Art Yap

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Thank you for being a friend. I'm Shauna Vesco Ahern, and this is Art Yap. The podcast where I gab with Bay Area creatives about imagination, arts, culture, and everything in between. Today's episode features Anna Lisa Escobedo, a true community building baddie from LA on Anna Lisa's Creative project management connects artists with opportunities each other [00:01:00] and the public.
She pours herself heart and soul into making the arts accessible to everyone. And at the time of this recording, she's on that job market, so scoop her up fast. If you're looking to improve your organization's creative vision strategy, and day-to-day environment, because Annalisa's a real one.
Shawna Vesco Ahern: thank you for coming on the podcast today. Thank you. Um, you don't know this, but us meeting was like one of the sparks that kind of set this podcast off.
I know what, yeah. So, you know, every time I would send. Like a text to our mutual friend, Liz. Hi Liz Carr. she'd say, oh, I just heard about this job at Stanford from my friend Anna Lisa. Or I just heard about this art thing from Anna Lisa. And I was like, I gotta meet this girl. And so I texted you and I was like, let's meet up whatever.
and you wrote back and you're like, yeah, there's this cafe in, Excelsior. And all of a sudden I was like, Ooh, I, I like her already because already your psychogeography of San [00:02:00] Francisco. I was like, all right, no one ever says, let's meet in the Excelsior. And I looked up the place and I was like, oh, cute.
Little small. Business like this is someone very thoughtful, very mindful of where they're spending their money, spending their time. And then that place was closed and you hit me back and you're like, okay, wait, let's meet at this other place. Hey neighbor in Portola. And I was like, Ooh, her psycho geography of San Francisco is tight.
Like this is a home girl. And that place was closed and then that place was closed. And then we just walked around and we went into any old random place, got our little eggy croissant. And just had us a time and you were so chill. And I just, I loved hearing about your career path in the arts and I liked that you hit me back later and you're like, Hey, did you see this job posting?
And then I'd hit you back with this one. And it felt like support. And I think like when you're on that job market in any industry, but right now, especially in the arts, you could feel lonely out there and can feel [00:03:00] competitive. But I think what we were trying to do is get back to. Community and sharing resources and trying to like be friends and lift each other up and Hey, did you see this?
Can I connect you with this person? Um, do you know so and so? And that felt so good to me. I was like, maybe other people would like this in podcast form. Like
Anna Lisa: not, and you know, there's not just you, but I know other people that also apply for the same job. I had one job, I phoned in for an interview and.
First of all, the person that's um, sent me the job was the director, interviewed me with their, um, superiority person and walked me out and was like, do you know so and so? And it's like, yes I do. Turns out they were in the lobby and I knew that person, um, which they got the job. I'm very happy. So they've been telling me all the details as well about their job.
But, um, it. Well, it's the Bay Area. It's so small.
Shawna Vesco Ahern: so when I was trying to [00:04:00] come up with, how do I describe you and your role in the culture industry here, I kept thinking you're kind of like a creative programming director.
Um, but you're also kind of like artistic vision, like larger artistic vision. And project management. you have a good curatorial eye for exhibitions and for programs, but you also know how to get it done, how to move like the people and the budgets and the marketing collateral around to kind of get projects off the ground.
but how do you define yourself or when you tell someone, especially from the outside, what it is you do?
Anna Lisa: It's so hard sometimes. Uh, I am definitely a person that. I just do it. It's, I mean, I also, I have my values in the work. It's, if it's creative people, it's supporting local people. If it's bringing in new [00:05:00] people.
And one of the biggest things, and I think. It has worked for me and my values is I love people. Mm-hmm. I love meeting people, just like meeting you like right away, let's go meet up. Mm-hmm. Um, which it worked out perfect. 'cause sometimes my life is very busy, so I'm like, Hey, let's connect. Let's, let's learn about each other.
And sometimes I meet people and they tell me, Hey, I'm working on this. I'm working on it. Do you know someone? Sometimes they don't even ask me, do you know someone?
Mm-hmm.
Anna Lisa: But. In conversation.

Anna Lisa: I'm like, yeah, have you heard about this? Have you heard about that?
in this world, we are independent folks.
We don't need, we, we can do it ourselves, but it's even better when you are. Connected with the right people on the right bus.
