Edge on the Square to host 2nd annual Chinatown-wide Contemporary Art Festival on September 30

(SAN FRANCISCO) Edge on the Square announced its second annual Contemporary Arts Festival to be held on the upcoming Saturday, September 30, to showcase over 20 local artists' work and celebrate the enduring radiance of the San Francisco Chinatown at multiple locations.

Edge on the Square, a collective Asian modern art center established in 2021 with state funds to secure its permanent home at 800 Grant Avenue in San Francisco Chinatown, held its first Contemporary Arts Festival in 2022.

The festival is coming back for the second year on Saturday, September 30 from 5 pm to 10 pm, at a number of the venues in Chinatown, including the Edge on the Square, Willie Woo Woo Wong Clubhouse on Sacramento Street, Joice Alley, Ross Alley, and Wentworth Place.

Over 20 artists will participate in the Contemporary Arts Festival this year. The performances and artwork presentation include drum and lion dances, youth dance, Chinatown Records party, comedic performance, poster mini parade, radio show party, bread project, and Asian American panel discussion.

The theme of this year's festival is "Under the Same Sun". Macro Waves' Collective Futures is one of the theme projects in the upcoming festival.

Macro Waves' artists, Robin Birdd David, Dominic Cheng, and Jeffrey Yip, attended a press event to share more ideas with the media of their collective artwork, Collective Futures, which would provide an opportunity for the visitors to lie down and meditate for healing in the Edge of the Square's exhibition hall.

"Macro Waves dives deeper into the practice of care through their latest project, Collective Futures, a multimedia art experience that focuses on the act of re-gathering, the point of re-entry, and the process of collective transformation," Edge of the Square stated in its website to introduce the project.

"In response to our collective experiences navigating the ongoing global pandemic, Macro Waves reimagines a future that centers healing through community care. As we have re-emerged from shelter-in-place, back to the hustle of in-person life, how do we pause and re-gather what we have collectively experienced? The notion of collective care has been practiced by non-western communities for generations before self-care found its way into American culture," Edge of the Square wrote.

The second annual Contemporary Art Festival is led by the Edge of the Square’s newly-appointed Executive Director Joanne Lee who joined the team in August.

Lee served as the Deputy Director of Programs at San Francisco Arts Commission before the appointment by the Edge of the Square. Lee also served at Chinatown Community Development Center (CCDC) for 14 years as its Deputy Director and Director of Housing Development.

“I am honored to join Edge on the Square as its inaugural Executive Director. Our united vision for it to be a welcoming place that celebrates Chinatown, tells our stories, and envisions our collective futures is especially relevant at this time as we respond to anti-Asian hate and the revitalization of San Francisco's local economy,” Lee said.

More information about the 2nd annual Contemporary Art Festival in Chinatown can be found at www.edgeonthesquare.com.