FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACTS:
COURTNEY FINK, [email protected]
(415) 863-2141/WWW.SOEX.ORG

WENDY NORRIS, [email protected]
Principal, Norris Communications

Southern Exposure In Transition

New gallery space opens in November with Annual
Juried Exhibition and related projects

San Francisco, September 21, 2007— September is moving month for Southern Exposure, the 33 year old, artist-run organization and long-time resident of San Francisco’s Mission District. Re-locating to its second temporary space in the past year and a half, it will re-open our doors in late October at 417 14th Street (at Valencia).

Southern Exposure’s new 2,000 sq. ft. location, complete with a backyard and garden, at 14th Street provides the space to once again mount gallery exhibitions and continue its acclaimed Artists in Education program. Along with files and furniture, Southern Exposure also moved its new public art program launched in September 2006 from its Mission Street storefront. The program launched following the move its original location of 32 years in the Project Artaud Annex building so that it could be seismically retrofitted. Six months after its re-location however, it became clear the retrofit was not going to take place and the Annex building has since been condemned, making it impossible for Southern Exposure to return. Southern Exposure is searching for a permanent facility and in the meantime continuing to utilize each temporary space as an opportunity to build upon the innovative programming that has been its hallmark during this transition and 33-year history, and adapting its approach to best support the artist community.

Southern Exposure’s Executive Director Courtney Fink says that while the organization is continuing to search for a permanent home, the saff and art will be arriving at their new gallery space on the ground floor of 417 14th Street at Valencia just in time to present the Alternative Exposure Grant Program grantee celebration. The Alternative Exposure Grant Program is a major new program made possible by the Warhol Foundation awarding $45,000 to local projects in its inaugural year. Southern Exposure will also organize and present its November Annual Juried Exhibition, Grounded?, opening on November 9, 2007. These two events, says Fink, “are the perfect introduction to our new space. Even in this time of transition we intend to remain the hub for San Francisco’s arts and educational communities. In addition to the excitement around the Alternative Exposure Grantee event on November 16th, for first time in the Annual Juried Exhibition’s 16-year history we are partnering with another mainstay in the San Francisco arts community and our new neighbor, Intersection for the Arts. With these opening events, our new location, and a new exciting collaboration, we hope we can help bring increased visibility to the new concentration of non-profit and arts organizations based in and around our new 14th and Valencia Street location.”

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ABOUT SOUTHERN EXPOSURE
Southern Exposure (SoEx) is a 33-year-old, non-profit, artist-run organization dedicated to presenting diverse, innovative, contemporary art, arts education, and related programs and events in an accessible environment. Southern Exposure reaches out to diverse audiences and serves as a forum and resource center to provide extraordinary support to the Bay Area's arts and educational communities. Activities range from exhibitions of local, regional, and international visual artists' work, education programs, and lectures, panel discussions, and performances. Southern Exposure is dedicated to giving artists—whether they are exhibiting, curating, teaching, or learning—an opportunity to realize ideas for projects that may not otherwise find support.