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Centennial Celebration Continues As June Features the “I” in PPIE with Events With Global themes Throughout Bay

By PPIE100 | June 04, 2015

The influence of the international community and Americans outside the Continental U.S. at the 1915’s World Fair will be the focus of nearly 20 different exhibitions, speakers, presentations and events covering the world from Europe to the Middle East, Asia and the Pacific Islands

Contact: Kevin Herglotz, HPA Strategic Communications | 415-874-9650 | kevin@hpastrategies.com

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif.  June 4, 2015 – In 1915 the Panama-Pacific International Exposition (PPIE) brought the world to San Francisco to celebrate the completion of the Panama Canal.  The international exhibitors and visitors who attended left a lasting legacy in San Francisco and throughout the Bay Area.  During the month of June, PPIE100 will explore and celebrate the contributions of the international community and Americans outside the Continental U.S. and how their participation in the fair helped shape the history of San Francisco.

June’s theme will bring attention to the international influence at the 1915 World’s Fair with more than twenty events that range from a family’s recollection of Sweden’s beautiful pavilion and fine art at the PPIE and the opening of the 37th annual San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival under the Palace Rotunda, to a Commonwealth Club discussion on the future of the Panama Canal.

Highlights include:

  • In Memories & Memorabilia: Sweden’s Exhibits, Charlotte Bernstrom, a descended both from Sweden’s General Commissioner, Richard Bernström, and from Sweden’s Art Commissioner, Anshelm Schultzberg, shares a unique family perspective on Sweden’s exhibits at San Francisco’s world’s fair of 1915, that links then and now. The event will take place on Thursday, June 4 in San Francisco’s newest landmark, the Swedish American Hall located at 2174 Market Street.
  • The newest exhibition at the Oakland Museum of California is now open, PACIFIC WORLDS explores Californian identity as tied to and shaped by the histories, peoples, and geography of the Pacific Islands. The exhibition explores California’s identity as tied to and shaped by the histories, peoples, and geography of the Pacific Islands. Turning the familiar idea of California as the western frontier on its head and re-positioning the State as “the East Coast of the Pacific,” Pacific Worlds weaves together objects and ephemera from the Oakland Museum of California’s collections along with contemporary California Pacific Islander artwork and community voices (Jun 01, 2015 to Jan 03, 2016).
  • The focus on the world continues with the opening of San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival on Saturday, June 5 with a series of thrilling dance performances from around the globe, set in the grand Palace of Fine Arts. These programs feature dances from China, Europe, Hawai’i, India, Indonesia, Korea, Mali, Mexico, the Middle East, Peru, the Philippines, Scotland, South Africa, Spain, the continental US, and Uzbekistan. Each weekend’s program is unique, and features performances by different dance companies.
  • The Alliance Française in San Francisco is hosting an exhibition “A Corner of France in America” that shares posters and artifacts offering a glimpse of just how French San Francisco was and still is, and why it was known as the Paris of the Pacific (Jun 01 to Jul 31, 2015, SF)
  • The Panama Canal: The Next 100 Years, a discussion presented by the Commonwealth Club of California. As part of the Club’s celebration of the centennial of the 1915 Panama Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco, our panel will focus on the role the Panama Canal played in shifting California’s fortunes and opportunities for Pacific Rim trade. (June 11, SF)
  • As part of the Celebrating Pacific Island Art (CPIA) Series, the California Historical Society will host Kua`aina, a Berkeley-based Indigenous Arts and Cultures non-profit. That evening, it will present two artists from American Samoa who bear their cultural traditions (June 18, SF)
  • The Portuguese Fraternal Society of America will host a symposium about the preparations for the World’s Fair in San Francisco and how the Portuguese community was instrumental on the building of the Portuguese Pavilion. The symposium presenter will first give a brief glimpse into the past of the prestigious Portuguese Immigrants that formed a close knit community of the San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as “The Colonia” (June 11, San Jose)

Twenty different exhibitions, speakers, presentations and events will cover the world from Europe to the Middle East, Asia and the Pacific Islands throughout the month of June.   For a full list of events and activities visit PPIE100.org.  Samples of pictures of the international pavilions are available in the June Events folder of the online media press kit.

About PPIE100:  February 20, 2015 marks the 100th anniversary of the Panama-Pacific International Exposition (PPIE), the World’s Fair celebrating the completion of the Panama Canal and showcasing San Francisco—its recovery from the ashes of the 1906 earthquake and fire and its world trade potential. Throughout 2015, the PPIE100, a citywide consortium of cultural, civic, and historical organizations, will conduct centennial programs, events and exhibitions to commemorate the PPIE’s historical significance and to reflect on its legacy, all collaborating on what San Francisco Mayor Edwin M. Lee described as “a uniquely San Francisco way to celebrate a centennial—to focus on then, now and the future.”  PPIE100 organizing partners include the California Historical Society, Innovation Hangar, Maybeck Foundation and San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department.  AT&T is the presenting sponsor with other major support provided by Hearst Corporation, Wells Fargo, Ford, Henry Mayo Newhall Foundation and Sterling Bank/Seligman Family Foundation. Learn more at http://www.PPIE100.org.  Follow PPIE100 on Twitter and Facebook @PPIE100.