S1: It's time for Midday Edition on KPBS. TwitchCon is happening in San Diego. We'll tell you how you can meet online creators. Then we'll tell you about the Filipino Film Fest and your weekend preview. I'm Jade Hindman with conversations that keep you informed , inspired , and make you think.
S2:
S1: Hear more about TwitchCon and how creators are making money. Plus , we'll explore the Filipino Film Festival through food and tell you everything that's happening in your weekend preview. That's ahead on Midday Edition. So it is Thursday and on midday edition. We like to use this day to cover arts and culture. I mean , we cover everything from dance to classical music to spoken word. But what about the art of Twitch streaming ? For those who don't know , Twitch is a live streaming service where users go to watch gamers and commentators. The people that users watch are called streamers or creators , and while they can earn money from fans , the platform has more than 240 million monthly active users. This week , the world's biggest Twitch creators are coming right here to San Diego for TwitchCon. Joining me now to discuss the details is Mary Kish. She is the head of community at Twitch.
S2: Thanks for having me , Jade.
S1: So glad to have you on. So explain Twitch to me.
S2: But what I like to say is it is a way for people to talk about their hobbies or do their hobbies , and whatever you're seeing is happening live. It's not pre-recorded. It can't be edited. What you're seeing is happening in real time from somewhere , someone in the world.
S1:
S2: So it's all happening live. There is no , we're not we're not showing you something that happened before. It's happening right now. And it's extremely interactive because chat is a huge part of live streaming. So if a streamer is streaming and there's lots of different things you can stream , right ? If you can , if you can imagine it , you can stream it. There's gaming , there's sports commentary , there's musicians. We just started having a lot more DJs on Twitch recently , and chat is usually involved saying , I love that. Like , what else can you tell me more ? They ask questions and the person who's live will interact and answer their questions right then and there.
S1: Oh that's cool. So there's no actual , like , audio interaction. You're not jumping in to a lot.
S3: It's usually through.
S2: A written chat. So I like to think of it as have you ever like , watched TV and you wish that maybe you could comment live and say , oh my gosh , that part of the television show was crazy , right ? Well , that's what Twitch is you're writing. Wow , I loved that. And there's hundreds , sometimes thousands of other people in the chat also reacting and commentating live. And then the streamer will sometimes read what you say out loud and react to it as well.
S1:
S2: When you're on Twitch , you're not just watching someone entertaining you. You're actually a part of the entertainment. You get to be involved. You get to tell them how you feel or how your day is going. Chat will react live when something exciting happens , and a lot of times the person who's streaming will get involved with chat and it will become one giant piece of entertainment. So on Twitch , you're a part of the magic.
S1: Oh that's awesome. So okay , well , let's move on to this big conference. TwitchCon.
S2: San Diego is known for their incredible conventions , and everybody loves talking about it when Comic-Con comes into town. And TwitchCon is really no exception. When TwitchCon comes in , you're going to see some of the most prolific high energy streamers. These people have large followings. They are incredibly gregarious and interesting and entertaining , and they will be walking around the convention. They get to meet their fans during meet and greets , and also streamers get to learn tips and tricks of how to improve their streams or grow their They're following , and there's lots of entertainment for everyone , like giant stages where we'll have streamers compete head to head in a rivals tournament , or be on the glitch stage and do like a fun art show or something that I always love. Our amazing drag show where we just have incredible drag performers entertaining the audiences live , and a lot of it is also streamed on Twitch. So if you're here in San Diego , you can join. But if you're not , you can always just watch online.
S1: And now TwitchCon , as you said , you know , it's coming to San Diego from Las Vegas. And I hear TwitchCon is planning to actually stay here through 2028. Is that.
S3: Right ? Yeah.
S2: I'm really excited to announce that while we actually have had TwitchCon in San Diego before , we are returning fan favorites. We just really enjoy this city and the streamers and viewers alike really enjoy the weather , the environment , the San Diego Zoo , the burritos. So we've actually made a promise that we're going to stay for the next five years. So that way creators can plan ahead and basically like get all their plans in order so they know they can be here for the next five years.
S1: Yeah , well , you're a streamer yourself and you play indie and horror games.
