The Panhandle Bandshell Project:

A Call to the Community

Greetings!

A team of local artists, including members of The Finch Mob, the Rebar Group, and CMG Site Landscape Architecture, are proud to have been awarded a grant from the Black Rock Arts Foundation (in partnership with the SF Department of the Environment and Parks and Rec Department) to construct a bandshell made entirely out of recycled and reused materials, to be situated on the eastern end of San Francisco's Panhandle Park.  This temporary installation, called The Panhandle Bandshell will provide a stage for non-amplified acoustic performances from June 1st through August 15th for the whole community to enjoy.

This traditional bandshell will be constructed out of a steel structural framework, skinned with 75 automobile hoods, atop a 30' x 20' raised wooden stage. It will be beautifully decorated with items such as plastic bottles and junk mail, to illustrate how common waste can be reused and repurposed. All materials will be acquired by diverting them from their usual journey to the landfill pile.

While the Bandshell Team will take on the brunt of this effort, we simply can't do this alone, nor do we want to.  Our team looks forward to working collaboratively with local neighborhood and community groups to make this project a reality.  We have a variety of needs in every project phase including Design, Construction, Performance, and Teardown ... specifically:

Design and Planning Phase (March 15 - May 15)

• Review of design and construction plans by neighborhood groups
• Review and approval of construction process plan
• Review and approval of programming "rules"
• Materials acquisition or donation
• Warehouse space for storage and prefabrication
• Financial and in-kind donations
• Assistance with fundraising efforts and events
• Donations of printing services

Construction Phase (May 15 - June 1)

• Staging area space near the construction site
• Skilled and unskilled volunteer construction labor

Performance Phase (June 1 - August 15)

• Programming assistance (e.g. local musical, theatrical and performance acts)
• Daily and nightly monitoring
• Ongoing leave no trace clean-up efforts
• Assistance with our on-site fundraising event "Taste of the Panhandle"

Teardown Phase (mid-August)

• Skilled and unskilled volunteer labor
• Warehouse space for temporary storage during deconstruction
• Assistance with full park restoration to its pre-construction state

Any and all assistance that can be provided will be invaluable, as our time is tight, our budget limited, and the project ambitious.  We are very excited about this bandshell, and we hope you are too.  We believe it will be a beautiful, community-building installation of which the whole neighborhood can be proud.

Finally, please join us on Monday, April 9th from 7pm-12pm for a bandshell design presentation and fundraising event at Madrone Lounge (Divisadero @ Fell).  We look forward to seeing you there!

Sincerely,

The Panhandle Bandshell Team*

 

* That would be John Bela, Will Chase, Chris Guillard, Marcus Guillard, Lulu Steinberger and Katie Sutherland.