Join Emerging Arts Professionals / San Francisco Bay Area for Emergence, our day-long annual convening.

Emergence provides a collaborative platform for Bay Area arts and culture workers to connect, share ideas, and elevate their work and voices.

This, our third year, revolves around three overarching themes calling for attention: open systems: talking diversity beyond butts-in-seats, networked approaches: the power of collaboration, and regenerative practices: how individuals and organizations sustain themselves. 

We've reached out to our community to gather thoughts on these topics — thoughts informing the flow of conversation throughout the day. Shaking up the typical conference model, Emergence presents an experience to engage and energize. Learning will unfold in many directions, demanding your input while sparking new ideas.  

From the interactive morning keynote to an afternoon yoga break to the final session — a "fishbowl" exercise to synthesize the day's ideas and lessons — you'll be stimulated and renewed. Reflecting the very themes we'll discuss during the day, sessions are designed to be multi-perspective, participatory, and restorative. As a group, we'll capture emerging ideas to inform our plans for the year ahead while reflecting on and celebrating the work of our outgoing fellows. 

Emergence Schedule

9:30 a.m. Registration and breakfast
10:00 a.m. Collaborative keynote
11:00 a.m. Breakout sessions
Noon Lunch 
1:15 p.m. Breakout sessions
2:15 p.m. Coffee and yoga break!
3:00 p.m. Fishbowl session
4:00 p.m. Reception 

Speakers and Facilitators

Carrie Blanding, former executive director of San Francisco Contemporary Music Players
Clara Hatcher, president & co-founder, Bay Area Emerging Museum Professionals
Maura Lafferty, independent PR consultant
Lex Leifheit, executive director, SOMArts Cultural Center
Frances Phillips, program director, Arts and the Creative Work Fund, Walter and Elise Haas Fund
Julie Potter, program assistant, Community Engagement and Performing Arts, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
Ron Ragin, program officer for the arts, William and Flora Hewlett Foundation
Yesenia Sanchez, coach and consultant
Carl Tashian, co-founder & vice president of engineering, yerdle
Sean Waugh, assistant to the director of artistic administration, SF Opera
Tyese Wortham, program associate, cultural equity grants, San Francisco Arts Commission

Read recaps of Emergence 2012 sessions.