S2: I do work here , but I also stream and I really like to stream a combination of indie games. So smaller , independent made games that are often made by small teams of like 20 people. And I also like to stream scary games , which is just a really fun , interactive thing for me in my community. I like to describe my space as warm and welcoming for all people , and you never know if you're going to just have a fun little unique , strange game adventure , or if we're going to scare pansies off with in with a horror game. And that's really fun to. I play a lot of classic horror games that were created in sometimes , like the early 90s , which is a wild experience , and it's really fun to play like an old game with , with people who used to play that game. Nostalgia is very popular on Twitch.
S1: Well , okay , now I want to know what the horror games are. Okay.
S2: Okay. Yeah.
S3: Like , what's the favorite one ? I mean.
S2: A lot of old games that I just adore are games like Resident Evil , which I played the entire series on their original consoles. Silent Hill , which is a classic and beloved horror game , um , and the modern games that a lot of the kids play right now are games like Five Nights at Freddy's , which actually had a movie recently , where there's a security guard that has to avoid all of the creatures that come to life at night and dead by daylight , which is this really wild experience where it's 5V1 , there's five people all playing , and they're trying to avoid one killer who's coming after them. Scary stuff for sure.
S1: All right , well , uh , onto some stuff that that is really scary. Um , I mean , there's there's also , like this push right , to make Twitch safer for female streamers and community members. There's even a panel about that at TwitchCon. Why is that so important ? Talk about what's happening there. Yeah.
S2: Yeah. I mean , as a woman in the gaming industry and online , it's super important to keep our spaces safe for all. Our enforcement policies and everything we do for trust and safety are built to keep streamers and the community safe. That's what we do every , every day. And that work is never done. It's just improving every , every day. So when we're talking about online safety , we're talking about ensuring that women in all marginalized communities can feel that they have a place to be themselves , unapologetically , without worry for harassment of people online. It's difficult to do. Anyone who's been on the internet can tell you there's tough people out there , but we like to combat harassment , and we also like to champion and support , um , underrepresented voices every day. And we do that through lots of different things. One of them is is we've recently launched Twitch Guilds , which is a community for women who can meet other women who like to stream , and they get to empower each other through Twitch spaces. And these are all supported by Twitch. So we have discord servers and we have monthly events. And of course a big celebration during Women's History Month in March. We also have guilds for Latin and Hispanic creators , our black community , and we just launched one for our LGBTQIA community called our Pride Guild.
S3: Oh wow.
S1:
S3: Question.
S2: Question. We do not allow users under 13. I do think that we absolutely support young audiences , and I think that we actually , like are very young audiences are very driven towards Twitch , but it's also important that safety is first , and that's why we have a limit of age to have a username on Twitch that is very important to us in TwitchCon also has the same thing. You need to be an adult , or you need to have an adult with you so that we ensure that everybody is safe when they're attending.
S1: Now to the million dollar question , literally and figuratively , how does a streamer get to the point where they start making money off Twitch ? Like , is that relatively easy to do ? Or , you know , I'm asking for. $1.
S3: $1.
S2: Million question. It's a literal million dollar question. How do you make that money ? Um , you can make money pretty easily on Twitch. You're going to need to start going live. And that's the very first thing I always say to people is I actually say , don't go live literally to make money. You should go live because you enjoy it , right ? Like if you want to go live playing piano , well , then you really should enjoy playing piano. That should be your first motivation. Once you do that and you go live a certain amount of times , you can actually achieve what we call affiliate status and affiliate status allows you to monetize your channel. There's lots of ways you can monetize on Twitch. Biggest and number one way is subscribers. When you watch someone on on Twitch and you like them and you enjoy their work , you can easily support them by hitting the subscribe button and the streamer makes money when you do that. Um , you can also just play ads. When I'm live , I'm live for three hours. That's how long I usually go live. People go live for a long time and so you need to take breaks. You need to go get a glass of water. And when you do that , you can play ads. And the ads also pay the streamer. It's actually relatively simple. It starts small and it builds over time. And it's really incredible to watch streamers go from hobbyists or someone who's basically , like streaming in the evenings on their free time to someone who's finally says , hey , I'm going full time. I just quit my job and I'm going to be a streamer full time because of my community. And then people who are like , hey , I just bought a car , or I bought a house , and it's all because of my community. It's extraordinary. The power that can come from streaming something that you love with other people. And it turns out that when you build a community , they want to support you and they want to support your work , and they will do that. And it's , uh , it all happens on Twitch.
