The San Francisco Bay Area is home to some of the most important pioneers in aerial dance and award-winning circus aerial artists. Every two years, Zaccho celebrates these unconventional and innovative artists alongside their international counterparts in a world-class festival devoted to aerial artistry in all its shapes and forms.

Founded in 2014, Zaccho’s biennial San Francisco Aerial Arts Festival is a curated festival devoted to the excellence of aerial artistry. Our goals are to support, challenge, and inspire leaders in the aerial dance field to explore new territory and to deepen public appreciation of this complex art form.

The San Francisco Aerial Arts Festival is a place of convergence for the finest performers and practitioners working today in circus aerial arts and aerial dance. The artists appreciate our festival as an opportunity to showcase their artistry as it is rarely seen side-by-side in a multi-faceted, site-specific celebration presented against the historic backdrop of the Fort Mason Center for Arts and Culture. Zaccho’s legacy as a presenter of groundbreaking site-specific work and aerial dance makes it the perfect organization to realize these goals.

For the 2024 festival, the proscenium and site-specific performances will be presented at Fort Mason Center for Arts and Culture on August 16-18, 2024. Fort Mason provides an extraordinary canvas for the festival and allows us to present our artists with distinction. Fort Mason's Cowell Theater is a 435-seat house well-suited for concert aerial work.

To facilitate engagement and deepen shared knowledge about aerial dance, we invite attendees and performers to participate in community talkbacks and panel discussions with established artists.

New in 2024, the San Francisco Aerial Arts Film Festival will showcase a curated selection of films that capture the grace, strength, and imagination of the aerial arts, pushing the boundaries of what's possible. The film festival will screen parallel to the live performances at Fort Mason. Learn more about the Film Festival here.

Come hang at The Hub! The perfect landing ground between film screenings and performances for festival goers and artists. The Hub is a space for relaxing, conversing, and recharging. Food and beverage will be available for purchase, or bring a snack of your own to enjoy on the beautiful 2nd level landing of the Gateway Pavilion. Open Saturday & Sunday afternoons!


SCHEDULE:

Friday, August 16th at 8:00 PM
Cowell Theater Showcase
Featuring:
Alice Sheppard / Kinetic Light
Ross Travis
Jason Span
Aeriosa Dance Society (Canada)
Cirque Vida / Xochtil Sosa
Corporeal Imago (Canada)
Zaccho Dance Theatre featuring Veronica Blair

Audio Description and ASL Interpretation available

Saturday, August 17th at 1:00 PM
Cowell Theater Youth Showcase
Featuring:
Zaccho Youth Company
Kinetic Arts Center’s Circus Spire
Circus Center's San Francisco Youth Circus
Ashland Aerial Arts
Sentient Arts
Prince Dance Institute and Company

Saturday, August 17th at 3:00 PM
Gateway Pavilion Site Works
Featuring:
Flyaway Productions
Megan Lowe & Roel Seeber
dawsondancesf / Gregory Dawson

Audio Description and ASL Interpretation available

Saturday, August 17th at 8:00 PM
Cowell Theater Showcase
Featuring:
Alice Sheppard / Kinetic Light
Ross Travis
Jason Span
Aeriosa Dance Society (Canada)
Cirque Vida / Xochtil Sosa
Corporeal Imago (Canada)
Zaccho Dance Theatre featuring Veronica Blair

Audio Description and ASL Interpretation available

Sunday, August 18th at 3:00 PM
Gateway Pavilion Site Works
Featuring:
Flyaway Productions
Megan Lowe & Roel Seeber
dawsondancesf / Gregory Dawson

Sunday, August 18th at 7:00 PM
Gateway Pavilion Gallery Showcase
Featuring:
Joey the Tiger
Shannon Gray
Sam Wilder
Thai Lam
Kelsey na Gealaí
Helen Wicks & Saharla Vetsch
Nina Sawant with David Freitag & Andrew Castle

San Francisco Aerial Arts Film Festival
FREE at the Gateway Pavilion
Friday, August 16 - 5:30 PM to 7:30 PM
Saturday, August 17 - 4:30PM to 7:30 PM
Sunday, August 18 - 4:30 PM to 6:30 PM
Seating is limited & first-come-first-serve
Learn more about the films here!

The Hub at the Gateway Pavilion
Saturday, August 17 - 2:00 to 3:00 PM & 4:30 to 7:00 PM
Sunday, August 18 - 2:00 to 3:00 PM & 4:30 to 6:30 PM


Accessibility Services:

Live Audio Description and Haptic Access Tour will be offered for visually impaired audience members by Gabriele Christian of Gravity Access Services during the following performances:

Friday, August 16th - Cowell Theater Showcase at 8 pm
Saturday, August 17th - Gateway Pavilion Site Works at 3 pm
Saturday, August 17th - Cowell Theater Showcase at 8 pm

Haptic Access Tours begin one hour before curtain at 7 pm for the 8 pm showcases and at 2 pm for the 3 pm matinee.

ASL services will also be provided by ASL Interpreters Cathleen Riddley and Debby Kajiyama during the following performances:

Friday, August 16th - Cowell Theater Showcase at 8 pm
Saturday, August 17th - Gateway Pavilion Site Works at 3 pm
Saturday, August 17th - Cowell Theater Showcase at 8 pm

Please email sfaerialartsfest@zaccho.org or call (415) 822-6744 with questions and to pre-register and reserve a headset.


Support for the 2024 SF Aerial Arts Festival is provided by the National Endowment for the Arts, Fort Mason Center for Arts and Culture, San Francisco Grants for the Arts, San Francisco Arts Commission, the San Francisco Dream Keeper Initiative, San Francisco Human Rights Commission, California Arts Council, William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, Phyllis C. Wattis Foundation, Fleishhacker Foundation, Zellerbach Family Foundation, the Terry Sendgraff Trust, and Zaccho's community of generous individual donors.