FROM KSW STAFF

Greetings friends and family

As you all know the spread of COVID-19 has greatly impacted our communities and organizations such as our own have been working diligently to respond appropriately to new information as it comes in. Following the suggestions of the San Francisco Department of Public Health we are taking the necessary steps to encourage social distancing as a means to help curb the spread of the virus. 

Updates on our upcoming events:

baysia: Asian American Culture Rising (co-presentation with Balay Kreative): All events scheduled between 3/19/20-3/28/20 have been postponed including the exhibition featuring artwork by Erina Alejo and KSW archival works, daily pop-up dinners, Opening Reception, Locus of Control, KSW Presents, and Closing Reception

Celebrate Your Body: originally scheduled 4/25/20, will be postponed to 6/20/20

All events scheduled in May and beyond including KSW Presents, Interdisciplinary Writers Lab, and APAture are still on track but we will continue to monitor the situation as it develops. For now, IWL submissions are still open and we will be reviewing them after the deadline on 3/29.

This is not an easy time for any of us. The disruption to our lives and the effects of this virus on our most vulnerable populations is certainly deserving of our concerns, but we ask people to understand that we don’t take these actions as a community because of fear or panic, but because it is an act of love and caring for each other. 

So many artists and organizers in our community have put in months of hard work in the hopes of celebrating and sharing their exhibitions, book releases, panels, and performances during this time and we encourage everyone to support these artists in other ways: buy their books, share their work online (and credit them!), amongst other things. We are a creative community, so how can we continue to support each other in different ways?

We also ask that people understand that these restrictions we find ourselves grappling with are dealt with, everyday, by the disabled members of our community and it is past time we reconcile with how we approach accessibility as event organizers in the city. This is a time of thought and reflection and a fear we should consider is that after dealing with this, we just go back to where we were without having learned, without having changed.

We hope you all are staying healthy, taking good care of yourselves and your loved ones, and navigating these weeks with patience, care, and community.

If you have any questions or concerns, please email us at info@kearnystreet.org

in solidarity,

KSW Staff