SF’s 7-Hour Marathon Festival of Arts & Ideas
The San Francisco Public Library, SFMOMA, and the French Consulate in San Francisco unite to present a seven-hour marathon of debate, performance, readings, and music featuring top thinkers from San Francisco and beyond as we envision the city of the future.
2nd Annual “Night of Ideas” Arts & Ideas Festival
Saturday, February 1, 2020 | 7 pm to 2 am
San Francisco Main Public Library, 100 Larkin St. SF
Free but RSVP is required.> 2020 Panel & Performance Schedule
Each floor of the library is devoted to exploring the different edges on which contemporary life in the Bay Area is balanced.
The French Consulate in San Francisco, San Francisco Public Library (SFPL), San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) and KQED jointly announce the second San Francisco edition of the global marathon event Night of Ideas on February 1, 2020, from 7 p.m. to 2 a.m. at the San Francisco Main Library.
Presented in collaboration with the City of San Francisco and a vibrant ecosystem of local cultural, science, tech and academic partners, this free seven-hour marathon of debates, keynotes, panels, performances, screenings, music and a special live broadcast of KQED’s Forum with host Mina Kim features top thinkers from San Francisco and beyond. Its format is designed to spur dialogue and participation on the 2020 theme Living on the Edge, an adaptation of the international theme Être vivant.
With keynotes, panels and presentations by more than 30 organizations and diverse voices, the second San Francisco edition of Night of Ideas expects thousands to participate in the evening’s exchange of ideas and creative dialogue. More than 6,000 people attended the inaugural event at the Main Library in 2019.
Multiple stages throughout the Main Library will host concurrent programming, screenings, breakout sessions and opportunities for engagement and debate amongst the attendees.
More than 30 topics relating to Living on the Edge will be explored over the course of the evening with each of the Main Library’s floors devoted to a separate theme including: Chaos + Creation, Wonder + Worry, Exclusion + Belonging, Truth + Doubt and Circulation + Borders. The atrium will host Sights + Sounds, a series of performances over the course of the evening including circus artists, DJ sets, drag performances and music. For a full program with list of speakers, panelists and performers, visit nightofideassf.com.
Schedule By Floor / Topic
Chaos + Creation [Lower Level] – How do we cope with disorder and disruption to fashion new ways to think and be?
- Special 2-hour broadcast of KQED’s Forum hosted by Mina Kim and a keynote by science fiction artist, filmmaker, inventor and body architect Lucy McRae.
- Live performance by pioneering San Francisco-based, Afro-Jazz, urban funk band Idris Ackamoor and The Pyramids.
Wonder + Worry [Floor 2] – What anxieties about the future weigh on us the most and what fascinations will transform the way we live?
- Speakers include Isha Clark, youth climate activist, author and naturalist Obi Kaufmann, and renowned performance artist and founder of the MEDEA Project: Theater for Incarcerated Women and Mayor’s Art Award recipient Rhodessa Jones.
Exclusion + Belonging [Floor 3] – How do we find belonging and identity while making space for differences of lived experience?
- Speakers include Reverend Deborah Lee of the Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity and Dominique Nora, editor-in-chief of the French magazine, L’Obs.
- Performance by Black Benatar’s Black Magic Cabaret featuring local Trans artists of color.
Truth + Doubt [Floor 4] – With consensus about history and facts increasingly fractured, what narratives should we affirm?
- Speakers include Pulitzer Prize-winning historian T.J. Stiles and conspiracy theory-scholar Kathryn Olmstead and panels on Fake News curated by French Tech San Francisco.
Circulation + Borders [Floor 5] – How do we transcend limits on movement for a healthy economy and a just society?
- Speakers include Barbara Belvisi of Intersellar Lab and artist Caleb Duarte and readings and talks by American poets and writers, including Dave Eggers, curated by the French magazine America and its French editor-in-chief, Julien Bisson.
Friends Lounge [Floor 6] – Mix and mingle, drink and dance with the Friends of the SFPL.
Schedule By Time
6:30-7 PM
- ON FULTON STREET (btwn Larkin and Hyde). Dance performance by Destiny Arts and opening remarks
8 PM
- KORET AUDITORIUM – Live KQED Forum with Mina Kim
- 2ND FLOOR – Youth Open Mic on 2020 election issues with KQED Youth Advisors
- THROUGHOUT BUILDING – Performances by Circus Bella, New Voices Chorus and Duniya Drum and Dance
9 PM
- 2nd FLOOR – Keynotes by Rhodessa Jones, award-winning performance artist and internationally renowned artist Lucy McRae
- 5th FLOOR – Performance by Bay Area Theater Cypher
10 PM
- 1st FLOOR – Performance by Ox + Vivvy featuring 10 Liza Minnelli drag queens
- 2nd FLOOR – Interactive performance with Wild Child Movement Collective
- 3rd FLOOR – Drag performances by Black Benatar
- 5th FLOOR – Panel featuring award-winning authors Dave Eggers, Ingrid Rojas Contreras and Kate Schatz
11 PM
- THROUGHOUT BUILDING – Circus performances by the Vau de Vire Society and music by Chulita Vinyl Club
Midnight – 2 AM
- KORET AUDITORIUM – Drag Bingo + Free Giveaways produced by Vivvy + Stud Collective
- 1st, 5th, 6th FLOORS – Dancing and DJs, including DJ D Sharp, the official DJ of the Golden State Warriors
