Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco’s longtime center showcasing edgy, challenging contemporary art, is offering free admission and special events from Jan. 17-26 in honor of 2026 San Francisco Art Week.
“At YBCA, we champion artists whose practices expand our sense of possibility and deepen our collective imagination. We’re thrilled to welcome our community into a week of experiences that spark connection, reflection and joy, and that resonate far beyond our city,” YBCA CEO Mari Robles said.
The week begins with the Saturday opening of “The Prince of Homburg,” an exhibition of work by British interdisciplinary artist P. Staff. Curated by Jeanne Gerrity, the show features a 23-minute video along with sculptures focusing on topics from freedom and state control to pressures placed on queer and trans bodies. “I wanted to create a space that feels both intimate and disorienting, like stepping into someone’s dreams while still recognizing your own reality inside them,” said P. Staff.
YBCA also is marking the final days of “Bay Area Then,” a group show bringing together historic and new works (installations, photos and more) by 21 Bay Area artists who first made an impact in the 1990s and “who shunned despair to instead assert their unique vitality, resourcefulness and camaraderie.” At noon on Saturday, poets Kevin Dublin, Magick Altman and Tongo Eisen-Martin appear in a reading and spoken word event in the YBCA courtyard in conjunction with the exhibition, which closes Jan. 25.
At 2 p.m. Jan. 21, an all-ages workshop called “Cityscape Diorama” invites participants to build dioramas reflecting their own neighborhoods. It’s inspired by late artist Margaret Kilgallen, featured in “Bay Area Then” and known for combining graffiti, painting and installation with folk art influences.
On Jan. 23, the museum will open early, at 10 a.m. Snacks are being offered, as well as a tour of “The Prince of Homburg” led by the artist and curator. Then, at 7:30 p.m. comes a ticketed ($35) performance of Liss Fain Dance’s “End Point |Open Time,” which presenters call “an immersive multi-sensory performance installation that draws you into a world of movement, light, sound and shifting space.” Additional ticketed performances of the piece are at 2 and 7:30 p.m. Jan. 24 and 2 p.m. Jan. 25.
At noon on Jan. 25, P. Staff, along with University of California, Berkeley professor Mel Y. Chen, art historian Mara Hassan and moderator Gerrity, speak in “The Body as a Site of Resistance,” a panel discussion of issues addressed in “The Prince of Homburg” followed by tour offering deeper insight into the exhibition.
Finally, from noon to 4 p.m. Jan. 25, the Sanctuary City Project and Refugee and Immigrant Transitions host a “civic activation” in which guests will assist in designing, printing and selling limited edition tote bags with the message “I Am An Immigrant.” Proceeds support RIT’s free education, family engagement and community leadership programs for people seeking refuge from war, violence, persecution or economic hardship.
San Francisco Art Week runs from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Jan. 17-25, 2026 at Yerba Buena Center of the Arts, 701 Mission St., San Francisco. Admission is free. For more information, visit www.ybca.org
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