Our Fundraising Campaign is in the finals days!

You can be a part of making "5 Blocks" by making a tax-deductible contribution to today. We're in the last 3 days of our crowd funding campaign and we’ve raised $8,500 of our $12,000 goal. Your contribution could make the difference. Our partnership with the San Francisco Film Society makes it tax-deductible. Please join our 60 current contributors as well as supporters like the San Francisco Arts Commission, the San Francisco Film Society, Frameline and others to help us get this important film made.

Two artists who will also benefit from your tax-deducible contribution include Wendy MacNaughton and Patricia Araujo. You can receive perks from both these artists by supporting “5 Blocks”

Patricia Araujo was born in Walt Disney World! Well, she was there from nearly the time she started walking. Her father worked as an architect at Disney, and during his last years he assisted with the development of Epcot Center. Patricia’s parents were born in Bogota, Colombia, and she lived there for 11 years. Since childhood, Patricia has been enchanted by architecture and form. At an early age, she began drawing arches and entrances, and designing floor plans. After completing high school in Bogota, Patricia moved to Northern California and studied architecture, painting, and photography. In 2005 she received her second B.F.A., in painting, from the San Francisco Art Institute..


Patricia has a particular sensitivity to the forms and spaces of architecture and produces works relating to those forms. She continues to deepen her conceptual themes on architecture, place, and change in the urban landscape. Patricia has been exhibiting in San Francisco since 1998. She published her first book, SOMA SEEN, in 2008. Her work has been featured in the San Francisco Chronicle, ARTslant, 7x7, the Huffington Post, Beyondchron.com, and the San Francisco Bay Guardian. She lives and works in the San Francisco Bay Area. Her new paintings are currently exhibited at SOMA Grand and Arttitud in San Francisco. To view her portfolio and resume online, visit www.AbstractMetropolis.com.

Wendy MacNaughton has spent most her life in transit. She lived in LA, NY, Amsterdam, Paris, and East Africa before moving back to her Wendy MacNaughton has spent most her life in transit. She lived in Los Angeles, New York, Amsterdam, Paris, and East Africa before moving back to her hometown of San Francisco.

Wendy has written advertising copy, designed humanitarian campaigns in Kenya and Rwanda, produced a film in the Democratic Republic of Congo, sold used books, counseled survivors of torture, and served as a social worker and non-profit advertising campaign director. She created and illustrated the national campaign for the first democratic elections in Rwanda.

Wendy received degrees in art and social work from Art Center College of Design and Columbia University, respectively. Her art has been featured in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, San Francisco, Chronicle, Juxtapoz, GOOD, TimeOut NY, 7x7, and Gizmodo. She is a staff illustrator for Longshot Magazine and her monthly illustrated documentary project "Meanwhile" is published in The Rumpus. Her work is available for purchase at 20x200 and by contacting her directly. She is a member of GraphicJournos, a group of journalists, illustrators and artists who report stories using pictures and words.

Follow this link to support the 5 Blocks Project.

Only 12 More Days

ONLY 12 DAYS LEFT ON OUR FUNDRAISING CAMPAIGN  

 SPREAD THE WORD!

Thanks to over 40 friends, relatives and supporters, we’ve raised $7,625 of our $12,000 goal, and we have less than two weeks to raise the balance. If you can contribute, great! Whether you can or not, please forward this to those in your network you think will be interested in this project. Post this link to Facebook or Tweet it. The more we can spread the word, the more likely we are to raise our goal.

This update highlights Mark Ellinger. Mark is a photographer, historian and lover of the central Market Street area. Mark photographs are a perk that contributors to the 5 Blocks campaign can receive. As with all our artist perks, a percentage of your contribution goes directly to the artist. For Mark’s full story: www.upfromthedeep.com.

“In 1968, at the age of eighteen, I moved from Ohio to San Francisco and enrolled at the [San Francisco] Art Institute. During my first semester, I soon began spending most of my time in the film department. I worked as a recording engineer, sound designer, and composer (and occasional actor) for various film labs, studios, and independent film makers including George Kuchar, and Larry Jordan.

Near the end of 1985, my life was completely torn apart by a cataclysmic manic-depressive breakdown. I was introduced to heroin, which made all my pains go away, if only for a few hours at a time. For the next five-and-a-half years, I chased the bag and lived on the mean streets of San Francisco, where I found out exactly how low I could sink.

Thanksgiving Day 2000… I was nearly killed by septic shock. Coming face to face with my own mortality turned out to be an epiphany that awakened me to the ineffable sweetness of simply being alive. Near the end of 2002, I rescued a cheap digital camera from the trash and used it to make a record of my new life and surroundings. The buildings and streets I’ve photographed ever since are now permanently lodged in my psyche, just as people who live and work in the central city have become a permanent part of my life.

