Fort Mason Art Points Of Departure Fall 2026

Reserve Space POINTS OF DEPARTURE FALL 2026 PRESENTED BY FORT MASON ART Points Of Departure is a new series of immersive live events celebrating the spectrum of Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture (FMCAC) as a place for innovation and discovery, a personal port of embarkation for its community, and a window on the world. Each program celebrates the vibrant past, present, and future of FMCAC as it charts a course toward its 50th anniversary in 2027. Points Of Departure is curated by Brad Rosenstein, Associate Curator of Public Programs. Two Points Of Departure Fall 2026 Events Happen in The Bayfront Theatre, Building B, Third Floor PROGRAM 2 CIRCUS BY THE BAY Panel conversation and live performances Tuesday, October 13, 2026 – 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Cowell Theater, Pier 2/Gateway Pavilion, FMCAC, RESERVE SPACE Pickle Family Circus at Fort Mason Center For Arts & Culture Lively Arts Festival 1978. Photo: Terry Lorant In the 1970s, San Francisco became an epicenter of the emerging new American circus – an intimate one-ring model that spurned animal acts and focused on traditional skills of juggling, clowning, acrobatics, and aerial work, all filtered through a countercultural vaudevillian sensibility. This “not-so-big-top” was pioneered by such local companies as the Pickle Family Circus and its later incarnation, the New Pickle Circus, which performed annually at Fort Mason Center For Arts & Culture, and longtime FMCAC residents Make*A*Circus. This movement spawned a stream of Bay Area talents that spread their influence from Cirque du Soleil and Broadway to movies, and TV, an impact which resonates to this day. Join us for a magical evening celebrating this uniquely San Francisco history through a conversation with some of its leading lights, all veterans of Pickle Family Circus and the New Pickle Circus: performer/writer/director Gypsy Snider, trapeze artist/choreographer/director Shana Carroll, clown/writer/teacher Jeff Raz, and artistic director/choreographer Tandy Beal. The program includes rare archival photos and video, and live performances by Unique Derique (Prescott Circus), Chloe Somers Walier (Dear San Francisco), Elise Hing (Circus Bella), and performers from San Francisco Youth Circus (SFYC), Circus Center’s pre-professional youth program. SFYC is led by Performance Coach Dominic Cruz, a 7 Fingers/Dear San Francisco alum. (performers subject to change). PROGRAM 3 LIFE ON THE WATER: A REUNION Panel conversation and rare performance video Thursday, November 12, 2026 – 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Bayfront Theatre, Building B, Third Floor, Fort Mason Center or Arts & Culture, RESERVE SPACE LEFT TO RIGHT: LIFE ON THE WATER’s Bill Talen, Ellen Sebastian, Leonard Pitt, and Joe Lambert with a model of the Bayfront Theatre remodel 1987. LIFE ON THE WATER (LOTW) was an extraordinary presenting and producing organization based at Fort Mason Center For Arts & Culture for seven seasons between 1986-1993. Centered in its own custom-designed space (now the Bayfront Theatre), the company was dedicated to presenting artists who originated their own work and committed to a blend of experimental and traditional stage forms, political statement, and cultural diversity. It became nationally renowned for its pioneering showcases of solo theater work by such luminaries as Spalding Gray and Karen Finley as well as co-producing the annual Solo Mio Festival. LOTW’s presentations also ranged from music, dance, screenings, and workshops to ongoing programs such as Latino Theatre Project, Earth Drama Lab, and AsianImprov aRts (AIR). This special evening reunites LOTW’s founding directors Ellen Sebastian Chang, Bill Talen, Leonard Pitt, and Joe Lambert on their former stage for a sparkling conversation about the company’s groundbreaking work, which includes their own creations ranging from Pitt’s “avant mime” theater Not for Real and Sebastian’s epic The Sanctified Church to Talen’s biting satires such as Political Wife. The program…