Welcome to SFBay Culture and Arts

A constant assured within San Francisco is its evolution — changing and morphing into a new multifaceted identity on a daily basis.

Journalism, as a public good, exists to serve a multitude of purposes, one of which is to be a mode of recording and documenting both the major and minute of our world and to comment on the expansion and changes of the developing societal fabric.

SFBay holds this journalistic tenet at its core. As such, a change is coming.

To faithful SFBay readers, I’m elated to announce the birth of the Culture and Arts section of this news organization, with yours truly at the helm.

Always dedicated to bringing to the reader current with relevant updates of our City’s news, politics and sports, branching into the cultural realm and all its subdivisions was a natural and necessary expansion for SFBay to provide a truly complete package for a better informed and enriched public.

By way of introduction, I’m a journalism and Latino studies graduate from San Francisco State University and have been in the professional realm for approximately three years now.

My name has appeared in a variety of freelance and staff pieces for various print and online organizations, chiefly in local publications such as SF Weekly and El Tecolote. I was primarily a cultural correspondent focusing on tourism, breaking news, literature, and lifestyle.

As an extension of my journalism (hopefully to soon be incorporated into my career), I’m an avid traveler, who, armed with a personal hashtag, is in a quest to uncover the crown jewels of every country. I utilize Instagram and other social networks to capture sensory overload from foreign lands unbeknown to me and others.

At 25 years of age, I’ve visited more than 20 countries and the number will continue rise, as long as my rent doesn’t. Still, even after scaling Andean heights toward Machu Picchu in Peru, or treating wounds of the poorest of the poor in Kolkata, India, or sleeping on Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janiero to have a chance encounter with Pope Francis, there is nothing like coming back to San Francisco and to be embraced by the satisfactory sensation of being home, albeit with a new worldview.

Travel is adventure, it’s about the discovery of ourselves and of our relation to the world. It is both a visceral and cerebral learning experience. Travel is about the journey, regardless of where you go.

The very same can be said about the arts: a sojourn for the minds and hearts of those who witness and participate in it. It is with this penchant for travel and its subsequent outlook that I apply into my work and toward our SFBay coverage of the local arts and culture scene.

Our work presented here is meant to pull back the curtain of San Francisco in subtle ways. San Francisco is on the verge of change. This City’s creative intelligence is coming to a boil in realms such as the literary, musical, culinary, and humanitarian. Cities, like people, live their own journey.

SFBay captures San Francisco in the here and now. Breaking news and sports coverage chronicles the daily happenings of our region, but it is through entertainment, art, and culture where the character is being revealed to not only outside audiences, but ourselves.

Everyone, from the power player to the artist, even the humble resident molds the San Francisco spirit. Our role as journalists is to delve into the individual elements contributing to the wonderful enigma known as The Bay Area and to document a history of the soul.

We explore because we need a jolt to see our surroundings and life anew. With just a quick click and view through our articles and videos, a fresh perspective is all yours, dear reader. We’ll push boundaries and redefine what is considered quality and worthwhile reporting one post at a time.

Ready for an adventure to places as far as Argentina or as close as 24th and Mission streets? From corgis to chocolate and hiking to haute couture, follow me and our team of talented writers to see a whole new world.

¿Dónde Anda Juan De Anda? Where is Juan De ANda?

Everywhere and anywhere, but especially now at SFBay: All Bay. All Day.