The Raygun Gothic Rocketship Gets a Tune-Up

| Filed under Civic Arts Projects, Raygun Gothic Rocketship

fly me to the moon Jill Clardy
fly me to the moon, by Jill Clardy

Following the Port of San Francisco’s recent approval of a 1 year extension of the Rocketship installation at Pier 14, the Rocketship crew is planning a maintenance weekend, and would like to invite the public to come out and meet the crew, ask questions, and help make the Rocketship truly a part of the community.

Weather permitting, the Rocketship crew will be onsite this weekend, December 17th & 18th (as needed), from 10 AM till dark. Work will include a rebuild of the plinth, repair of the Rocket Stop audio system, and a general refresh of the installation.

Some of us from the Black Rock Arts Foundation will be stopping by and we hope you will too!

Introducing the Bay Lights Project

| Filed under Civic Arts Projects


We at the Black Rock Arts Foundation would like to tell you about a new, exciting project that’s in the works, spearheaded by our very own Advisory Board Member Leo Villareal.
Greatly influenced by his first experiences at Burning Man, back in 1994, Leo has created an impressive body of work of large scale, immersive light sculptures. He continues to dazzle us (literally!) with his groundbreaking use of L.E.D. sequencing technology and pioneering methods of using light as an expressive medium. Check out his past projects. Be ready to be wowed!

Leo impresses us with each of his new endeavors, but this one is sure to outshine (literally!) all the others. We’d like to introduce you to his newest proposal: The Bay Lights.

The Bay Lights from Words Pictures Ideas on Vimeo.

The sculpture will be installed and illuminated over the course of the Bay Bridge’s 75th Anniversary. Similar to the ambitious lighting of the Eiffel Tower for its 100th anniversary, The Bay Lights will commemorate the Bay Bridge’s 75th Diamond Anniversary at seven times the scale of the famous Parisian landmark. The installation will live for two years, providing a stunning fine arts experience for the entire Bay Area and its visitors. The 25,000 LED’s will stay in place through the opening of the new East Span in 2013.

Learn more about the project, and about how to support it, at and follow this project on facebook.

Thanks, Leo, for all your past support of BRAF and Burning Man, and for your artistic contributions to our culture!

More About The Bike Bridge

| Filed under Bike Bridge, Civic Arts Projects

The Bike Bridge – Part 1 from ONE ANT RED on Vimeo.The Bike Bridge is a monumental sculptural collaboration between artist Michael Christian and 12 young women from 7 different Oakland schools.The Bike Bridge project is presented by The Black Rock Art Foundation in association with The Crucible.

Black Rock Arts Foundation
The Crucible
Michael ChristianMusic by YACHT
Produced by ONE ANT RED

Please help us finish and install this monumental sculpture in Oakland this spring! Donate to the Black Rock Arts Foundation today!

Donate Now

Cardboardia – A Country Built Out of Cardboard

| Filed under 2011, Grants to Artists Program, News

 
Tomorrow is the big day for us to receive your Letter of Intent to apply for a Black Rock Arts Foundation Grant for your off-playa project. We are looking forward to reading all of them.

We thought you might like to see what one of our prior grant recipients is up to. We found this video to be completely charming, and we hope you do too.


Cardboardia, a country built out of cardboard by Zoomin_UK

El Radio Fantastique at the ARTumnal Gathering this Saturday

| Filed under Artumnal Gathering, Events, News

El Radio Fantastique was inspired by a bizarre family tale of a sinister radio that possessed its listeners, bandleader Giovanni DiMorente approaches his music as if turning the dial, transmitting a vibrant spectrum of musical styles, lost in time, yet timeless. This eight-piece ensemble serves up a dizzying cocktail of beautiful darkness and achingly sublime melodies – called everything from junkyard hymns to cabaret grotesque to gypsy soul to New Orleans second line noir. Their tunes are guaranteed to set your soul flying while your heart breaks and your body shakes.

Come join us at the ARTumnal Gathering and enjoy El Radio Fantastique and a fabulous lineup of entertainers.

Seraphim Dance Theatre at the ARTumnal Gathering

| Filed under News

Seraphim Dance Theatre is a new Music and Dance performance group, summoned from the collaborative ether, featuring a fresh blend of multidimensional visionary performance art, music and story telling. With precision choreography, dynamic visual art, and live symphonic soundscapes, Seraphim focuses on offering original and inspiring art that is the evocation
of revolution and the human spirit.

The Seraphim show features an all original live and electronic music score by David Block of The Human Experience, teaming up with Vocalist Amae Love who provides her insightful lyrics and melodies to a provide a fiercely soulful live performance. Together they weave psychedelic layers of melody and harmony with organic grooves to create a live electronic symphony brimming with human emotion.

We are looking forward to seeing this exciting new show at the ARTumnal Gathering this Saturday night and hope you will be there to see it with us.

Apply for a Grant from the Black Rock Arts Foundation

| Filed under Grants to Artists Program, News
BRAF Grantees Across the YearsThe deadline for applying for a grant from the Black Rock Arts Foundation is fast approaching…

Attention artists! In an effort to streamline our grant application process, the Black Rock Arts Foundation has initiated a new step to our application instructions. To apply for a grant from BRAF, you will now need to submit a Letter of Inquiry (LOI) before submitting a full proposal. If the grant committee feels your project is a potential fit for our grants, you will be invited to submit a full proposal.

This cuts down on the work involved for both you, the grant applicant, and for our grant review committee. You’ll have the chance to give a succinct, one-page overview of your project, and to tell us why you think it’s a good fit for BRAF’s grants program.

Usually, at this time of year, we begin accepting online grant applications. Instead, we’ll accept online LOI’s at this time. Online LOI’s are due December 1, 2011.

To see if your project qualifies for a BRAF grant, and to read our full grant timeline and application instructions, visit BRAF Grant Criteria .

Please contact Josie at BRAF with questions: josie @blackrockarts.org