Arts Presenting, Translated Into a Convening of Relationships:
To Host is to Create the Welcome
Most of us, at some point, have been welcomed into a home that is not our own, be it for a meal or an overnight stay. To “host” is to play this role of welcoming and of facilitating an experience among family, friends, and strangers. It’s a role that becomes all the more important when people arrive from other lands and communities, to create a space of welcome.
The Red Poppy Art House produces over 140 performances annually, all of which are facilitated by a team of Hosts. These are the people that craft the space, setting up seating and sound equipment, adjusting the lighting, and presenting the artists to the public. They manage the volunteers and make sure the artists are appropriately paid at the end of the night. Without them, there would be no performance. The Poppy’s hosting structure, in fact, is one of its most innovative organizational practices. From it, we’ve created a program that continually cultivates and trains new hosts as a kind of hands-on immersive incubator for individuals wanting to develop skills and experience in community-engaged arts presenting. If you want to find out more about our Hosting Program or are interested in joining the team, click here!
Dina is an Iranian immigrant, performer, designer, and vocalist who combines Western classical singing with Middle Eastern styles inspired from her Persian roots. Some of her credits include SF International Arts Festival, Palace of Fine Art, San Jose Stage, Golden Thread Productions at Brava Theater, Yerba Buena Gardens Festival, and the staged reading of Layla & Majnun at BAMPFA as part of the symposium with Mark Morris Dance Group and the Silk Road Ensemble. She tours both nationally and internationally as a costume designer and actress in the shadow light production Feathers of Fire. Dina is also a part-time architect and received her MA in Landscape Architecture from the University of Tehran, College of Fine Arts.
JOHN LEWIS / PERFORMANCE HOST / HOUSE MANAGER
A native Texan with New Mexican roots who spent time in New York before settling in San Francisco, John holds down a health policy day job – but deeply appreciates evening efforts at the Poppy. It’s a brilliant adventure, the constant surprise of music he’d not known produced by some of the loveliest people in the world. And all of it in a space that feels as homey as his living room!
ELENA MENCARELLI / PERFORMANCE HOST / HOUSE MANAGER
Elena is an artist and curator. She moved to San Francisco after finishing her master’s degree in visual arts at the University of Bologna in Bologna, Italy. Previously, she was the artistic director of the Make Your Mark Art Gallery in Melbourne, Australia. In addition to her artistic practice and curatorial background, she is also engaged in art criticism. What she loves most about the Red Poppy are its interdisciplinary nature and its role as a meeting point for artists and creatives from all over the world—it was the very first place, in fact, that Elena visited the moment she arrived in San Francisco. She aims to help the Poppy spread artistic voices into the community, sustain and promote cultural diversity, and support quality and emerging art.
AUDE DALIE / PERFORMANCE HOST / HOUSE MANAGER
Aude is a graduate from the University of California, San Francisco, having studied the interplay between body metabolism and neural functioning. She has an interest in global health and the intersection of the arts, medicine, human rights, and social justice.