2004 Press Releases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PRESS CONTACT:
Barbara Webb
(415) 453-9678

Yerba Buena Arts & Events Announce Highlights of the
2004 Yerba Buena Gardens Festival

San Francisco, CA. March 15, 2004. Mario Garcia Durham, Executive Director of Yerba Buena Arts & Events, today announced highlights of the programming for The 2004 Yerba Buena Gardens Festival at The Esplanade of Yerba Buena Gardens.

"This year marks the 10th year of arts programming in the Gardens, and we are pleased to continue to bring quality free events to our diverse audience, which numbered more than 100,000 last year," said Durham.
The Festival, which takes place from May through October, features over 150 events, including classical and jazz concerts, opera, performance art, international music events, dance performances, children's programs, theater, visual arts, puppet shows, festivals, and special events.

Kicking off the season May 1st will be Transmission Mission, a live audience-interactive radio performance by Chris Brown and Guillermo Galindo. Audience members with portable radios and boom boxes will become the sound system for the performance. The event is co-sponsored by Galería de la Raza.

New to the Festival this year will be the first annual Latin Jazz Festival in October; Afrobeat in the Gardens, featuring Broun Fellinis, Antibalas and Blackalicious; the first annual San Francisco Theater Festival featuring more than 25 theater groups and solo performers; and the Sogetsu Exhibition exploring Ikebana, the art of Japanese flower arranging.
Returning to the Festival this year will be internationally renowned organizations such as the San Francisco Opera, the San Francisco Symphony and Smuin Ballets. There will be a weeklong celebration of Italian culture, including the Infiorate, a spectacular Italian tradition that utilizes thousands of flower petals to make beautiful mosaics. This year, along with traditional San Francisco arts groups such as San Francisco Ballet School, there will be performances and events such as an International Music Festival with musicians from 10 countries, Gilbert and Sullivan performances by the Lamplighters, a performance by the S.F. Lyric Opera and the S.F. Merola Opera, a Choreographers Festival, Lit Quake, a San Francisco Labor Festival, Books by the Bay, a performance by the S.F. Mime Troupe and much more. The cultures of Filipino-Americans, Native-Americans, and African-Americans will be celebrated in special festivals and concerts. The traditional "We are Family" 4th of July picnic continues this year and the children will be treated to puppet shows and to the popular annual Gardens Ghoullery Walk.

All performances and events are free and open to the public, drawing an audience of San Francisco and Bay Area residents, tourists, and convention attendees that numbers more than 80,000 each year.
Free artistic and cultural programming in Yerba Buena Gardens is made possible through the generous support of The San Francisco, Arts Commission, The San Francisco Redevelopment Agency, KTB Management Group, The San Francisco Foundation, the W.A. Gerbode Foundation, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Zellerbach Family Foundation, the Fleishhacker Foundation, Bernard Osher Foundation, and other sponsors.

Media sponsors for Festival 2004 are KDFC, San Francisco Downtown Magazine, WB20, and the San Francisco Bay Guardian.

Yerba Buena Arts & Events, organizer of the Yerba Buena Gardens Festival is located at 760 Howard Street, San Francisco, CA 94103. Phone (415) 543-1718; Fax (415) 543-1755; e-mail: ybgf@ybgf.org
http://ybgf.org


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Yerba Buena Gardens Festival

produced by Yerba Buena Arts & Events

Mailing Address:
760 Howard Street
San Francisco CA 94103
Phone: 415 543 1718
Fax: 415 543 1755
info@ybgf.org
www.myspace.com/ybgfestival