As tangible reminders of what we’ve done, who we’ve known and where we’ve been, our personal artifacts and mementos reinforce our sense of personal continuity and thus help us comprehend and adapt to life’s vicissitudes. Our memorabilia are material evidence of our exploits and accomplishments, our triumphs and defeats, our blessings and misfortunes."

SUPPORT OUR FILM HERE

SFFS Filmmaker 360 in Focus

We're very honored to have been selected for San Francisco Film Society's Filmmaker360 In Focus. SFFS has been a very supportive fiscal sponsor and strong partner to us during this process. We truly could not have come this far without them. Our warmest thanks!

Filmmaker360 in Focus  SFFS FISCALLY SPONSORED FILM PROJECT 5 Blocks  Directed by Robert Cortlandt and Dan Goldes Robert Cortlandt is a photographer and filmmaker whose work has focused on developing  the documentary form for education and social change in the U.S. and internationally.  Dan Goldes recently screened his film ub2 at 25 film festivals worldwide, including Frameline36.  These two Bay Area filmmakers are joining forces in 5 Blocks, a feature-length documentary  about an unusual coalition of artists, city officials, property owners and residents working  together to reverse a 50-year decline of the once "Great White Way of San Francisco" -- aka Mid-Market.  While many cities have attempted to revitalize neighborhoods through the convergence  of arts and technology, few have been successful at doing so while preserving their unique cultures. Goldes and Cortlandt are documenting the process and running an indiegogo  campaign that will help cover some of their production costs.  To learn more and contribute to their project, please visit indiegogo.com.

Only 16 More Days. Thank You!!

Thank you to our amazing contributors who are guiding us to success.

Only 16 Days Left To Go!  We couldn't do it without you.

Thomas DeCaigny, Katherine Beneicke, Helen Hunter, Tim Kulikowski, Alexander Mackenzie, Morrie Warshawski, ArtandArchitectureSF.com, Joe Ramirez, Cathy Maupin, Hernan Jimenez, David Perry, Lynn Farzaroli, Djdirty Kurty, Ashley Teague, Scott Merillat, Joel Goldes, Sarah Cornelius, David King, Timothy Rodrigues, Patrick J Gallagher, Elizabeth Crabtree, Claude Imbault, William Rowe, John Patillo, Gregory Walker, Carol Perry, Patricia Araujo, Carrie Hays, Jennifer Krusing, Brian Keil, Michael Flicanger, Citabria Phillips, Rafael Chang, William Turner, Emil Kurtyka, Gregg Cochran, Anonymous

Support 5 Blocks

Update #1 - Introducing Ronnie Goodman and CAP

We're almost half-way there!

Thanks for your amazing support

Our fundraising campaign is off to a roaring start! As of today, we’ve nearly reached 50% of our goal. We are all humbled and touched by your overwhelming response. We truly cannot do this without you. 

Ronnie Goodman's artwork was specifically commissioned for this campaign. He has an incredible story:

As a San Francisco native, Ronnie’s love of art began at the age of six, when he started drawing, but it wasn’t until he turned 25 that he really embraced his talent and decided to explore painting. Growing up in San Francisco’s Fillmore neighborhood, Ronnie couldn’t avoid the influence Jazz music had in the area, which became a major motif later in his works. Life’s lessons led him away from art until much later when he encountered the Art in Corrections program at San Quentin Prison. With the help of the volunteering artists who facilitated the program, he further broadened his skills, incorporating a wider range of disciplines into his work.

Once released in 2010, he decided to rebuild himself and strengthen his core values to make up for time wasted in his youth. For him, art was to become the focus from which all else stems. He feels that art gave him a second chance in life and he believes in the importance of giving art back to the community. Ronnie's work was recently featured in the San Francisco Arts Commission City Hall Gallery. Occupy Mid-Market was created specifically for this campaign, drawing directly from Ronnie's experience at being in a location central to the Occupy movement.

Linocut signed and numbered 16" x 22". Edition of 10.

Ronnie practices his art at the Hospitality House Community Arts Program (CAP). CAP is also a benefiting partner of 5 Blocks Project. Once this campaign has been fully funded, we will launch the Media Mentor Program at CAP, which will teach residents of the neighborhood the skills necessary to tell their own stories through video and audio. Hospitality House takes great pride in its arts program. It is the only free-of-charge fine arts studio for homeless and poor artists in San Francisco. Each year, CAP offers more than 250 artists the materials and space necessary to create, house, exhibit, and sell their artwork. But more than the art that is made here, CAP is a progressive and crucial component of the programs offered at Hospitality House because it helps relieve the intangible, private effects of poverty. For those navigating through the impersonal social service system, self-expression and imaginative talent can be stifled and ignored. CAP exposes people to creative resources that would otherwise be unobtainable to them. These materials are the tools that provide an often-neglected outlet for creative freedom and, subsequently, they serve to enhance self-esteem and ambition. 

Support the 5 Blocks Project here

Thanks so much to Art and Architecture - San Francisco for this article. We're republishing in it's entirety though you may click here for the original site. We're very grateful for all the folks who have come out to support us.

The Great White Way

 Market Street, Tenderloin Add comments

Nov092012

 

My interest in the revitalization of Market Street came about when I wrote this piece for Untapped Cities about the Hibernia Bank Building.

A friend who has a wonderful website about the architecture of  Mid Market and other areas of San Francisco, titled Up From The Deep, introduced me to this project, and I feel so passionately about it and its success that I would like everyone to take the time to view the video, go to the website, and please, if you can, donate to the cause.

This is the purpose of the project

“In San Francisco, an unusual coalition of artists, city officials, property owners and residents is working together to reverse a 50 year decline of the once “Great White Way of San Francisco”. While many cities have attempted to revitalize neighborhoods through the convergence of arts and technology, few have been successful at doing so while preserving their unique cultures.

Will this revitalization unwittingly open the door to gentrification and displace the current low-income residents? Will the reality of pricing people out defeat the promise of lifting people up? Can political and ideological enemies put aside past differences and work together to make real change? Our film, 5 Blocks, is a journey through the trials and tribulations of a community struggling to transform itself from “skid row” to the promise and hope of a vibrant neighborhood.

As artists, we are keenly interested in the role that arts can make in transforming lives. This project follows a large-scale attempt to use the arts to transform an entire neighborhood, an ambitious and daunting task. This may be a “once in a lifetime” opportunity to revitalize this gritty neighborhood and, therefore, to document the process. The lessons learned, whether through success or failure, can serve as a model for other communities across the globe.

Through the process, we share the stories of the people who currently live and work in the neighborhood, people whose voices aren’t usually part of high-level conversations concerning their fate. It is vital to capture this story now, during the messy, difficult discussions about change, and while tentative first steps are taken.”

Artists that are participating in this project are:

Patricia Araujo.  Araujo has been familiar with SoMa, since she’s been painting San Francisco’s central city architecture for over a decade, addressing the themes of urban growth and decay. Her work has been collected in two books “SOMA Rising” and her latest “The City from SOMA Grand” which is the feature of acurrent exhibit at SOMA Grand that is running through December 15th.

Ronnie Goodman. After a 10-year sentence for first-degree burglary at San Quentin State Prison, Goodman, 51, came back to San Francisco, where he’d grown up, and found his way to Central City Hospitality House, which offers art programs for the poor and afflicted. His block prints have been displayed in galleries around town.

Mark Ellinger. Is my friend and an amazing photographer of the slowly dying architecture that made this city great.

Wendy MacNaughton. Wendy’s home town is San Francisco. She’s written advertising copy, designed humanitarian campaigns in Kenya and Rwanda, produced a film in The Democratic Republic Congo, sold used books, counseled survivors of torture, served as a social worker and non-profit advertising campaign director. She created and illustrated the national campaign for the first democratic elections in Rwanda.Wendy received degrees in art and social work from Art Center College of Design and Columbia University, respectively.

Our First Crowdfunding Campaign

Will the promise of lifting people up inadvertently push people out -- or will a San Francisco revitalization effort become a national model for inner cities?

Today, we are excited to announce the launch of our first Indiegogo “crowdfunding” campaign.Crowdfunding allows folks like you to become part of the filmmaking process through a tax-deductible contribution.

Our film tells the story of a shaky coalition working to overcome decades of neglect and political infighting to bring positive change to a neighborhood once known as San Francisco’s Great White Way.

By becoming a supporter of 5 Blocks, you can help bring this film to life. Over the past 18 months, we have worked to gain the support and trust of the neighborhood, including small business owners, residents, landlords, developers and city officials. Our fiscal sponsor and fundraising campaign partner, the San Francisco Film Society, also thinks the film rocks!

Follow this link to find out more and support our film. You’ll get some great perks for your tax-deductible contribution along with the thrill of helping make the film!

Whether you contribute or not, please share this with your friends, post to Facebook, Tweet, and otherwise help us spread the word. Only with your help in promoting this campaign can we hope to make our goal.

Thank you so much! Your support means the world to us.

Warm Regards, 

Dan Goldes & Robert Cortlandt