I joined SECA because the program falls directly in line with what makes me passionate about my career as a Bay Area arts administrator and curator. I appreciate that SECA gives local artists an opportunity to have an exhibition at SFMOMA, and that it gives its members access to art, artists, and art making in the emerging arts community.
Participating in the studio visits is certainly a highlight of being a member. SECA offers a level of access to artists and art spaces that you would not have otherwise. I would encourage others to join now and really engage in this new, beautiful, internationally renowned museum.
SECA hosted its last holiday party at Fort Mason, where Janet Cardiff’s audio installation The Forty Part Motet (2015) was on exhibit. I attended the party with my daughter, who was barely one month old at the time. Walking her through the installation with all of my SECA peers made it a very special event.
That’s difficult to answer, but if I really had to choose, it was viscerally moving to see Shirin Neshat’s film Passage (2001). I saw that for the first time at documenta with my mother, and it has influenced me for the last decade.
The depth and breadth of the Bay Area arts communities never ceases to challenge and excite me. I have been an active part of this community since 2001, and in those years I have seen artists, art spaces, galleries, museums, and schools create artwork and programming that responds to major cultural events, and that gives voice to people and movements I would not have known about otherwise. The Bay Area art scene is my touchstone—the place I go to both find and make meaning.