San Francisco Invests $2.5M In Outdoor Music And Events For 2022

SF Mayor London Breed and City Attorney David Chiu have announced the SF Live Iniative, a $2.5M investment in outdoor live music and entertainment events for 2022. A series of concerts, performances, cultural events and more will come to outdoor parks and plazas around the city in an effort to uplift the city’s entertainment sector and revitalize neighborhoods.

SF Live’s funding will go towards covering costs of event production, stipends for participating venues, and marketing and branding. Its functions are closely aligned with pandemic recovery-related programs such as Shared Spaces and Just Add Music, which helped local businesses adapt to outdoor service and more. Both programs are now permanent, and SF Live looks to bring the success of this year’s outdoor events into 2022.

We’re launching a new program, SF Live will fund a series of outdoor performances hosted by our iconic entertainment venues, showcasing local artists throughout the City. Thank you @DavidChiu for securing $2.5 million in state funds to make this possible! pic.twitter.com/IsXZcOc15H

— London Breed (@LondonBreed) November 16, 2021

“Our local venues are an indispensable part of San Francisco’s culture and economy. They’re places where longtime residents have been seeing shows for years and where visitors can catch their favorite band when they’re in town. They’re where people get to know their neighbors, start relationships, and make memories that will last a lifetime. Our local venues were the first to shut down and the last to reopen due to COVID-19. We want to ensure that we’re doing everything we can to not only recover from the pandemic, but help lead our economic and nightlife recovery,” said Mayor Breed.

After in-person events and performances were halted for much of this past year, many local businesses, performing artists, and venues are still working to recover from the financial losses. The city is now starting to revitalize those sectors again, but there’s a long way to go in compensating many people and businesses who rely on the performing arts for income.

“San Francisco is famous for our live performances that bring our communities together and make our neighborhoods vibrant,” said City Attorney David Chiu. “I was more than happy to secure state funding as an Assemblymember to start this initiative and support our live performance venues. The SF Live Initiative should serve as a model for ongoing investment in outdoor live performances.”