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Friday, September 11
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Tuesdays • 6–8 PM • All Ages July 21 Astro Everywhere with Josh Roberts August 18 Will & Willie Show September 29 Jing Ying Cantonese Opera Institute October 27 DJ Artistry: Craft Culture & Legacy November 10 Circularity in Action: Designing a Smarter Waste Future with Oscar December 8 JPMorgan Chase Money Skills: Budgeting and Saving with Jenny Baltodano
Tuesdays • 6–8 PM • All Ages July 21 Astro Everywhere with Josh Roberts August 18 Will & Willie Show September 29 Jing Ying Cantonese Opera Institute October 27 DJ Artistry: Craft Culture & Legacy November 10 Circularity in Action: Designing a Smarter Waste Future with Oscar December 8 JPMorgan Chase Money Skills: Budgeting and Saving with Jenny Baltodano
The 7th Annual African Arts Festival celebrates the glorious diversity and extraordinary creativity of the continent’s peoples. Co-presented by Duniya Dance and Drum Company and the Yerba Buena Gardens Festival, it’s a family-friendly celebration of live music and dance featuring Bay Area ensembles representing different regions of Africa and the African diaspora. Formed in April 2007, Duniya Dance and Drum Company creates dance and music from the Indian state of Punjab, the West African nation of Guinea and beyond, as well as unique blends of these forms. Along with interactive activities like dance and drum lessons and face-painting for children, vendors offer a variety of traditional African food and goods for sale, including clothing, jewelry, hair care and skin care. “The idea for the festival came from the desire to bring Africans and the diaspora together as one community in the Bay Area, to inspire each other and share each other’s culture,” explains Duniya Dance and Drum Company Artistic Director Bongo Sidibe. “We are highlighting joy and celebrating who we are as Black people.”
7th Annual African Arts Festival in San Francisco, only at Yerba Buena Gardens Festival
In a city built on tall tales, hard-boiled prose, revelatory memoirs, and penetrating reportage, Litquake is the soul of San Francisco’s cultural life. The region’s largest literary festival returns in 2025, celebrating the exuberantly creative literary community from throughout the Bay Area and beyond. Come explore a curated spread of small presses and literary magazines at the Litquake Book Fair in Yerba Buena Gardens. Browse the best in local literature set to a day of poetry readings from Litquake Out Loud. Highlighting the Bay Area’s BIPOC & LGBTQ+ writers and thought leaders, Litquake continues to elevate underrepresented voices so that all people are included in creating and imbuing the Bay Area’s historic, thriving arts scene. For complete schedule, please go to Litquake’s website at www.litquake.org.
Litquake Out Loud + Book Fair Sun, Oct 4 Time: 11:00am – 4:00pm Venue: Great Lawn, Yerba Buena Gardens Mission St. between 3rd & 4th Sts. San Francisco, CA In a city built on tall tales, hard-boiled more...
Parangal Dance Company presents *Adhika*, an exploration of traditional Philippine arts focused on preserving and promoting ethnic attire, music, and dance. Attendees will witness intricate dances directly taught by indigenous culture bearers, conveying their communities' stories, living traditions, and aspirations. This free, outdoor performance serves to connect Filipinos in diaspora to their heritage, foster pride, and educate diverse audiences on Philippine culture, highlighting the power of community within our shared environment as part of the YBG Festival’s Indigenous Performance Series. Guests are encouraged to bring picnic blankets for first-come, first-served seating.
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A wind quintet with an imperative mission, Quinteto Latino is a singular Bay Area-based chamber ensemble devoted to breaking down the racial and social barriers that have long plagued the classical music world. Spotlighting and performing compositions by artists of Latin American heritage, the quintet’s acclaimed musicians are devoted to building community through classical music, performance and advocacy. With concerts featuring expertly melded flute, oboe, clarinet, French horn and bassoon, QL brings out the vibrant colors and vigorous rhythms of Latin American music. The group’s programs include arrangements of beloved Latino folk melodies and contemporary works by illustrious composers such as Gabriela Lena Frank, Orlando Jacinto García and Paquito D’Rivera, including many commissioned by the ensemble.
Free concert w/ Oakland Rising and the brightest emerging music artists of the Bay Area only at Yerba Buena Gardens Festival
Since launching in 2023 Follow the Music has been at the forefront of a rising movement promoting arts education around the Bay Area. The nonprofit organization introduces its next phase with an emerging artists music festival designed to showcase aspiring young musicians. Bringing families and young people from all over the region to the urban oasis of the Gardens, Follow the Music celebrates the Bay Area’s unrivaled cultural heritage by building a bridge between that legacy and the young people carrying it forward. Featuring musicians ages 14-25, the event includes musicians from the San Francisco Community Music Center, Oakland School for the Arts, SFJAZZ, GLIDE Memorial Church, Blue Bear School of Music, Elevate Oakland, Enriching Lives Through Music and other organizations. Drawing on the Bay Area’s cultural diversity, the lineup crosses genres from classical and jazz to soul, rock and Latin jazz. It also features guest speakers from music, sports and popular culture. A community resource fair provides families and students with opportunities to connect directly with many Bay Area music education programs while learning about classes and scholarships. The muse can take many pathways and Follow the Music is here to ensure that all are open. Oakland Rising, a collective developed in partnership with Follow the Music, anchors the program. The group includes B. Deveaux, August Lee Stevens and Naima, all rising stars continuing Oakland’s fervent musical and cultural legacy.
