Chanticleer

Chanticleer lives its commitment every day to virtuosity in voice, education of our youth and creation of new choral music. Thanks to generous individuals like you, Chanticleer has remained steadfast in these pursuits. Our touring, recording and ticket revenue only covers a portion of our expenses and we rely on you, our generous and devoted patrons, to make up the difference.

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Humanities West

Humanities West presents a wide-ranging series of lectures and performances encompassing the fine arts, social history, music, politics, and philosophy of the arts. Since 1983 these interdisciplinary programs have been designed to entertain and educate diverse audiences in an effort to illuminate and elevate the human spirit through exploration of the many sources of modern culture.

Each season Humanities West presents a number of programs in which leading scholars and artists present lectures, performances, readings and discussions to audiences in San Francisco's Marines' Memorial Theatre. These one- or two-day events represent an opportunity unique not only to the Bay Area, but also to the entire United States. In cooperation with other institutions, such as the Mechanic's Institute Library and the Commonwealth Club of San Francisco, additional public lectures and panels are presented to further expand upon program topics.

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Lamplighters Music Theatre

Lamplighters Music Theatre was founded in 1952 to produce the comic operas of librettist W.S. Gilbert and composer Arthur Sullivan, and is now recognized as one of the world’s pre-eminent Gilbert & Sullivan companies. The Lamplighters’ repertoire includes all the surviving works of these creative geniuses, as well as comic operas and classic musicals by other composers that exemplify their artistic vision. The hallmarks of a Lamplighters production are lavish costumes and sets, live orchestra, excellent comic acting, and gorgeous unamplified singing that showcases the beauty and purity of the human voice.

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Presidio Theatre

San Francisco is a city built on art.

A city where the Stock Exchange boasts a Diego Rivera mural, where the first art school opened only 20 years after the Gold Rush, where the Beats emerged from the counterculture to transform an entire generation.

A love of the arts may run deep in our city, but the arts don’t stay alive by themselves. They need support. They need audiences. And more than ever, they need a home.

The Presidio Theatre provides a community-oriented space for the performing arts in an increasingly expensive city. We rely on the generous support of people like you to continue on our mission.

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San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus

During the fall of 1978, a call went out to men in and around the Castro who liked to sing inviting them to a gathering with the purpose of possibly creating a chorus. The driving force was Jon Sims, the conductor of the Freedom Band. October 30 was chosen as the date of the first “rehearsal” to be held at Everett Middle School. The word went out and flyers were posted around the neighborhood. 

Interest mounted leading up to that first gathering held at Everett Middle School. Around 100 men showed up on the first night. The atmosphere of excitement was described as palpable. The men sang “If They Could See Me Now” and “Stouthearted Men.” Jon Sims conducted the first couple of rehearsals, planning to call the group “Men About Town.” Other suggested names for the group (seriously) were Foggy City Chorus and Homosexual Choir (“gay” was still considered denigrating). After a few weeks, Dick Kramer was brought on to conduct the new group, and thankfully, they settled on the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus as their name. It turned out to be a fortuitous decision. A small group of singers did keep the name “Men About Town.” By the way, the original name of the San Francisco Lesbian/Gay Freedom Band was the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Marching Band and Twirling Corps. 

The rest of the story is now legendary and suitable for movie scripts. At the fourth rehearsal, on November 27, having spent the day with the news of Harvey Milk and George Moscone’s assassinations, the singers showed up to rehearsal grief-stricken and in shock. Dick Kramer passed out Mendelsohn’s “Thou, Lord our Refuge.” The group then set out from there to the steps of City Hall for the candlelight vigil where they performed for the very first time. Little did the men who gathered more than 40 years ago know they were actually giving birth to a world-wide LGBT choral phenomenon that now boasts hundreds of choruses around the globe. Donate