S1:
S2: But what I can say is that any time a creator is running an ad , if they are involved in our affiliate or our partner program , they're getting paid for that ad. So they are getting paid every time ads are being watched , which is also a really nice dynamic and relationship , because sometimes when you're watching an ad , you're like , oh , this is like , you know who nobody like loves watching ads , but if you're watching ads and you know that that is going to actually support the creator , you're more open to watching the ad. Mhm.
S3: All right.
S1: Very interesting.
S2: You're going to meet someone that you saw in chat for the first time ever. You're going to meet your favorite creator at the meet and greets. You might stop by the rivals arena and watch your favorite creators combat each other and try and win for success and a really cool game. Or you might meet your mod for the first time. The magic of TwitchCon is that you just get to see people that you actually see every day online , and you get to see them in person , and you get to see how amazing they are. And it's kind of incredible to have an experience where people who you usually see just their username and you get to have lunch with them or give them a big hug. So I like to think of TwitchCon as a big hug , because you're actually seeing people that you know quite well , but you're seeing them in person for the first time.
S1: A big reunion. All right. I've been speaking with Mary Kish , head of community at Twitch. Mary , thank you very much.
S2: Jade , thank you for having me on.
S1: Coming up , food and film go hand in hand at the San Diego Filipino Film Festival. Get your appetite ready as we speak to festival co-founder Benito Bautista and chef Phillip Esteban.
S4: Food is very important for us because we share stories when we eat during dinner. So for us , food is a cultural representation.
S3: Hear more when.
S1: KPBS Midday Edition returns. Welcome back to KPBS Midday Edition. I'm Jade Hindman , KPBS arts reporter Beth Accomando wants to whet your appetite for the upcoming San Diego Filipino Film Festival , so she decided to interview co-founder Benito Bautista over a meal at White Rice Bodega. Joining them was chef Phillip Esteban. Because food , storytelling , and Filipino culture are all intimately intertwined and a warning you may not want to listen on an empty stomach , Bonita.
S5: Tell us a little bit about why food is important to a film festival.
S4: We've been in partnership with White Rice with Sheffield since day one. You know , since we started the San Diego Filipino Film Festival. And food is very important for us because we share stories when we eat during dinner. So our cultural representation in especially in cinema and stories and , and crafting things , you know , actually started when we were at home being curious about the food and everything. So for us , food is a cultural representation.
S6: A great thing too , is that in Filipino culture. No matter what the gathering or event is , there is always food. It's just part of the culture. And so I kind of found , I guess , my voice or my craft is is in food. And I could share as even as a chef , as a chef , as a storyteller was my way to tell my story. And my history is through food.
S5:
S6: So we have a vinegar dip and then kind of a sweet chili dip. And then this is our famous ube panicle. What makes it different is again from culinary background , it is actually more of a kind of like a brioche style so heavy on the butter in terms of the incorporation into it. So it's the pull apart that everyone loves , but it has just the nice fluffy kind of more brioche. So ours is more just fluffy , airy , and it just kind of shreds as you pull it. And then the ube butter as well.
S7:
S6: Uh , this one is the lechon cavalli underneath. So all slugs have the garlic rice on the bottom with the fried egg. And then this is the juicy pork belly with the crispy skin on top. So it has kind of like that juiciness and then the crunch on the outside , a traditional sauce which is called Mang Tomas. It is a liver based sauce a little bit sweet , but it's kind of a everything sauce. You can kind of put on whatever you like , but I personally like it on the lechon cavalli. Some of our dishes come with HRA , which is a Filipino like pickle. Um , one of those favorites is the pork adobo. Yeah. Uh , garlic rice braised pork shoulder again. Like , I love the pork version because it has like the nice like , little fat cap. So adds like a lot more flavor into it. And a lot of people think even just adobo double as well. Is chicken a double ? But technically there's 152 ways to make a double. But everyone thinks the classic soy with vinegar sometimes coconut milk , which we do. But there are just so many different areas and so many different regions that make them in so many different styles.
S4: Yeah , and the Philippines , because it's , you know , 7100 islands , it's separated by regions.
S6: But there's no right or wrong way. We talk about the authenticity versus traditional right. And yes , there is the traditional and there are your mom and pop restaurants that you could go to and get your traditional sense. And then you have the next generation that's cooking Filipino food. People say , is it authentic enough if it's made by a Filipino or someone that has trained or learned with and spent time with someone to learn it , then isn't it by fault ? Authentic and traditional in that sense ? Because I'm full Filipino ? Yes. born in America. But like , if you're trying the flavors , it's still adobo. It's just presented in a new way. So for us , for Filipino food , white rice , it's our vessel to kind of share our culture and our food.
S5:
S4: It was my storytelling from my family. They're storytellers , but they're doctors. My granddad is an engineer. My my family , they're all doctors. My brother is a diplomat. But we love stories. And so we I grew up with storytelling , but I deviated from healthcare and other profession , and I moved into arts in cinema. And so because of that , I work in the American film industry. I started creating my own films , and then when I met Emma , she became my film partner. Am I an award winning film producer and also the co-founder of San Diego Filipino Cinema ? And because of the films we've created , we've traveled the world and we've learned about the impact of dialogue , impact of sharing stories. And we realized when we came to San Diego , we are in partnership with the San Diego Asian Film Festival , but we believe that as Filipino artists , as storytellers , we have so much to give. In the Philippines alone , we create 1000 films per year. In the United United States alone. The younger generations are coming up , and they're the more they see us as storytellers , the more they want to be storytellers as well. And so we decided to create the San Diego Filipino Film Festival. The first year was an exploration. Because I'm a filmmaker , it's I always respect and honor the films that I'm going to show. If you're showing my film , I want it to be the best theater , best sound , best projection , best , you know , blood. So that's very important to me. It's honoring the craft. And so that's part of the exploration. I need to see if I can partner with a serious cinema that can really present our global films in a way that I want my film to be presented. I wanted to see if if that area is representational of our community and also the diverse community. Okay. If I let's say I show it in La Jolla , is that representation of our community ? Well , our Filipino community might go , but it might be. It might not be in droves. You know , it might not be because that's not the hub. Right. And so our first exploration was at a ranch. We had a good attendance , but it was not enough. I wanted to grow it more. So we looked at the hub , which is the national city. Oh my God. National city.
S6: I mean , that's where everyone.
S4: Everyone pulled up. It was crazy. And not only that , there are some people that bought tickets from from the the film festival registry , but there were people actually just roaming around in Westfield and they looked at the sign and they go , hey , wait , what's going on here ? Filipino film festival , where can I buy ? And they bought tickets right there. That's what that was part of the really successful exploration of community engagement. And it started growing and growing. And last year we became the largest in the US and North America. So if you if you think about it , the history of the Filipinos in San Diego , the Filipinos are the largest Asian ethnicity population in San Diego. And so the history of the Filipinos here came from two industries the military and health care. So we are of the rebel , you know , generation to say.
S6: Yeah , right. Yeah. Right. Because you we resisted , we had to do the safe job. Right. Mhm. Um , take care of your family , you know. Uh , because I think they couldn't coming here and understanding American culture and society. I think being able to express it in a certain way to , to our parents , it was just like you need to make good money. But what they really meant is that they want you to be taken care of. You know , they came here for a dream , to offer a different life. And they want you to be secure. Join the military , become a nurse or doctor engineer , you know , and there's nothing wrong with that , you know ? But you see a lot more Filipinos , especially this second generation and third generation. More in the creative spaces.
S4: And so now when we get an opportunity to now tell them that we do more beyond the healthcare and being in the military and we have more things to come. You know , we have food , we have art with sports , we have cinema. We have all kinds of we have fashion , we have music. Oh my God , watch out. Maybe we should move outside.
S8: To you guys. Have your space. Oh yeah. Yeah.
S9: Oh I'm gonna get my stuff. Mhm.