Shawna Vesco Ahern: Yeah, and like this idea of connection, I think it is that second pandemic that we're not talking about, which is we are so isolated and I just felt like even just meeting you for coffee, it took me back to [00:06:00] 2019.
It took me back to the before times where you were just out meeting people and connecting and I was like, I missed conversation. This is an art form and we're losing it. All these zooms, all these whatevers. It was better to walk around Portola with your dog lost, not knowing where we're going and just chit chatting.
Yeah. gabbing
Anna Lisa: gossiping. It's, and being open. Easy. And open. I'm not a picky person. I was like, let's, I was like that. A bagel with cheese, and it doesn't have to be a fancy brie. I mean, I love that too, but just being open to what comes your way. Mm-hmm. Same thing with people being open. What comes your way?
And I think the other factor that I bring in my wor in my work is sometimes my, and it's an old school way of thinking, but it's, I've learned it for many years. You have to be truthful. You have to, I mean, sometimes my promise is the only thing I have, and I've gone [00:07:00] on projects where I've reached out to community and they don't really know me, and I'm like, look, this is all I got.
And I don't know what I'm doing. And it's so against like a lot of nonprofits, like don't say. Mm-hmm. Like we have to be cookie cutter. We have to be. And I'm just like on the phone with them, I was like, Hey, let me be real. This is what it looks like. This is what we want it to look like, but unfortunately I need you and I wanna invite you to work with me.
Are you down for this or not?
Shawna Vesco Ahern: This realness though, and this like authenticity you bring has gotten. You into so many different kinds of projects. So many all over the bay. I was looking at your, your LinkedIn's crazy. You were at Moad, a Museum of African Diaspora. You're at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts.
You did stuff, California Historical Society, friends of the San Francisco Public Library, like it goes on and on. You were a founding member, right? [00:08:00] For Yeah.
Anna Lisa: Latino Cultural District. Yeah. Um. Yeah, that was a lot of life learning lessons working with Calle Viente Cuatro because it used to be it's Calle Viente Cuatro itself without Latino cultural District.
TRO has been. 40, 50 years. It's was there before me. It started out as a neighbor and merchant association. Mm-hmm. Lower 24th Street. And it definitely has had its chapters reopen and close. Mm-hmm. Multiple right now it's in a different iteration in life. Um, but I got to be part of building out a cultural district.
What is a cultural district? Mm-hmm. And what can it be? And at that time we were just. Literally trying to build something with some teeth. Mm-hmm. To fight gentrification. And it came out through multiple ends. It becoming a nonprofit actually started with. Because we saw a lot of our arts and culture, nonprofits literally fighting for grants.
Mm-hmm. [00:09:00] Just like right now we're trying to figure out job roles and it's like everybody knows and is applying for the same job. We're applying for the same grants. Right. And how do we work together versus in silos. Mm-hmm. And was trying to think about that. Like how do we come together and. How old I was 25.
Mm-hmm.
Anna Lisa: I remember I graduated from SF State the same day when David Campos inaugurated Calle viente quatro. I was literally up the street from Brava doing my graduation and running down Go Gators. Yeah. And you know, that was a lot of work that I've never done before. Mm-hmm. In that way. I've never worked with the city before.
I've never been, I mean, I, talking to the supervisors like a person, uh, [00:10:00] meeting Galvin Newsom, who's a supportive, even back then, um, graduate as a fresh undergrad graduate, yeah, as a fresh undergrad. Going to my MEChA meetings and being like, I gotta go to work. And then I gotta go to, uh, this public meeting.
And then after the end of the week, going to a meeting at City Hall. See,
Shawna Vesco Ahern: this all sounds very like business and formal and like project management and like project analyst. But I know for you there's also like a lot of imagination in thinking about partnerships and thinking about kind of like outside the box with a lot of these projects that you take on.
Do you consider yourself like a creative person and in what ways? Oh
Anna Lisa: man. I think I'm a creative person and more, that's the thing, it's, I am a believer that we know what to do.
Shawna Vesco Ahern: Mm-hmm.
Anna Lisa: People know what to do. I am a believer that if. Like [00:11:00] curating, curating an exhibit. You put the right artist together, you could tell a story.
