How can we find success in the creative gig economy? What does it take to not only *survive* as freelancers, but actually thrive in our work & communities? Anyone who has dabbled in the freelance world knows how challenging this lifestyle can be and the many obstacles it poses to our financial and personal stability. Frank Nuñez, also known as Vivid KZ, shares their coming-of-profession story and how they got to where they are now, from taking photography class in high school to becoming a full-time photographer for major organizations, events, festivals, and communities in the Bay Area. Layered with hard-hitting truth and some humor, we talk about shitty jobs, navigating the survival aspect to all of this, the importance of your relationships, and how we can really thrive as artists by working together. If you’ve been thinking about taking the leap, or are already in the freelance world but feeling lost, burnt out, or demoralized by it all - don’t worry, we’re there too. This episode is just for you. Special shout out to Us4Us Bay Area & Uncle Damian! 🗣️ Speakers: Frank Nuñez 🎙️ Host: Felicitas Fischer ______________ 🎵 Music Credits: "Bounce" by Coma-Media from Pixabay "Lofi Background" by Ashot Danielyan from Pixabay

Today’s episode explores how to find our artistic communities, in either the virtual or real world. Many artists who create independently, or who’ve just transitioned out of an institution, organization, class or group, often find ourselves seeking a community of creatives to be a part of. Our speakers today, Kevin Flores and Gia Echivarre-Morelli will talk about their experiences as artists of different disciplines and how they’ve found community for themselves, especially in the aftermath of the pandemic. They’ll talk about distinctions between virtual and in-person communities, how to find them, where to look, and how to get involved in a way that makes sense to you. Speakers: Gia Echivarre-Morelli, Kevin Flores Host: Felicitas Fischer ______________ Music Credits: "Bounce" by Coma-Media from Pixabay "Lofi Background" by Ashot Danielyan from Pixabay

A short film by Tara Ani Baghdassarian weaving together fragments of memory, loss, and land. Lines of thought and territory collide in a visual poem of handheld footage from Armenia and the 2020 Artsakh War. On September 27, 2020, Azerbaijani military forces launched a full scale war in the autonomous region of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) with the support of Turkey and Israel. Approximately 90,000 Armenians in Artsakh lost their homes that fall. As of early January 2023, 120,000 remaining residents of Artsakh have been blockaded from the rest of the world by Azerbaijani military posing as “protesting environmentalists” for almost a month. Genocide Watch has condemned Azerbaijan as thousands of families currently face the winter cold and impending famine while all natural gas, food, and medical supplies have been blocked. WORDS FROM THE ARTIST As South African artist William Kentridge stated, “the idea of being an artist is that all the different mediums are open to you in which to explore the world. Which is to say to explore your relationship to the world.” Since the 2020 Artsakh War, my relationship to the world changed drastically. I bore witness to the continued ethnic cleansing of Armenians from their indigenous lands, eastern colonial expansionism (it’s not only the west who colonize), western- backed silence, gaslighting by “enemy” states pumped with anti-Armenian propaganda — all while our collective cries for justice drowned into an abyss of darkness. I had never felt so hopeless in my life. The Lines of Your Face is an attempt to dismantle, process, and recalibrate my perspective toward this planet — a globular map of ever-shifting territory lines. In the process, I revisited footage of mourning families that I couldn’t bear to watch for over two years. Through my art, I hope to engage, educate, and kindle collective healing for Armenians and other oppressed minorities. ___________________________ In dedication to All for Armenia (https://allforarmenia.org/) Film by Tara Ani Baghdassarian

A collection of poems exploring themes of identity, culture, and diaspora through the lens of a mixed-race American. WORDS FROM THE ARTIST One of the most important steps, if not the most important, into making art is to be honest with yourself. I found this to be true when facing every blank page I’ve ever encountered. How I would sit there for hours without creating anything into fruition. But I found that the reason why I would do this was because I wasn’t being honest about my own limitations as an artist and also as a person. My imperfections would eat at me and my insecurities would let me down. Nonetheless, it was this realization that inspired me to write. To admit that imperfections were okay and to truly be myself in the face of an imagined judge gives me the courage to say that which cannot be said, as a mentor once defined poetry to me as. Because where would I be if my ancestors weren’t honest about their own limitations in this country—their limitations of language, of resources, of community? They persisted and what they gave me is a language to describe their lived history as I experienced them and our experiences of this country through poetic language. Poems From a Mestizo will be exactly that: an honest depiction of my upbringing as a Filipino-Mexican American and how this connects to the broader American experience through topics such as food, identity, and culture.

A hybrid exploration of movement, sound, and film capturing the social-political inferno and environmental crisis consuming the Amazon region of Brazil and its Indigenous communities. Concept & Choreography | Felicitas Fischer Director & Editor | Conni McKenzie Sound Design | Jaime Serra dos Santos Commissioned by the University of San Francisco Performing Arts & Social Justice Department for the 20th Anniversary Festival "Breathing Room" Featured in USF's Thacher Art Gallery Fall 2021 Exhibition "All That You Touch"

"Iran, In My Dreams" is a short film aiming to capture Iranian dreams of freedom. Whether small or large, common or particular, the people of Iran all have their own hopes and dreams. However, through years of domination, our visions and aspirations have collected dust. Locked away, no longer considered possible. With the current uprising, many people have found the key to their dreams once again. I want to know what they look like for everyone. I want to capture those dreams; and with the help of talented artists, illustrate them into life. Iranians come in many shapes, forms, and identities. Kurd, Lor, Persian, Jewish, Christian, straight, gay, black, brown, and many more. I want to showcase ALL of us. Not just the majority. I want my participants to allow themselves to dream. Allow themselves limitless inspiration and wonder. What will freedom look like to you? __________________________________ In dedication to The Association of Families of Flight PS752 Victims “On 8 January 2020, Flight PS752 was tragically shot down with two missiles only three minutes after takeoff from Tehran’s IKA airport. After three days of denial and under mounting international pressure, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) finally admitted that the Boeing 737-800 was brought down by its missiles, but the true circumstances of the downing has not since been revealed. This heinous operation claimed the lives of all 176 innocent passengers and crew of the flight.” Learn more at: https://www.ps752justice.com

What do you do when rigidity takes shape? Where does it come from and how do we unlock it? Through a series of improvisational scores, Alex explores these questions in times of uncertainty and constant shift. She uses repetition and movement to provide a gentle reminder of how we can find connection through collective movement and phrases strung together, through repetition of the mundane -- all the while finding a collective force that rebels our own rigidities across body and soul. Presented at the Artists For Justice Showcase 2023 San Francisco Public Library Cover Photo by: Pierre Mariaca

Words From the Artist: "FLOW" explores how we can find and maintain states of flow in our everyday lives and in relation to our environment. This work is inspired by the mystique of natural bodies of water and their ability to move fluidly in both an organized and chaotic manner. A core theme to this work is that balance brings balance, which is fueled by avid curiosity. Humans come into this world in a state of flow, but somewhere along the way our curiosity becomes stifled. We fall into patterns that ultimately exhaust us (and our resources) to the point where balance feels too far to seek, and so we remain stuck in patterns that ultimately prevent us from having flow. When watching this piece, I want audiences to be reminded of their curiosity and the things they desire most in life. Finding moments of momentum is essential to recognizing the power we have to create change, and that the life we desire most is close by even though it may not be in our periphery yet. Being in this state calls for deep intuition, intentionality, and trusting yourself to rest when it is necessary. Through a dance performance accompanied by an audiovisual experience, I hope audiences embody a calming trance-like state that resembles flow. The hope is that viewers can remember this sensation and rekindle that feeling in times of disorganized chaos.