In your Classroom

HOst a Where Art Lives teaching artist residency in your classroom

We have the capacity to support artists visiting your class. If your students (4th through 10th grade) are in San Francisco public schools or after-school programs, they can become artists with the Where Art Lives program. The following list of artists are willing to partner with SFUSD educators to offer graffiti arts education services. Where Art Lives is funded via a grant from the San Francisco Arts Commission and is FREE for all participants.

Joe Colmenares

Joe is an SFUSD graduate, a graffiti artist extraordinaire and entrepreneur with significant expertise in community-based youth development. He uses his art to connect the Bayview community with their local California State Park as the organizer of Growing Together Days at Candlestick Point State Recreation Area.

Joe shows students how to use art and graffiti as a vehicle for your students to develop skills in leadership, goal-setting, general competence, and activism.

He is our most experienced graffiti artist and muralist. Also, Joe loves tacos.

Dregs One

Dregs One is a San Francisco-based rapper known for his raw and honest lyricism, versatile flow, and dedication to his community. He’s also an educator and youth advocate, working to promote social justice and combat gentrification in his hometown of San Francisco. He is available for his History of Bay Area Graffiti Workshop: A presentation on the history and styles of graffiti as a youth-driven art form, followed by a drawing exercise for students to create their own original work. Mural production: After learning the history and styles of graffiti art, students will work together to design a sketch that will be used to create a mural on a wall or large canvas. Students will learn how to use spray paint, practice teamwork, and express a powerful message for their community through art. Contact Dregs One.

Precita Eyes

Precita Eyes is an inner-city, community-based, mural arts organization, Precita Eyes Muralists work to enrich and beautify urban environments and educate the public about the process and history of community mural art.

Work with local Precita Eyes Muralists with drawing and brush/spray painting activities to develop style in lettering and characters years 12-18 year olds. Traditional brush painting classes offered as well 7-12 year olds. Instant Murals are offered. Get them predesigned or let your students design and paint their mural. Tours in the mission district to pair a class with this is a great addition to inspire the students. Contact Paola Reyes Melendez at Precita Eyes.

City Studio

Now in its 18th year, the award-winning City Studio program engages underserved youth in their own neighborhoods through sequenced art classes that are both rigorous and joyous. Taught by working artists who create alongside the students, and extending its reach and impact through a range of organizational partnerships, City Studio nurtures a sense of self, encouraging young artists to find their voice; strengthening their conceptual thinking and foundational skills; and inspiring investment in a holistic creative life. Currently, we are taking students on a tour of Clarion Alley to see the work done by the teens and their mentor artists for a mural created for the Manifest Differently exhibition. Check out the youth talking about their work on the Manifest Differently website.

Contact Amy Berk at 415-420-1267

Hip Hop For Change

Hip Hop For Change, Inc. provides K-12th grade enrichment programming, introducing students to the creative powers of Hip Hop culture. Local artist educators provide workshops, assemblies, multi-week after school programs to students, guiding them through the history of hip hop to engage with the culture as a healthy form of youth self expression and community empowerment; tying in themes of social justice, multiculturalism and tolerance. In our programs, students receive hands-on instruction and are engaged in the following elements of hip hop: DJ'ing/Beat Making, Rap Songwriting and Performing, Breakdancing and other Hip Hop Dance Styles, Graffiti Art, Fashion Design, and more. They also provide Professional Development workshops and resources to arts educators and teacher of other subjects on how to leverage and utilize Hip Hop in the classroom.

Contact Marlon Richardson, Education Director at 415-368-5039

Graffiti Camp for Girls

Nina Wright teaches students how to collaborate on designs collectively for group mural painting projects and public art work projects. She teaches students how to use materials (markers, spray paints, other paints, respirators) to make their own custom works of art. For the past 7 years, she has been working with schools and student murals throughout California and the Midwest, specializing in classroom visits to teach graffiti drawing skills, collaborative mural painting with students, mural and graffiti tour field trips, art activist printmaking lessons, and approved mural design workshops.