S4: This year we're launching the first in the US the Philippine San Diego , Philippine uh film trade fair. So what it is it's actually an expo of artists and content providers , content licensing and distribution , animators , filmmakers and and service Providers in the film industry and content and media industry , and it's in conjunction with the San Diego Filipino Film Festival. So on one day , October 5th , um , 2024 , we will not show a single film , but we will now concentrate on the on exposing service providers that are Filipino , uh , heritage that are , you know , uh , contributing to the film industry content and everything. And it's supported by the Department of Trade and Industry of the Philippines. You're going to see moderated panel discussion and presentations from , uh , film distributors , uh , content and licensing and distribution. If you're a filmmaker here anywhere in the , in the United States , and you feel like I want to make a film in the Philippines somewhere in the islands , then this is , you know , this is your opportunity to sit down and learn And figure out , okay , maybe I want to collaborate and then you can sit down and and talk to them. Right. We also created a breakout room. This is a quiet room where you can transact business to business transactions that are if you're serious about creating something somewhere in , you know , and then we have the top Filipino-American animators that will be part of the moderated panel discussion in the realm of animation. You know , it's like Comic-Con of , uh , of of Filipino creatives in film. We don't know what will be the effect and the result of all the things that we do , but somehow it seems it's it's beginning to look like it's positive. Right. And so we will continue doing it. We're in cinema and Sheffield is an adventure and cuisine and being a rock star. So you know. So.
S5: Did you say you already had your opening night film kicked ? Can you reveal it or are you. Yes.
S4: Yes. Okay. Yeah. The opening night is. Where will this all end ? That's a beautiful film by director Kevin Mayorga. You know , in the Philippines , it's about a group of younger generation in the Philippines all cooped up in a building during Covid , and they wanted to somehow engage in a party. That's all I can say. Yeah. And the closing film is it's an award winning film by director Pepe Diokno. It's a film. It's a story , which is a contradicting of what we already know , because in the Philippines we were colonized by the the Spanish and they used Christianity to colonize us. Right. And so because of that , we're given the opportunity to become seminarians and priests. Priest. There are three priests. They started the rebellion for independence. So A is a is a catalyst. They're the catalyst for the for. Jose Rizal for Andres Bonifacio. And what's what's contradiction ? What's really nice about it is that they became the Christians and the love that actually started the rebellion against who started , you know. Yeah. Bringing us the. Yeah , Catholicism and Christianity and everything like that. Yeah. Beth , thank you so much.
S6: Thanks for coming out.
S1: That was Beth Accomando speaking with San Diego Filipino Film Festival co-founder Benito Bautista and chef Philip Esteban of White Rice Bodega. The San Diego Filipino Film Festival kicks off October 1st at AMC Plaza Bonita and runs through October 6th. Still ahead. We explore art and disabilities and your weekend preview.
S10: Health issues intervene in life and art , and sometimes prompt geographical changes , but also transform artists you know , relationship to their process , to their subject matter , and and often to their politics.
S1: KPBS Midday Edition returns after the break. Welcome back to KPBS Midday Edition. I'm your host , Jade Hindman , for the weekend arts preview. We're exploring disability in art through a new exhibit. Plus , we'll tell you where you can hear the vocals of Grammy winning jazz singer Samara Joy. Then we'll tell you about San Diego Design Week and where you can find lots of live music. We're starting things off , though , with the Visual Arts Spotlight from our new KPBS Fall Arts Guide. The Museum of Contemporary Art , San Diego will open for Dear life , Art , medicine and disability. Today , it's the first major exhibit to explore themes of illness and impairment in American art history. The show starts with the disability rights era in the 1960s , then moves on through the 20 tens right up until the onset of the Covid 19 pandemic. The museum's Jill Dorsey co-curated the exhibit , and she recently sat down with KPBS arts reporter Julia Dickson Evans. Here's their conversation.
S11: Jill , this is an exhibit about art , medicine and disability. Where does San Diego fit into this ? Well , first.
S10: I'd like to say , you know , this exhibition is part of the Getty Start Art and Science Collide initiative , which is this kind of umbrella theme. Art and Science Collide that's taking place at museums across Southern California. So from the inception of this exhibition , we were thinking about our place here in San Diego. We were thinking about how this city is , you know , a hub of biotech and medical research. We were thinking about Tijuana as a hub of , you know , the medical tourism industry. You know , this is really the backdrop for the exhibition in many ways. I would say also that one of the threads in the exhibition is this idea of artists moving westward for better health. On a personal note , my my own grandfather moved here from the south to San Diego because of a couple different health conditions. You know , one of which I inherited. So , you know , as a , as a third generation San Diegan , the fact that I'm even here was motivated by , by health conditions. So this exhibition for Dear Life focuses on the way that health issues intervene in life and art and sometimes prompt geographical changes , but also transform artists , you know , relationship to their process , to their subject matter , and and often to their politics.
S11: I want to talk more about these artists and what it means for them to have been making art about disability. What was at stake for them and what is at stake.
