Citywide
Stern Grove amphitheater, packed with attendees during the summer concert season. | Photo: Cheryl Guerrero/Hoodline
The Bay Area’s shelter-in-place order has brought countless events usually held as in-person gatherings online. We’re aiming to support local businesses in San Francisco and Oakland by highlighting five of these events each day.
Got a suggestion for an online event based in SF or Oakland? Email our events reporter, Teresa Hammerl.
Here’s your SF online event calendar for Wednesday, July 8. Watch a documentary about a lesser-known AIDS activist, bring the kids to a Puerto Rican dance class, or play a trivia game for musical theater lovers.
AIDS 2020: ‘Thanks to Hank’
The 23rd International AIDS Conference has gone online this year, and LGBTQ+ film festival Frameline is joining in to screen “Thanks to Hank,” a documentary about late San Francisco activist Hank Wilson.
The 81-minute film uses animation and archival footage to tell the story of how Wilson fought for the rights of gay teachers like himself, then for the rights of people with AIDS to access medical care. Along the way, he helped found a number of SF institutions, from the Harvey Milk Democratic Club to the Tenderloin AIDS Resource Center.
When: Documentary viewable Wednesday, July 8 – Friday, July 10
How to join: Via Frameline
Price: Free
Stern Grove Festival: Bomba Dance
The Stern Grove Festival may be cancelled for 2020, but it’s still offering online arts resources for kids and families. Today, Shefali Shah of the Aguacero Dance Company will teach kids how to perform bomba, a Puerto Rican dance with Afro-Latino roots. Emphasizing the interaction between singers, dancers and drummers, it’s sure to get little ones moving.
When: Wednesday, July 8; watch anytime after it goes live at 10 a.m.
How to join: Instructions on how to join via Stern Grove Festival’s website
Price: Free
Musical Wednesdays
Love Broadway and musicals? You’ll find your tribe at Castro bar The Edge’s weekly online event, where viewers can request their favorite songs from different shows and play theater trivia — complete with free-drink prizes for when the Edge reopens. Over 150 attendees showed up for last week’s event, so it’s sure to be a good time for musical-theater lovers.
When: Wednesday, July 8, 7 – 9 p.m.
How to join: Zoom and Twitch instructions available via the Facebook event
Price: Free; tip organizer Brian Kent via PayPal
Ballet by the Bay – SFDFF Digital Season
The San Francisco Dance Film Festival is rounding out its first digital season with “Ballet by the Bay,” a series of short films featuring current and former dancers from local companies like Alonzo King LINES Ballet and the San Francisco Ballet. Several of the featured artists will make appearances and participate in a live chat room during the screening.
When: Wednesday, July 8, 7 p.m.
How to join: Via YouTube
Price: Free
Thea Matthews & Maw Shein Win / Unearth [The Flowers]
Upper Haight-based events space and bookstore The Bindery is hosting a virtual book launch for Thea Matthews, who recently released her first poetry collection, “Unearth [The Flowers].” The book, which explores grief and resiliency, is the first release from local reading series — and now small press — Red Light Lit. Poet Maw Shein Win will join Matthews for the discussion.
When: Wednesday, July 8, 7 p.m.
How to join: Instructions on how join via Zoom in the Facebook event
Price: Free