SFMOMA BOASTS RECORD NUMBERS FOR FRIDA KAHLO

The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) is proud to announce its record-breaking success with the three-month Frida Kahlo exhibition, which closed on September 28, 2008. Attendance during the show was the museum’s highest ever, totaling 412,244—an average of 4,530 visitors per day. The record was previously held by the 2003 Marc Chagall exhibition, which brought a total of 363,641 to SFMOMA.

The popularity of SFMOMA’s presentation of the exhibition also exceeded that of its two previous stops in the United States combined: 115,405 visitors attended Frida Kahlo at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis (October 27, 2007 through January 20, 2008), and 194,322 people viewed the exhibition at the Philadelphia Museum of Art (February 20 through May 18, 2008).

SFMOMA broke another significant record as a result of the exhibition: 22 percent of visitors to Frida Kahlo were from the Latino community. As it has long been an objective of the museum to create and bolster long-term relationships with Latino visitors, SFMOMA considers this new record to be a highly significant achievement.

SFMOMA wishes to acknowledge Contemporánea for their role in our outreach efforts to the Latino community.

IMAGE: Frida Kahlo, Self-Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird (Autorretrato con collar de espinas y colibrí), 1940; oil on canvas; 24-5/8 x 18-7/8 inches; Nikolas Muray Collection, Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, The University of Texas at Austin; © 2007 Banco de México, Trustee of the Diego Rivera & Frida Kahlo Museums Trust. Av. Cinco de Mayo No. 2, Col. Centro, Del. Cuauhtémoc 06059, México, D.F.

THE SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY PERFORMS ITS FIRST EVER DÍA DE LOS MUERTOS FAMILY CONCERT ON SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 2 AT 2:00 P.M. IN DAVIES SYMPHONY HALL

The Day of the Dead Family Concert Features Conductor Enrique Arturo Diemecke, Violinist Danielle Belen Nesmith and Bandoneon Player Peter Soave, and Includes Lobby Festivities
On Sunday, November 2 at 2:00 p.m., the San Francisco Symphony (SFS) celebrates Mexican music and culture in its inaugural Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) Family Concert, conducted by Enrique Arturo Diemecke with violinist Danielle Belen Nesmith and Peter Soave on bandoneón. This matinee program designed for the entire family features works by Moncayo, Revueltas, Piazzolla, Buxtehude, Ravel, Gamboa and Copland, and will include a number of pre-concert festivities in the lobby of Davies Symphony Hall, presented in partnership with the Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts. For this inaugural Día de los Muertos Family Concert, the SFS will offer a 50% discount on tickets for children under the age of 17. The presenting sponsor of the Día de los Muertos Family Concert is Bank of America.


Born in Mexico, conductor Enrique Arturo Diemecke is in his third season as Music Director of the Buenos Aires Philharmonic of the famed Teatro Colón, his eighth season as Music Director of the Long Beach Symphony and his nineteenth season as Music Director of the Flint Symphony Orchestra. Following 20 years at the helm of the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de México, Maestro Diemecke returned to opera in 2007-08, leading a new production of Massenet’s Werther at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires. His performances of Massenet’s Le Jongleur de Notre Dame with tenor Roberto Alagna were recorded by Deutsche Grammophon. Recent guest appearances include performances with the Pacific Symphony, the Residentie Orkest in The Hague, and The Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra in Caracas.

Violinist Danielle Belen Nesmith, is the 2008 Senior Division winner of the Sphinx Competition presented by Chase. Ms. Nesmith is a California native, a recent graduate of the USC Thornton School of Music, where she completed her Bachelor of Music Degree as a student of Robert Lipsett. She continues her studies with Mr. Lipsett at the Colburn Conservatory of Music. As the 1st Place Senior Division Winner of the 2008 Sphinx Competition Danielle represents the organization in solo performances with major orchestras this year including the Pittsburgh Symphony, Boston Pops, and Florida Orchestra. Ms. Nesmith is currently Assistant Concertmaster of New West Symphony and Concertmaster of the Colburn Conservatory Orchestra.



TICKETS: $15-$57. Children under age 17 half price. Available through the SFS Box Office at (415) 864-6000, or at sfsymphony.org.

2008 National Association for Latino Community Asset Builders National Conference

San Francisco, CA. –National Association for Latino Community Asset Builders (NALCAB) had a Town Hall Meeting on Friday, September 5, 2008.
NALCAB was hosting this public town hall event to shine an analytical light on predatory lending, check cashing and payday lending as well as to promote policy solutions that help to create healthy financial markets that truly serve the needs of middle and low-income people. The discussion was led by Hon. Linda Sánchez, US Congresswoman 39th District in California, San Francisco Treasurer, Hon. Jose Cisneros, and the Chair of NALCAB’s Board of Directors, Ms. Beatriz Stotzer.

NALCAB – the National Association for Latino Community Asset Builders – represents and serves a geographically and ethnically diverse group of Latino-led asset building organizations from across the United States. NALCAB’s mission is to build financial and real estate assets as well as human and technology resources in Latino families, communities and organizations. NALCAB’s members revitalize Latino communities by developing affordable housing, implementing neighborhood economic development strategies, and by providing consumer counseling as well as wealth-building products and services.
For more information visit: http://www.nalcab.org/