Honestly, every person has a story to tell. So you put 'em all together, you remove that silo and they can definitely create more. And that's where my role is to basically remove the barriers in. Try to enhance the creativity and that's where my creativity comes. 'cause I'm like, what can I solve?
Mm-hmm. I, you know, in the resume we write solution orientated, but I really am like, there's a moment of chisme and like yapping together. But at the end of the day I was like, what are we, how are we moving forward from this?
Shawna Vesco Ahern: Mm-hmm.
Anna Lisa: What can we actually do? And I'm. I've used this before. I love failure.
I love when we and I been hired for projects that are non-existent. Mm-hmm. [00:12:00] Creative Core, San Francisco Creative Core. Was that where it was During the, uh, during the pandemic, and that's where I partner with a lot of artists. Mm-hmm. And a lot of organizations. Some I never heard or worked with in the past.
Some I have worked in the past and I called cold called, called them and said, I'm doing this thing. Where I am gonna hire artists, pay them hourly, an hourly wage, and um, put 'em in the middle of the street. And during a time where we don't even have a way to test people and they're gonna be doing their thing, but also incorporating health and wellbeing during that time when we don't know what health and wellbeing was.
That's crazy. You wanna do that? Yeah. And a lot of them were like, I need to talk more about this. Mm-hmm. And I'm like, we could talk as much as possible because at the end of the day. [00:13:00] You ask questions that is gonna help me figure out. And everybody else is gonna ask that question, so let's work through this.
So we had a lot of that and a lot of inviting people in and also realizing and asking, what does it mean to be a stakeholder in a project?
Shawna Vesco Ahern: Mm-hmm.
Anna Lisa: And
Like they're, they're smart folks and I'm the one approaching them. Because they have a skill and ability as something I need. I also have something to give to them.
Shawna Vesco Ahern: Mm-hmm.
Anna Lisa: So. How can we make this relationship happen? That's a really
Shawna Vesco Ahern: special magic. It just, and that's the magic of like getting everyone's magic to come out and make something good for everyone,
Anna Lisa: and, and that's a very transactional relationship there.
Mm-hmm. You have something, I have something, da, da, da, da. But where it becomes relationship, relationship like mm-hmm. It's me being like, I am a person [00:14:00] and I don't have all the answers.
Shawna Vesco Ahern:
Anna Lisa: And can you work that out with me? That's when I feel like, yes, I am putting me, My promise, my vulnerability as a person.
Mm-hmm. Also as a professional. 'cause you could see my LinkedIn, it is stacked up to a T with different things, but that's where I feel people realize, oh, I'm working with someone. That believes in me. Mm-hmm. And I am, I'm believing in them. Um, I'm believing in them and that they're gonna come through with me.
I got you. You got me.
Shawna Vesco Ahern: Well, it seems to be working. tell me about a moment, and this could be like a long moment, could be months, could be a whole year, could be a flash. Tell me about a moment in your career that everything. Changed for you, either like a breakthrough moment of affirmation where you really knew you were on the right track, you this project, just [00:15:00] you're like, this is what I'm meant to do.
Or tell me about one of your setbacks, a failure you love so much, or tell me about, you know, kind of a neutral turning point. Something that like puts you in a particular direction or on a path.
Anna Lisa: I've had many setbacks.
Shawna Vesco Ahern: Mm-hmm.
Anna Lisa: I've had. I mean, I deal with right now taking it on a human level with am I of a value and of devalue.
I'm consistently applying for jobs and I get a lot of callbacks within the realization, oh, you're overqualified. I was like, thank you. Now what's next guys? So it, it's great to hear and it. You know, I have a, uh, at my house, I have a box with a bunch of thank you cards and written notes from different places I worked at.
I actually have one from my [00:16:00] friend, Jasmine Brown, Ms. Brown, and it was from when I worked at Moad and it has a Libre girl on one side, and she wrote, uh, my friend Jasper wrote. You are a ura. Aw. So I hold onto those things. Mm-hmm. To remember, like, I have a lot to bring to the table.
Mm-hmm.
Anna Lisa: I have a lot to do in this world, and I really hone into my values.
So I consistently go into setbacks, but specifically I remember, uh, I had left my job at Moad. Um, I was finishing up grad school and I can go into detail about grad school and being like a place that definitely made me feel devalued. Ooh. I identify with that.