S10: So one thing to say is that in working with artists who have disabilities , even as a curator myself , who has a disability , disability poses a challenge to kind of the the usual rubrics by which museums often operate , right , and the pace of contemporary life. So we had to think about , you know , slowing down and planning far ahead , you know , so there's in some ways these kind of structural issues and , and even , you know , I and my co-curator , Isabel Picasso tried to work collaboratively and to develop relationships with these artists. But I think one thing I also would want to say is that there is a challenge in a project like this one that seems to emphasize identity and biography , which can be reductive lenses onto artworks that are multifaceted , just like people are , and all of us exceed or sometimes are misaligned with the labels that are placed on us. So I think many queer and disabled people resist disclosing their identities. Even , you know , many artists in our exhibition don't specifically name what kind of disability they have. It's really not so much about autobiography , even as it is about the personal , but we don't really want to mythologize individual artists biographies or , as it often happens in popular culture , talk about artists who have overcome their conditions or triumphed over them. And I'm putting overcome and triumphed in scare quotes. Instead , in the show , we really try to illuminate friendships and networks and , you know , there are artists in the exhibition who do not identify as disabled or as ill , but also to say that one thing we hope the exhibition will do is to help everyone identify with the work that these artists are making.
S11: You worked with an advisory committee for this , for curating this exhibit , working with living artists who are local as well as educators and curators.
S10: And so we wanted to gather a group of Um , local artists and art workers who are living with disabilities or are caregivers to disabled family members to offer feedback on the exhibition , the ideas and also , you know , the physical space of the exhibition itself and how people can navigate the exhibition. You know , and I think we recognize that for many people with disabilities or chronic illnesses , museums often feel like exclusionary spaces. And our museum with this show really wants to welcome the the broadest possible audience and meet everyone's needs if possible. So we worked with Elizabeth Rutledge , a local writer and art historian and curator and artist , Bhavna Mehta , artist Akiko Sarai , artist Tatiana Ortiz Torres , and the scholar activist Alexia Aranya , And also the art historian curator Amanda Kasha. So for me , one of the most important things to have emerged from this show is this community around art and disability here in San Diego. You know , it's it's really important , I think , to position disability in relationship to a public culture because it's something that's so often used to be kept in the private sphere. It was seen as a as a private concern. I mean , you and I have talked about even just the vulnerability of me talking here about these issues in this public context. But I think it's it's really important to look at community and to think about the ways that we are all interdependent and rely on one another.
S11:
S10: And it's helped me to reposition my own work as a curator , as someone who is advocating for expanded access offerings in museums such as my own , and to be able to speak about these issues. You know , for years I did not you know , there's always I think the stigma around disability is is so strong that , you know , I was even nervous about speaking to you today. And yet , you know , I think of this quote by the artist David Voinovich. He said each public disclosure of private reality becomes something of a magnet that can attract others with a similar frame of reference. And so I hold on to that because I think , you know , this show has helped me to think more collaboratively , to remember that none of us do anything alone. Our labor is dependent on the labor of others , and an exhibition is something that comes together through the labor of many people. I didn't organize this exhibition on my own. So it's it's very much a team effort , and I think it has has helped to , you know , it's it's kind of that old feminist saying of the personal is political , but it really is. And I know that there are so many others. 1 in 4 Americans identifies as having a disability. And so it is such a prevalent experience in in our culture , and it's one that isn't talked about enough. And so I hope in our exhibition we position it as something beautiful and generative and sometimes challenging and as a space of of creativity.
S1: That was Jill Dorsey. She's senior curator for the Museum of Contemporary Art , San Diego and co-curator of For Dear Life , speaking with KPBS. Julia Dixon Evans and Julia joins me now. Hello , Julia.
S11: Hey , Jade. Thanks for having me.
S1: So glad you're here. So in addition to talking to the curator , you also just got a sneak peek of the exhibit.
