The San Francisco InternationalArts Festival is a multicultural performance and visual arts festival held annually in late May and early June at Fort Mason Center for Arts and Culture in San Francisco, California. The SFIAF presents theater, music, dance and other performing arts by local performers and by international ensembles who do not have yet secured U.S. representation. Since its inception in 2003, the SFIAF and its partners have presented performances by over 400 arts ensembles from 57 countries and the larger San Francisco Bay Area.
History
The first SFIAF was held between September 4 to 21, 2003 at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. A total of fifteen ensembles performed at the festival, eight of which were from the San Francisco Bay Area and seven were from abroad. Of these, Akram Khan Dance Company, Salia nï Seydou, and Quasar Companhia de Danca all made their northern California debuts. The second SFIAF was held between May 18 to June 5, 2005 and presented a total of twenty-three productions, four by international artists, six as international collaborations of local artists working with artists from other countries, and thirteen by local artists. Beginning with the 2005 season, the SFIAF has been held in late May and early June. In its early years, before the festival made Fort Mason its principal venue in 2009, the SFIAF presented shows at a number of different venues throughout San Francisco, including the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Theater Artaud, Mission High School, and Fort Mason. Beginning with the 2015 season that was held from May 21 to June 7 and that showcased performances by 70 local and international ensembles, all performances have been staged at Fort Mason Center for Arts and Culture.
Recent seasons
The 2018 season of the SFIAF took place at Fort Mason Center for Arts and Culture between May 24 and June 3 and showcased some 40 local and international artists and ensembles. Commemorating the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination, the festival's theme was Down by the Riverside. The headline concert 'Down by the Riverside: Requiem for a King,' a composition by Anthony Brown with spoken word by Angela Davis saw its world-premier on May 26 in Fort Mason's Cowell Theater. The 2019 season of the SFIAF took place from May 23 to June 2 at Fort Mason Center for Arts and Culture, showcasing some 50 local and international artists and ensembles. Themed The Path to Democracy, the festival presented a number of productions that directly or indirectly engaged with political activism, such as Théatre de la Feuille's new adaptation of 'The Orphan of Zhao' or Spitfire Company's 'Antiwords', inspired by the late Václav Havel's play 'Audience'. Two of the companies that had originally been scheduled to appear at this year's festival, the Compagnie Virginie Bruxelle, a modern dance group based in Montreal, Canada, and Collective Ma’louba, a Syriantheater company based in Germany, were denied visas to the US and their shows had to be cancelled.