Shawna Vesco Ahern: We'll get
Anna Lisa: into that next. I was weirdly enough working on my thesis, uh, looking at public art and how pub, how [00:17:00] museums and nonprofits need to be an advocate for community public art.
Mm-hmm. And dealing with. Professors at the time, um, saying that I'm doing, I'm squeezing that too in, um, and looking and make, forcing that subject in. And I could go into that, but I, I remember I left Moad, I was working with the SF public, uh, s friends for the San Francisco Library. I was doing, um, volunteer coordination and getting.
Sponsoring donations for their big, big book sale that happens at Fort Mason. And one of their donors was Dandelion Chocolates. Mm. Mm-hmm. And, um, I just, I was like, you know what? I worked at, and I loved working there years ago at Humphrey Slocum. I worked at Humphrey Slocum when I was doing Calle Vente Cuatro stuff. Wow.
Uh, and I was like, I've worked there. I really [00:18:00] enjoyed it. Maybe I should work here as a barista and just, um. At least get through my grad school. Yeah. And eat a lot of chocolate. And I got that job. I applied for the barista, they called me and they actually offered me a higher role. They were inviting me to experiment themselves.
They wanted to play around what does it look like to having a manager of visitor services. Mm-hmm. And they saw that on my resume that I had a lot of experience in that and. I say, yeah, let's do it. I've never done it with chocolate. Yeah. But at the same time, I was looking at myself like, what am I doing?
Like, uh, after working there for months and months and I was just like, I miss, I was in the mission, I would see my peoples come in and when I say my peoples like, people that [00:19:00] look like me. Like. Didn't sometimes speak a lick of English and I the only face that they recognize That they feel connected to.
And I will walk 'em through the whole space and um, and I will meet the workers that were making the chocolates. I remember there's one guy named Pablo that still works there and he school, I know when he found out I was part Cuban and we were like, ah, brother and sister from long, from a long distance.
Um, but that feeling, it's so much needed. And that's what's really what's making me feel like so much disconnect. Mm-hmm. It were, I need to go back to what I was doing. And almost like a homesick feeling. Yeah. And
I felt, I remember one day, early in the morning at the coffee shop. I was there by myself. I was just doing barista work and I was just, it was so quiet. I [00:20:00] think I was like cleaning cups and I remember feeling almost defeated. And I just thought like, this just can't be my end of me.
Shawna Vesco Ahern:
Anna Lisa: I can't just, I just didn't, I had just came from Moad.
I just came from CHSI did the friends of the library, I did Calle Vente Quatro and I was like, is this what I'm doing now? Mm-hmm. So I, I didn't, I think I put it more out into the ether That I really, you know, want more. And a couple weeks later I got a call from CHS and they asked me, they, would I be open to applying for a role there?
Mm-hmm. Y'all.
Shawna Vesco Ahern: And ever since then, your identity and your work have been tied together. Yeah,
Anna Lisa: and I love California Historical Society. I love working under Anthea Hartig and all the staff. The li [00:21:00] having a library there. Mm-hmm. And having a collect a, his historical collection, uh. The program manager at the time, Patty fte.
Mm-hmm. Is amazing. Didn't they just close
Shawna Vesco Ahern: down? Yeah. And then their collection moved to Stanford now? Yes. And then Francis Kaplan, I met her yes. In an interview cycle. Um, 'cause I named my daughter Francis, so we were talking about that. I think she went to Stanford with the collection. Yeah.
Anna Lisa: She went to Stanford with the collection and many of the staff.
They, uh, from what I understand, um, they're okay. And they all went to different, uh, avenues of what they do, what they love. So I'm really happy that they went, um, not too long ago, and Thea Heart Tech came to town. We had a little get together that I wanted to put, and that's also part of my, what I love to do is like, just 'cause the project ended doesn't mean we stopped talking.
Yeah. So. I was really happy when she came to town and, you know, open [00:22:00] door like this is what's happening. Do you feel, do you want to just come?
Shawna Vesco Ahern: And I think when, when projects and nonprofits and other places. Closed down, and with the federal funding cuts that could be coming more and more, it's so good to remember that these places are made up of people and we're still all around and we still all have that energy and that imagination, and we still all wanna be doing stuff.
So it is right now, important more than ever to keep connecting and keep trying to lift these projects off the ground.
