MLK Jr. Day All-Day Festival & Celebration
Every year on the third Monday in January, over 15,000 attendees come to San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and Gardens to honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy.
2016 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Birthday Celebration
Monday, January 18, 2016 | 11 am to 5 pm
YBCA, 701 Mission St., San Francisco
FREE2016 Schedule
- 8 am: MLK Labor & Community Breakfast (ticketed event) | 1500 Van Ness Ave.
- 10:30 am: BCAF Expo Launch | Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater
- 10:30 am: Film Screening – Dirt and Deeds in Mississippi | YBCA Screening Room
- 10:30 am: Film Screening – John Brown’s Body at San Quentin Prison | Creativity Theater
- 11 am: MLK2016 March/Parade | Caltrain Station, 4th St. @ Townsend St.
- 11 am: BCAF Expo | Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
- 11 am: MLK2016 Health & Wellness Festival | Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Forum
- 11 am: Film Screenings – Parallel Man/Oceanus-Act One | Freedom Theater, MoAD
- 11:45 am: MLK2016 Interfaith Commemoration | Esplanade Stage, Yerba Buena Gardens
- 12 pm: BCAF – Tim Fielder | Salon – Museum of the African Diaspora
- 12 pm: BCAF – Adilifu Nama | YBCA Screening Room
- 12:40 pm: BCAF – David Walker | YBCA Screening Room
- 1 pm: MLK2016 Program – Black Panthers | YBCATheater
- 1 pm: King & Faith Keynote Lecture – Matthew Johnson | Creativity Theater
- 1:20 pm: BCAF – Hannibal Tabu | YBCA Screening Room
- 2 pm: BCAF – John Jennings/Frances Gateward | YBCA Screening Room
- 2 pm: Marcus Shelby Performance | Salon – Museum of the African Diaspora
- 2:45 pm: King & Faith Global Diaspora – Rothney Tshaka/Anthony Reddie | Creativity Theater
- 3 pm: BCAF – Joel Christian Gill | YBCA Screening Room
- 3:30 am: Film Screening – The E-Word | Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Screening Room
Museums offering free admission in 2016 include:
- Museum of the African Diaspora, 685 Mission Street
- Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Gallery, 701 Mission Street
2015 Black Comix Arts Festival
The Black Comix Arts Festival (BCAF) celebrates African Americans’ creativity in the comic arts and popular visual culture and is dedicated to the notion that all audiences deserve to be subject in the culture in which we participate. The two-day event includes a grand expo, kids activities, film screenings, panels and conversations, cosplay events and much more.
BCAF begins on Sunday, January 17 at the San Francisco Public Library’s Main Library and continues on Monday, January 18, at the BCAF Expo at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts.
2016 King & Faith Lectures
All conversations are free, with limited seating.The inaugural King & Faith Lecture series is part of the goal of engaging the wider scholarly, theological, clerical and lay communities in contemporary contemplation of Dr. King, his message, and his symbology. The lecture series looks to ignite greater dialogue and programs of action that will infuse “where we go from here.” Key questions about freedom, liberation and mission within the present global paradigm will bring to the forefront the tensions that emerge when confronted with the need to make space for those voices that speak against erasure, simplification, and displacement of the cultural narratives that a truly democratic society needs to survive.
2016 Liberation Film Festival | 10 am to 6 pm
All screenings are free, with limited theater seating on a first-come first-serve basis.The Liberation Film Festival (LFF) is dedicated to bringing short-format cinema and human interest documentaries to the public through innovative programs designed to engage new and diverse audiences. 2016 marks the fifth annual Liberation Film Festival and will feature human interest and civil rights documentaries and conversations. A partnership with California Newsreel, the screenings are free and open to the public with limited theater seating on a first-come first-served basis. LFF runs from 10 am – 6 pm and is scheduled for screening in the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater and Screening Room, the Freedom Theater at the Museum of the African Diaspora, and the Creativity Theater. Stay tuned for the screening titles and schedule @norcalmlk on Twitter.
