This episode features a deeply personal and politically charged conversation with a celebrated Mexican-American artist whose work has been removed from the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery under pressure from the Trump administration, labeled as "woke." Born in Reynosa, Mexico and raised in San Juan, Texas, our guest has spent decades using Baroque techniques to illuminate the immigrant experience — the violence, the hope, and the geopolitical forces that drive people to risk everything crossing a border. We explore the origins of his art, his mother's kitchen-table magic with a pencil, the harsh realities of the border crisis, the weaponization of the word "woke," and what censorship by one of America's most iconic cultural institutions means for art, truth, and democracy. A must-listen for anyone following the Trump administration's assault on cultural institutions — and for anyone who believes art should make us uncomfortable.

What is really happening to San Francisco’s arts ecosystem?

In this episode, Hugh Leeman speaks with Maria Jenson, Creative and Executive Director of SOMArts, about the forces reshaping the city’s cultural landscape. Maria reflects on the fallout from the pandemic, the closure of major institutions, the restructuring of arts governance, and the growing urgency around advocacy, public voice, and sustainable funding.

She also discusses the State of Emergency Summit, direct engagement with city leadership, the importance of protecting arts funding mechanisms like Prop E, and why artists themselves must be included in conversations about recovery. The result is a candid, timely conversation about power, policy, and what it would take to build a more open, accessible, and equitable cultural commons in San Francisco.

Recorded with a live audience at Pier 70's 3rd Street Creative Artery.

San Francisco's art ecosystem is in freefall. CCA, SFAI, Mills College, and dozens of galleries have closed in rapid succession — and gallerist Griff Williams says we haven't even begun to feel the fallout. In this conversation with Hugh Leeman, Williams traces the collapse from the first dot-com bubble to today, confronts the myth of trickle-down cultural investment, and shares what happened when Mayor Daniel Lurie called him out of the blue after a Chronicle op-ed ignited the city. With 32 years running Gallery Sixteen, Williams offers a clear-eyed view of what's been lost, what still survives, and what it actually takes to build a creative community from the ground up — permits or no permits.