Anna Lisa: Well, as life gets harder. Mm. With wanting to get things off the ground and becoming more aware, like, and exploring, even though this is something I've actually tried to move away, the definition and the connotations of doing it for the love of the work.
Mm-hmm. A lot of times I felt like when people say that, it's like, oh, free labor. Yeah, free labor. And I've tried [00:23:00] many. In many ways, in all the projects I've done to advocate for at least a good price.
Shawna Vesco Ahern: what's your next move? do you want to work in a huge institution?
Do you like working in arts nonprofits or are you looking more now in kind of like adjacent fields that like blend Health and arts or housing and arts or trying to get. A foot maybe into a different industry that's more well funded, but still is interested in the arts. I don't, I don't discriminate.
Anna Lisa: I mean, I've had, I think this is comes from my own upbringing too. I know how to stretch a dollar. Yeah. Really well. And I also been very lucky to have multiple dollars and be like, here you go. And um. So I'm very versatile in that. So when it comes to like, how do I tell people what I do? Mm-hmm. It's like I just do it.
I just do it. [00:24:00] It's just, it has to have my values and my values if am I supporting artists and my paying them what they deserve and my, um, creating something that's longevity and can actually either evolve to stuff. Mm-hmm. That is amazing to me. 'cause I a lot of times take on projects when they're fresh, new, and still in the ideation.
Mm-hmm. And even when I get the idea, I'm like, hmm. So how do we either grow this or narrow this down to be realistic? Right. Um, and a lot of times that position and, um. I feel like there's a lot of people that feel uncomfortable in this. It has come with like a lot of bumps. A lot of pivots. I know that's a dirty word sometimes to people.
It's a triggering word pivot, nimble. But I thrive in that little zone. Mm-hmm. [00:25:00] And I've been comfortable enough to be like, this is what didn't work, but this is what's going to work.
Shawna Vesco Ahern: Mm-hmm.
Anna Lisa: And that's where the juiciness comes in. That's where like the real work really shows. And I, I will say there's a lot of people that don't see that work.
Yeah, for sure. Um, but that's where, uh, half of the report's go in. But um, yeah, so my values is. Is it working with partners that allow me to do that? Mm-hmm. Uh, allow me to grow something. It's all about seeding, so how can I seed something and I have a brown thumb when it comes to stuff. Mm-hmm. But eventually I, I do figure out how to get it right.
Mm-hmm. What did you go to grad school for? I went in museumology. Okay. Why? So [00:26:00] after I graduated from SF State I came out with, uh, Latino studies. And I also came with a degree in art history and studio painting. Um, I studied color theory too. It, I was, I was having another moment of like, what am I doing with myself?
Because I have these degrees. I,
what does, I feel like the path is so wide. Versus like, I went to school for a nurse and the next thing is this and the next thing is that. Right. Mine was like. There's just endless options, but not enough options.
Shawna Vesco Ahern:
Anna Lisa: It just feels overwhelming and the only thing I knew what to do was to go back to school.
I also was freaking out because of the loans. Yeah. That's a real thing. I still freak, freak out when I look at them. Mm-hmm. So school loads, [00:27:00] like, what do I really wanna be in life? Do I have to choose one thing?
Shawna Vesco Ahern: Do you treasure your. Grad school experience or getting that degree or do you feel like it's contributing now when people come at you with that overqualified, that dirty word, overqualified?
No, I
Anna Lisa: actually do. I've only had a couple times in my life. Mm-hmm. And usually it's with talking to hr. When I start negotiating my, my like fair wage or fascinating. Yeah. Yeah. I've never really used it. Mm-hmm. I never feel like I really needed it. I think. I am very fortunate that I've reached a level in life where people either have experience working with me or have heard of my work.

Anna Lisa: And, um, going back my word is golden. Mm-hmm. Like being truthful, being honest. I try to live in that as much as possible. Because people hear about it in this, well, I work a lot in San Francisco, seven by seven people gonna know. Yeah. [00:28:00] Nowhere to hide. Um. So I try to live in that. So luckily a lot of my jobs I've gotten, they'll look at my resume, maybe they'll recognize my name, maybe they'll recognize just my face, either or.
