Brava! Block Party
Saturday, October 17, 2026 @12-5PM
40 Years of Brava!, 30 Years of Community Ownership and 100 Years of the Historic Theater
24th Street • Between Bryant and Hampshire
A free, family-friendly celebration of art, community, and 40 years of Brava!
Live performances • Film Screenings • Art Activations
JOIN THE PARTY!
Film Screenings at Brava Theater
The Brava Block Party will feature two special film screenings highlighting stories and cultural movements rooted in San Francisco communities:
1:00 PM — Vero Majano, Doñas opening up lanes for all of us to cruise
A film celebrating the women and community of the lowrider movement.3:30 PM — Harvey Magsaysay Lozada, Low & Slow Movement
A film exploring the history, culture, and community surrounding San Francisco's lowrider movement.
Learn more about Low & Slow Movement
Brava! for Women in the Arts invites the community to come together for the Brava! Block Party, a free, family-friendly celebration of art, culture, and community on Saturday, October 17, 2026, from 12–5 PM along 24th Street between Bryant and Hampshire in San Francisco’s Mission District.
The celebration marks a major milestone year for Brava: 40 years of Brava!, 30 years of community ownership of the Brava Theater Center, and 100 years of the historic theater building.
The Brava! Block Party is made possible in part through the Community Challenge Grant, supporting Brava’s efforts to activate the 24th Street corridor, engage local artists and community members, and strengthen the Brava Theater Center as a cultural anchor in the Mission.
For four decades, Brava has cultivated and presented the artistic expression of women, people of color, youth, LGBTQIA+ communities, and other underrepresented voices. The Block Party brings that spirit beyond the theater walls and into the neighborhood, inviting longtime supporters, local residents, artists, families, and new friends to celebrate the vibrant cultural legacy of the 24th Street corridor.
As part of Brava's Block Party, join us for a program celebrating women and the lowrider community through short film screenings and a live car show—"making space and opening up lanes for all of us to cruise." —Vero Majano
Setting the tone as folks arrive, Tear Drops by Rose D'Amato (aka Spooky) plays in the theater, welcoming the audience into the space.
The program continues with All Together Now (KRON 4), a news segment exploring cruising culture on Mission Street in San Francisco, featuring Valerie Tulier-Laiwa. The Unique Ladies, directed by Gloria Moran, takes us cruising low and slow through the streets of Chicano San Diego with the city's only all-women's lowrider car club. Members Pat and Sherry turn heads with their show-stopping vehicles, challenging traditional gender norms in a scene where men have long ruled the road while women were relegated to the sidelines. Inside the Latina Lowrider Car Scene (2021) by Gabriela Dematteis offers a further look into the women shaping and sustaining lowrider culture today.
Following the screenings, the celebration moves outside for a car show, bringing the films' stories to life on Brava's block—a fitting continuation of the day's theme: honoring the women who've long been part of lowrider culture, often overlooked, and creating room for that legacy to keep cruising forward.
