^{Hello again from the Shaping Legacy project! Shaping Legacy: San Francisco Monuments & Memorials commits to a multi-year critical examination of the monuments and memorials in San Francisco's Civic Art Collection and a reimagining of the commemorative landscape. Funding from the Mellon Foundation propels Shaping Legacy, aligning with the San Francisco Arts Commission’s dedication to cultural equity and positive social change.} 

^{The project invites the community to consider the role of monuments as tools of storytelling, education and belonging. How might we expand the story to represent the fullness of our past, not just a part of it? We center and resource local artists rooted in the community to activate and layer multiple perspectives on these objects, animating overlooked stories and restoring balance to public memory.}

^{Teaching future generations that public space is shared space - and everyone deserves to see their truth reflected in it.}

^{Well known and revered for a legacy of mentoring truth-tellers and brave new voices, Youth Speaks continues to nurture generations of poets, writers and spoken word artists. As one of the Shaping Legacy Community Engagement Consultants working on the case study of the Francis Scott Key monument, Youth Speaks collaborated with three local culture bearers: Paul S. Flores, CieraJevae Gordon and Vanessa “Agana” Espinoza.}

^{Community Story and Collective Memory as Critical Context}

^{In the role of community historian Paul S. Flores facilitated three community story circles centering discussion on the Francis Scott Key monument in Golden Gate Park. The gatherings explored creative ideas for a monument that might represent “a song for all of us.”}

^{Flores introduced the history of Francis Scott Key and the National Anthem “Start Spangled Banner.” He also shared sections of Jon Jang’s lecture “One Day American, One Day Alien,” about the racist history of the national anthem, including videos of different people of color singing the national anthem.} 

^{Community members exchanged stories and ideas prompted by questions like: If national healing was a song or a person or a place, what would it feel like, smell like, taste like, look like? What or who should a national anthem celebrate? What needs to be included in a monument that celebrates the nation?}

^{Artist Activation Embedded in Curriculum} 

^{Building from the community story circle sessions, muralist Agana and Black feminist poet CieraJevae designed a series of poetry and visual arts workshops that invited Youth Speaks participants to reflect on and reimagine who and what deserves to be memorialized in the Bay Area. The workshops blended writing, visual art, movement and performance to honor legacies that inspire future visions.} 

^{Agana and CieraJevae’s pedological approach guided critique of historical erasure toward visible creative responses and ways to channel protest energy into collaborative public solutions. Based on their experience in the workshops, participants co-created a “Legacy Showcase” to celebrate their artistry in a public performance at Brava Theatre last September. Their powerful performances demonstrated that adding truth doesn’t erase, it deepens.}

Glide Ensemble performers at the unveiling and community celebration for Portrait of a Phenomenal Woman: A Monument to Honor Dr. Maya Angelou by artist Lava Thomas

^{Honoring histories and truths through righteous creation}

^{How does a city honor its complex history through monuments and memorials? What histories have been traditionally included or excluded? What artists or communities have been included within the storytelling, and what does that reflect? Existential questions like this allow for a foundation of conversation, and open us to see the depth of investigation needed, and possible.}

^{In his 1962 essay “The Creative Process,” writer James Baldwin remarked, “The role of the artist is exactly the same as the role of the lover. If I love you, I have to make you conscious of the things you don't see.” With Shaping Legacy the SFAC is stewarding artists to review the Civic Art Collection, and create new works and programs mirroring this exact role of the artist Baldwin defines.}

^{As artists, we create from a place of passion and expansion, introspection and undeniable love.}

^{It is with this discernment that we need to remember not only our historical figures, but additionally include artists in telling the stories of their communities – so neighborhoods, cultures, and the heart of the city is never lost.}

^{“An artist's duty, as far as I'm concerned, is to reflect the times,” said artist and activist Nina Simone.}

^{Simple and true, it is the role of the artist to be a critical mirror of the world, and to help society find new pathways of understanding our experience. When considering the shape of a legacy, and especially that of a city, a culture, a community, or even an artist – the more we spend time in review, the more value we offer it. The more we review the legacy, the more we understand it; who helped build the legacy, whose fingerprints were included and whose were smudged out. The more we take time to understand something, the more we are embodying an action of love.}

^{Art offers us an opportunity for critical love and reflection, and holds infinite means to demonstrate the inexplicable pieces of our lived experience. It is the civic duty to tell a full picture of history, and honor how the participants or the color of this picture itself may change in hue over time. It is also our duty as individuals to love ourselves, our city and our history for its whole self or legacy – and keep searching how to do that best, together.}

^{Abridged text of Mattie Loyce’s op-ed published in The Bay Area Reporter December 22, 2025.}

^{The View From Above}

^{Public memory is complicated. It holds pride, conflict, omission, and revision all at once. Conversations about monuments can become heavy quickly. Facts alone don’t always open the door. Sometimes curiosity does. Sometimes humor does.}

^{That’s where Mitzy and Fritzi come in.}

^{The parrots were never meant to be the authorities in this conversation. They are not historians. They are not policymakers. They are birds with a very particular vantage point.}

^{From above, the city looks different.}

^{Streets flatten into lines. Parks become green islands. Monuments shrink into quiet markers scattered across a much larger landscape. From telephone wires, eucalyptus branches, and the ledges of Civic Center, Mitzy and Fritzi watch San Francisco move through its days.}

^{They notice where people gather. Which statues attract attention. Which ones fade quietly into the background. They see which stories are repeated and which ones are rarely told at all.}

^{It’s a perspective that comes from distance, but also from time.}

^{The wild parrots of San Francisco have been flying these same routes for decades. They have watched neighborhoods transform, buildings rise, protests march through the streets, and new generations claim the city as their own. The skyline shifts. The conversations shift. The monuments remain.}

^{And that contrast raises questions.}

^{Questions about what we honor. Questions about who is remembered. Questions about what stories our public spaces tell without saying a word.}

^{Mitzy and Fritzi ask those questions the only way they know how: out loud, from the wire, with a little curiosity and a little side-eye.}

^{Because sometimes the easiest way to begin a complicated conversation is simply to notice what’s already there.}

^{And sometimes the clearest view of a city comes from above.}

^{The parrots are still watching.}

^{Because this is about all of us, not just one hero. Here's where circles convene, artists activate, and community shows up. See where the camaraderie continues over the next 60 days.}

1. ^{Night of Ideas at SFPL,Shaping Legacy Panel, April 11, 2026}
2. ^{Gunitaan ng Pagtutuwid sa Kasaysayan, Our History Reclaimed with SOMA Pilipinas at The Dewey Monument in Union Square Plaza, April 23, 2026}
3. ^{California Migration Museum activation at Coit Tower, April 25, 2026}
4. ^{2026 Art on Market Street Poster Series, Now & Then: Living Memories - Layers of the Mission: A Celebration of Memory and Resilience, up through March 2026}

^{Our primary actions for the Shaping Legacy project: supporting the Art Makers and documenting the Community Moments. This connects the creative work with the public impact. Here’s what's happened over the past several months.}

^{AICD's Native American Heritage Month: IndigenizeSF & Shaping Legacy Celebration}

Youth Speaks Monument Circles

The Priest, the Imperialist, the Sculptor, Public Talk with Shaping San Francisco

Lotta's Fountain History Program: Celebrating the 150th Anniversary with SF Heritage