Free concert w/ Oakland Rising and the brightest emerging music artists of the Bay Area only at Yerba Buena Gardens Festival
A party, a workout, a meditation and a communal celebration, Yerba Buena Gardens Dance Day is a portal to a joyous dance-filled world! Presented by YBG Festival and Rhythm & Motion, YBG Dance Day transforms the Gardens into an outdoor dance heaven where participants can sample dance in a variety of forms and flavors with some of the Bay Area’s most talented teachers. Classes are one-hour long and span a wide range of dance genres. Whether you are new to dance or a seasoned professional, Yerba Buena Gardens Dance Day is open to everyone! Bring comfortable shoes, a water bottle and your curiosity for movement – stay for an hour or the full day. Invite friends and family. This is your day to dance!
FREE day of outdoor dance classes in San Francisco, only at Yerba Buena Gardens Festival
YBG Dance Day Sun, Oct 11 | 10am-3pm Great Lawn, Yerba Buena Gardens Mission St. between 3rd & 4th Sts. San Francisco, CA A party, a workout, a meditation and a communal celebration, Yerba Buena Gardens more...
Join us in celebration of San Francisco Indigenous Peoples Day with a magnificent profusion of Native American art, music and vendors. The event highlights the vastly diverse and talented community of Indigenous artists in the Bay Area, California and the Americas. Presented on Yelamu, Ramaytush Ohlone Territory, in partnership with the International Indian Treaty Council, the program at Yerba Buena Gardens follows the Annual Indigenous Peoples Day Sunrise Gathering on Alcatraz – please check the IITC website for updates. Schedule to be announced.
FREE celebration of Indigenous Peoples Day in San Francisco, only at Yerba Buena Gardens Festival
Indigenous Peoples Day Mon, Oct 12 | 12:00pm – 4:00pm Great Lawn, Yerba Buena Gardens Mission St. between 3rd & 4th Sts. San Francisco, CA Join us in celebration of San Francisco Indigenous Peoples Day with more...
The 100th anniversary of John Coltrane’s birthday has inspired dozens of performances across the Bay Area this year, but no artist is better equipped to evoke the legacy of the saxophone titan and spiritual seeker than Richard Howell. An acclaimed musician, composer and educator, he defines his performances as “Bridge Music,” a jazz pathway that creates sonic connection across obstacles and differences. It’s music that celebrates diversity as it bridges, unites and merges the experience of all listeners, an approach rooted in the spirit of John Coltrane’s “A Love Supreme.” Howell, who spent years on the road with Etta James, also embraces the contradiction of James Brown’s simple yet intricate African-inspired rhythmic concepts and the deep soulfulness of the Isley Brothers. As a saxophonist and vocalist, he has a gift for connecting to multi-generational audiences with an abiding spirituality that invites all listeners to partake. He’s particularly eager to present an afternoon honoring the spirit and music of John Coltrane, he explains. “I’ve had the blessing of a close relationship with his son, Ravi Coltrane, as my son Elé has been part of Ravi’s rhythm section as a drummer for the past seven years. What I’m envisioning is an acoustic jazz quartet – tenor saxophone, acoustic piano, bass and drums – rooted in the Coltrane tradition, but also reflecting the living continuum of that music.”
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Festival favorite Joe Bataan, a Latin music legend since the mid-1960s, returns to the Gardens for his third performance in the past four years. He made an indelible mark as one of the early stars of Fania Records with a seductive combination of doo-wop vocals and boogaloo, one of the era’s defining sounds. Born Bataan Nitollano to a Filipino father and African-American mother and raised in Spanish Harlem, he is the father of the Latin soul sound, crooning hits like “Gypsy Woman” and “Ordinary Guy.” But Bataan never stayed in one groove for long. He went on to expand his sound in the ’70s with his Ghetto Records releases, co-coining the apt moniker “salsoul,” though he adapted to changing currents at the end of the decade with forays into disco and hip-hop (scoring the early rap hit “Rap-O Clap-O” in 1979). Stepping back from performing in the early ‘80s, he largely disappeared from the scene while working as a youth counselor in detention facilities. It’s a dramatic story that he recounts with humor and searing detail in his 2024 memoir Streetology: The Legacy of the Afro-Filipino, King of Latin Soul. Since returning to music in 2005, he’s reclaimed his crown and is still going strong in his 80s, a fact made evident by his triumphant YBG Festival performances.
FREE show with the legendary Joe Bataan in San Francisco, only at Yerba Buena Gardens Festival