Uh, but once they start talking to me and they're like, oh, I know that I know this. And then eventually they'll look down on a resume and be like, oh yeah, you went school. But my grad school years, I think. When I was in school itself, I felt very
numbing. But when I was doing other things mm-hmm. That brought me joy and that was the hard thing I was having a problem with in grad school. Here we are in a classroom setting talking about. Museums and nonprofits and what you should do [00:29:00] not do. And not to say like a lot of the lessons I didn't learn, I've had some amazing badass professors.
And, but then I had a good chunk of not Yeah. And, uh, it was just this numbing feel. 'cause here I am sitting in a. In a classroom talking about work that I felt like I was doing right. And at the time, kind of like trying to answer like, what do I do? How do I tell my colleagues I'm doing this work?
I had colleagues that were like, yeah, I work at visitor, like the entry level work, uh, doing fellowships and internships. And, um, here I am. I'm like, well, I'm doing this and working. Right. I was like, I'm doing. Something for the love, and then I'm also working and then I'm going to grad school.
Mm-hmm. I'm all over the place and, uh, I think I did a good job at keeping up with all of it, but. At the end of the day, [00:30:00] I got my certificate in graduate at Museum Ology, and I went through the MBA path. Mm-hmm. And people do ask me, why did you do MBA? You're such a creative. I was like, because I have also a background in supporting small businesses.
My mom had a small business that closed down. My good friend who basically opened the door for me from working in galleries, Encantada Gallery, Mia Gonzalez. Mm-hmm. You know, she closed down and a lot of these businesses were closing down because of gentrification. So what does that look like as a business tactic?
I luckily met a lot of artists who, uh. Who have families. Mm-hmm. Have they got, do they got stuff? Bills to pay? Yeah. At and t don't care. Yeah. Your show got cat sold. So they have to be very creative. It's savvy in today's life. So I, the BA, because I wanted to, that's where my creativity is, like in that [00:31:00] capitalism, what does that look like?
Mm-hmm.
Anna Lisa: I still use a calculator to add stuff. I'm not. Like the most, but you're thinking
Shawna Vesco Ahern: on that level. Yeah. I'm trying to
Anna Lisa: think on that level. Like what do you, and, and there's been a lot of times that like tro, luckily here I am figuring out how to do it in corporations, a corporate in corporations for a non-profit LLC, and then I'm reading about it in school.
Um, so it's a lot of like doing and reading and. I don't know. It's just so much. And then I meet so many people that do it themselves. Yeah. Those are the real folks. Mm-hmm. Who are just like literally doing it themselves here. I had the privilege to go to school and learn a couple things here and there.
Right. Um, but I, I mean, I, and I will say too, my degrees do help me. [00:32:00] Hold space in certain spaces. 'cause I do get a look of like, Hey, I used to be a housekeeper back in my day when I first moved out here, so hello little housekeeper. And I'm like, I am not the housekeeper. And um, and then I meet other people who wanna start their business and I kinda get creative with them too.
Mm-hmm. Like, what can we do? What works, what didn't work? Uh, I also am help helpful to sh and. Open to share what the projects I worked on and what didn't work. That's critical.
Yeah.
I, I do a lot. I mean, pat myself on the back, but I, I do a lot. I think it's. You know, it's, I grew up, this is another thing I, I have shared with people.
I grew up luckily with a single parent. My mom, my mom never [00:33:00] told me not to be an artist. Hmm. My mom said to me, life is a paycheck. You put the amount you wanna make.
And she also was like, you like nice things. You like this, you like that. You have to put those steps to keep that going. So I grew up in a very survival, like, uh, household
Yeah. My, so my mom was a single parent. We grew up in Compton and um, my dad passed away when I was very young, when I was four.
And my mom also was, she didn't know, but she actually was pregnant with my little sister, uh, which was unexpected. And I also. I didn't grow up very as connected to my Latino roots in many ways.
I also grew up with many [00:34:00] ways, in many ways, different artistic people.
My dad was a glacier, so he would cut glass, but, and it's an old dying craft. Mm-hmm. Uh, he also was a mechanic. My brother also pointed to mechanic and auto body paint Eventually. Um. My dad's best friend in Mexico, I remember he would come and stay with us and he was building furniture. So I've had these craftsmen, craftspeople, building and creating stuff.
