SOMCAN and Bindlestiff Studio are partnering to address shifiting sands in the SoMa (South of Market) neighborhood of San Francisco.  SOMCAN formed in 2000 as a counterbalancing force to the rapid gentrification in SoMa.  Bindlestiff Studios has been the nation's only Filipino performing arts space since 1989 and together the two organizations have been attempting to help form bridges between disparate populations and competing agendas for local development.  The groups describe their neighborhood:

Misunderstanding and lack of communication exists between renters and homeowners, working and homeless people, immigrants and African Americans, singles and families, technology workers and blue collar workers, activist and develops giving rise to tension and animosity.  These tensions are exacerbated by the physical and economic divides in the neighborhoods.  Long city blocks, vacant storefronts, office space formerly occupied by dot.com offices, lack of open space and hundreds of thousands of cars coming from freeway off ramps isolate seniors and other residents inside buildings.

The two organizations have planned a four-pronged effort to address shifting sands ideals of social integration, upward economic mobility and neighborhood identity.  The effort has been named NIPA, for Neighborhood Integration and Preservation through the Arts and is also, "...based on the indigenous Filipino nipa palm hut which is raised above ground to resist the country's hazardous floods, landslides and earthquakes."  The plan includes: Connect Up - long-term theatre apprenticeships; State of SoMa theatre as a means of facilitating community dialogue for urban planning and leadership; Teatro ng Tao - cross-community speak-outs; and Stories High - a laboratory space for artists in a variety of media.

For more information on Bindlestiff Studios and SOMCAN, visit: www.bindlestiffstudio.org and www.somcan.org or contact: