this Artist Salon, a concert and conversation that explores shared themes between MoAD’s current exhibition UNBOUND: Art, Blackness & the Universe and Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra’s March 2026 concert program Pearls of Sorrow.
MoAD’s Chief of Curatorial Affairs and Public Programs Key-Jo Lee, and GRAMMY-nominated countertenor Reginald Mobley will lead an insightful panel discussion that explores how musicians draw inspiration from visual art (and vice versa).
MoAD Mix – A Spirited Discussion on Art & Culture
Join us for an illuminating edition of MoAD Mix: A Spirited Discussion on Art & Culture, featuring Nigerian-American artist Mikael Owunna and his celebrated photographic series Infinite Essence.
Owunna’s work reimagines Black bodies as sites of cosmic brilliance—glowing with light, divinity, and ancestral power. Through multispectral photography, he transforms the Black figure into a celestial being, challenging narratives of violence and invisibility by revealing a universe within.
Diasporic Frequencies: What the Archive Holds, What Sound Carries
Join Key Jo Lee, Chief of Curatorial Affairs & Public Programs at the Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD); Delphine Sims, Assistant Curator of Photography at the SFMOMA; and Oakland- and DC-based DJ and producer Darling Cool for a conversation where photography, contemporary art, and sound come into dialogue. The program draws from BLACK IN BERLIN, presented by the Goethe-Institut San Francisco, featuring Ethiopian-born, Berlin-based photographer Yero Adugna Eticha’s multi-year portrait project documenting the diversity of Black life in Germany, alongside UNBOUND: Art, Blackness & the Universe, MoAD’s group exhibition exploring Blackness through abstraction, spirituality, speculation, and expansive possibility.
Thrive@MoAD
Join us every Second Saturday for Thrive @ MoAD, a free community day sponsored by Kaiser Permanente, with free admission to all exhibitions! Museums across the globe are increasingly recognized for their important role in promoting personal and social well-being.
Studies show that engaging with art and culture boosts brain function, supports trauma healing, and helps reduce the stigma surrounding mental health. Don’t miss out—visit us for Thrive @ MoAD!
Performance | O-O-H Child
MoAD presents O-O-H Child, a performance rooted in M. Carmen Lane’s installation You Weren’t Ready for Mami Wata in the Bates Gallery, commissioned as a conceptual and spiritual fulcrum in UNBOUND: Art, Blackness & the Universe. Named after an idiom that holds recognition, warning, tenderness, and release in a single breath, O-O-H Child begins where language thins and embodied knowing takes over, unfolding through sound and movement.
READING | SistahFriend
SistahFriend is being developed in Lorraine Hansberry Theatre’s New Black Voices Mentorship Program. The program remains central to the company’s mission of uplifting Black female and femme-identifying playwrights, by offering opportunities to develop new works or to showcase them live to new audiences. Currently, the New Black Voices Advisory Board includes Lydia Diamond, Nambi E. Kelley, Dominique Morisseau, and Lisa B. Thompson. The advisory board assists with the selection process of new mentees and the personalized structure for mentorships while serving as mentors within the program.
MoAD & SFMOMA present Building Universes
Building Universes – Two exhibitions, two ways of imagining the world anew.
Suzanne Jackson: What Is Love, illuminates the cosmos one artist can create through a singular, visionary practice, while UNBOUND: Art, Blackness & the Universe reveals what becomes possible when artists from across the African Diaspora build cosmologies together—ideas sparking ideas, worlds unfolding in conversation.
Free Admission | Downtown First Thursdays @ MoAD
MoAD celebrates our dynamic arts & culture neighborhood in conjunction with Downtown First Thursdays. Join us every First Thursday of the month for free admission to the exhibitions and programming at the museum from 4-8pm. Be sure to check out the street party on Second Street between Market & Howard!
You will have free access to our current exhibitions, UNBOUND: Art, Blackness & the Universe and Continuum: MoAD Over Time.