S11: For one , it is a really huge spanning exhibit , and one of the things that kept springing to mind to me is that this is significant beyond the art or beyond , like the aesthetics or the values of each piece of art. It just felt like this really significant time capsule of the way disability and really access has bubbled to the surface in history and all these little transformative moments along the way , like the 60s and 70s , where we have the activism and the disability rights movement and moving into the HIV Aids epidemic , and then also the way the dialogue changed towards disability justice. Um , so , yeah , even if you don't usually think of yourself as a contemporary art person , this whole exhibit is fascinating from a history , from a sociology standpoint. And the other thing that I kept thinking about is the access. Like , it's not just the fact that there are all of these extra chairs and benches to , to sit down and , and rest in. But the idea that disability is inclusive in this exhibit , And one of the things that Darcy said to me was that the thing we all have in common is our bodily vulnerability. So according to recent statistics from the CDC , 1 in 4 Americans identify as disabled and to not be disabled is this temporary condition. And so that was really top of mind for me throughout walking through this exhibit. There's also really beautiful art. There's sculpture. There's a lot of video works which are really fascinating and some assemblage work. Um , my favorite is this painting , a huge seven panel set of paintings by Juanita McNeely. This was from 1977 , and we have a photo of that on our website. It's really incredible. Another piece is that more of a conceptual sculptures by the American artist Park MacArthur called Blue Snowflake Commode. And one of the things that Jill Dorsey told me was that she saw a picture of the sculpture right after her own diagnosis with disability. It's a set of torn pajama pants , and they're hanging from a steel stand that's kind of like a hospital IV stand. And it's meant to represent the way that the artist's caregivers have to help her into and out of her pajamas each night. And the way that those pajamas go get worn down. And yeah , that's just one of the big themes , care and community and these ideas of depending on other people. And that's where the exhibition title comes from as well. Hold on for dear life.
S3: Yeah , so thought provoking.
S1: Also today the museum is free to the public and open late. What do we know about that ? Yes.
S11: So they're open until 8 p.m. today and it's free for everyone. They have a tour like a general tour of the exhibit at 5 p.m. , and there's also a double film screening of a couple of works that are relevant to the exhibit. That starts at 5:00. Um , if you can't make it today , but you do want to mark your calendars for the next free admission day. That will be October 13th. That's their free second Sunday and family friendly day. And then the whole exhibit is on view through February.
S1: And you're listening to KPBS Midday Edition. I'm Jade Hindman here with Julia Dixon Evans. We are running down the weekend preview arts calendar. Let's talk about some more art and culture happening around town this weekend. San Diego Design Week starts this weekend , and this year it coincides with the 2024 World Design Capital designation for the San Diego Tijuana region.
S11: It's called World Design Experience powered by San Diego Design Week. So yeah , really this this nod to the World Design capital. Um , it is a packed week of tours. There's exhibits and workshops , panels , and even some performances that are all centered on design and the theme of belonging , and kind of how designers of all types can create a sense of belonging through design , whether that's , um , you know , planning or art or graphic design or anything like that. And on the Design Week website , you can search all of the events that they have this week by type of event or by theme , like sustainability or planning or health or even arts and culture. And we'll talk about a couple of those arts and culture events. A couple on my radar. There's the Africa Vibes Festival that's on Saturday evening at UC San Diego Park in Market. They have a textile art exhibit , a fashion show. There is a culinary experience and live music. And then on Sunday , our very own port of entry podcasts is doing a live I've taping and kind of a behind the scenes event that's here at our station on Sunday at 2:00. They'll be interviewing artist Charles Roberts and actor and screenwriter Giancarlo Ruiz. And plus you get a tour of KPBS.
S1: All right , well , here's one more event that was featured in the Fall Arts Guide. A Grammy winning jazz singer coming to Escondido.
S11: Yeah , this is Samara Joy , and she will perform at California's Center for the Arts , Escondido on Sunday. And she has a new album coming out this fall , but she has just released a single. It's a really great version of the song. You stepped out of a.
UU: Dream like yours.
S12:
S11: And her arrangement is really rhythmic and just kind of mesmerizing. She is young , she's just 24 years old , and she already has three Grammys. so she is really impressive to listen to. And her her vocals and her music is really wonderful.
S1: I just love that. All right. You can find details on these in our KPBS Fall Arts Guide. That's at pbs.org. Small Arts Guide , and you can also sign up for Julia's weekly KPBS Arts newsletter to keep you in the know. All year long , I've been speaking with KPBS Arts reporter Julia Dixon Evans. Julia , as always , thank you.
S11: Thank you. Jade.
S1: That's our show for today. I'm your host , Jade Hindman. Thanks for tuning in to Midday Edition. Be sure to have a great day on purpose , everyone.
