July Mini Courses   

**This class will be held on Zoom**

**It is not necessary to watch the film ahead of time but is encouraged. Note that this film is not yet streaming but can be found at the SF Public Library and perhaps others as well.**

Join Michael Fox and filmmakers Deborah Kaufman and Alan Snitow for a discussion of objectivity and ethics in documentary filmmaking that will also include broader issues of artistic representation (historical and current), censorship and community involvement.

About the film:

TOWN DESTROYER explores the ways we look at art and history at a time of racial reckoning. Historic murals at San Francisco's George Washington High School, painted in 1936 by leftwing artist Victor Arnautoff (a student of Diego Rivera), praise Washington and—rare for the time—critically depict him overseeing his slaves and directing the bloody seizure of Native lands. The film explores debates over trauma, student safety and cancel culture: How should society deal with controversial works of art? Do the intentions of the artist matter, or just the impact on viewers?

https://www.bullfrogfilms.com/catalog/towd.html

Deborah Kaufman and Alan Snitow's 's films include the award-winning Company Town, Between Two Worlds, Thirst, Secrets of Silicon Valley and Blacks and Jews. Kaufman founded and for 13 years was Director of the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, the first independent Jewish film showcase in the world. She has been a Board member of the California Council for the Humanities, the New Israel Fund, and Amnesty International USA. She has been a consultant, programmer, lecturer, and activist with a variety of human rights, multicultural and media arts organizations. A member of the Documentary Branch of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, Kaufman is a graduate of UC Hastings College of the Law and a member of the California Bar. Alan Snitow was a producer at top-rated KTVU-TV News (the Bay Area Fox affiliate) for 12 years. Before that, he was News Director at KPFA-FM (the local Pacifica Radio station), winning the Corporation for Public Broadcasting Gold Award for Best Local Newscast. Snitow served on the boards of the National Federation of Community Broadcasters, Film Arts Foundation, California Media Collaborative, Food and Water Watch and as Board President of the S.F. Jewish Film Festival. He is a member of SAG-AFTRA and a graduate of Cornell University. https://www.snitow-kaufman.org/

**This class will be taught In-Person**

The Fine Arts museums of SF has a new addition! The Osher Collection features thirteen significant American artists who are entering the permanent collection of the Fine Arts Museums for the first time, including Robert Blum, Frank Vincent DuMond, Frederick Carl Frieseke, William McGregor Paxton, Edward Henry, and Robert Henri. The first Southwest subjects by Georgia O’Keeffe will join the collection. These will be the first Southwest O’Keeffes to join the permanent collection.  The presenter, a docent at FAMSF for more than twenty years, will introduce these new additions in a 2-hour presentation.

**This class is a Hybrid. This section of the class will be taught In-Person.**

Until August 18, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art's special exhibit "Art of Noise" features a host of visual artifacts illustrating how the way popular music has been heard, promoted, and packaged has changed over the last hundred years. This two-and-a-half-hour mini-course spotlights several dozen of its most interesting vintage posters, album covers, turntables, stereo systems, radios, and advertisements, spanning the early 20th century to the present. We’ll discuss these artifacts' history with pictures and videos, adding historical context to how these formats have evolved over the past century.

**This class is a Hybrid. This section of the class will be taught on Zoom.**

Until August 18, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art's special exhibit "Art of Noise" features a host of visual artifacts illustrating how the way popular music has been heard, promoted, and packaged has changed over the last hundred years. This two-and-a-half-hour mini-course spotlights several dozen of its most interesting vintage posters, album covers, turntables, stereo systems, radios, and advertisements, spanning the early 20th century to the present. We’ll discuss these artifacts' history with pictures and videos, adding historical context to how these formats have evolved over the past century.