Um, I remember my brother. Eventually got a, an internship to work with Plexiglass, the Art of Plexiglass. It would bring these cylinder or uh, curvy tubes of, of plexiglass. It's so cool. And um, and for me, I remember I would take the loteria cards and I will draw them, redraw them. [00:35:00] But I didn't take an art class.
I didn't take an art class until I was in high school. And that's because of, I remember my friend Karina in high school was like, take a class with me and I'll always skip class.
My mom. I remember she took me to the Natural History Museum as a kid. And I remember being locked out and we all had to jump the fence to get out. Uh, that was like one of the artist experience. I also remember the first time I went to LACMA as a kid.
Um, and that was on the field trip. And the only reason I got to go was because the counselor really liked me. But these were like the high achiever, avid students and I was not the avid student, but I got to go. So art. For me was very, very limited. I've never met another artist, didn't know what that was.
Um, but I remember my first time moving to San Francisco. [00:36:00] I moved here in August of 2008 and. It was during outside lands. Lincoln Park was playing in Golden Gate Park and my first place was staying at my, another counselor, uh, Kayden Shaw's friends, Mary Allison Skip's place on 45th and Lincoln right across Wow.
The park. We could hear it and I remember sneaking in, it was my San Francisco experience, but I remember. Uh, getting in their garage and seeing a lot of frames. Mm-hmm. And Mary Alice telling me, oh, our neighbor's an artist, oil painter from Guatemala. He taught his, he brought his wife and children, and she's currently pregnant from Guatemala and taught her how to build the frames so she could build frames while he's at Fisherman's Wharf selling his artwork.[00:37:00]
And he comes home and he paints more and that's how they were making a living. That was my first time meeting another brown family. Mm-hmm. That was making a living as artists. And I think at that moment I would've stayed. I was like, I wanna do art. I just wanna do art. I think that's where, well not, I think I know so.
San Francisco showed me that you can be an artist.
Shawna Vesco Ahern: Mm-hmm.
Anna Lisa: And in many ways, San Francisco itself has done that, has amazing artist. My good mentor friend and collaborator was Ale is Alejandro Moria and he's telling the city is a poet city. We're all the poets and I have a good, you know, poet family here and.
Working with Mia Gonzalez. She, along with a [00:38:00] couple other people, found the Balmy alley. Mm-hmm. And she used, used to tell me, she was like, we didn't know what we were doing. We just knew it needed to be done. And, um, it's just so many creative outlets and for me it really hits home when I start to see.
The removal of the access of art. The removal of being able to see people do art and thrive as working artists, as working small creative business owners, because I know what exactly what it looks like without having it.
Shawna Vesco Ahern:
Anna Lisa: I grew up in that neighborhood. Where it wasn't public art. It was graffiti and royals and markings on the wall, um, where my mom was trying to figure out how to [00:39:00] keep us busy and entertain us as kids because there was no art program.
There's no creative access. Luckily, that neighborhood has changed where there is a lot of that. And luckily San Francisco is a place that you still can't find it. Like Carnival just happened.

Anna Lisa: And I know people spend all year creating their costumes, practicing day and night blisters. Trying to make sure they can't wear their heels.
And there's dance programs for kids and imagine being like five. Growing up in Sev, and then all of a sudden you're 15 and you're still performing on the parade. Hell yeah. But imagine not being able to do that to the next generation. That's where it kills me, because I didn't have that. So I'm like, how can we keep this going?
Shawna Vesco Ahern: I'm happy you found [00:40:00] your people here in San Francisco and happy you found your mission here and that. You're gonna make sure that this stuff is around for the next generation, and that you're moving all these barriers to access, to art, to ideas, and you're welcoming everyone in.
Anna Lisa: Thank you.
Shawna Vesco Ahern: The time has come to ask the magic eight ball a question, and she's never wrong. Oh my God. I'm scared. Yeah. It's gotta be yes or no question. She's never wrong.
Anna Lisa: Yes or no?
Shawna Vesco Ahern: Mm-hmm.
Anna Lisa: What am I asking? I am asking,
oh my God. I am asking. Oh goodness. I don't know what to ask. It's like so many questions. It's a lot of pressure. It is a lot of pressure. Why do you do this to people?
is art, the answer to all our problems.
Signs. Point to Yes.
Shawna Vesco Ahern: Aw magic. Eight [00:41:00] ball. Eight ball. You know what to say. Well, thank you and goodnight Thank you.
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