Things to do / Travel Guide
Address:701 Mission St.
San Francisco, California
Tel:
(415) 978-2787
Enjoy visual art, performance, and film and celebrate local, national, and international artists! Wander through the galleries, see live performances, and soak in the sun in the beautifully landscaped garden!
The Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, which opened in 1993, is San Francisco's cultural facility. Standing on top of the northern extension of the underground Moscone Convention Center, the Yerba Buena Center's two buildings boast music, theater, dance, and visual arts along with a 755-seat theater, and the Galleries and Arts Forum, which features three galleries and a space designed especially for dance. Visitors will enjoy the computer art, multimedia shows, contemporary exhibitions, and performances which occupy the center's high-tech galleries.
The 5-acre Yerba Buena Gardens is a great place to relax on a sunny day and check out dramatic outdoor pieces such as the mixed-media memorial to Martin Luther King, Jr. The gardens host seasonal free outdoor festivals held from May through October and music and theater groups often perform among the 5.5 acres of rolling gardens during lunch from May through September. Don't forget to check out the informative lectures and seminars, and poetry workshops.
If you are looking to make it a day (or night) here, there are plenty of hotels, galleries, and restaurants in the area. To get to the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts from the South on 280: Go north on 280 toward downtown San Francisco. Exit left to 4th St. Continue through light to 3rd St. and turn left. Theater is at 3rd and Howard; Galleries, Forum and Screening Room are one block further at 3rd and Mission St.
From Yerba Buena Center for the Arts - San Francisco, California:
As an institution, we are committed to placing contemporary art at the heart of community life. We believe that the art and artists of today matter, and not just to an enlightened few who "get it" but to anyone who is willing to engage the contemporary world in all of its complexities and confusions. Four important points derive from this organizational aim.