Grantee Database

Grant Year

2026-27

Grant Program

General Operating Support

Award Amount

$12,000.00

Project Description

With CAC support, YG2D will strengthen organizational capacity to deliver transformative grief-processing arts programming across California’s most systemically under-resourced communities. Grant funds will support general operating expenses, including artist compensation, staff salaries, and travel, enabling sustainable organizational growth while ensuring equitable compensation for our diverse arts workforce. This operational support enables San Quentin’s monthly ALIVE INSIDE programming, Songs for Life hospice expansion in the East Bay, reentry workshops, community grief processing events, writing workshop scholarships, podcast production, and equitable artist compensation statewide, ensuring sustainable workforce development and accessible programming across all initiatives.

Organization Summary

“Songs for Life” is a heartfelt program connecting professional musicians with hospice patients to provide musical comfort and companionship. Adding meaning to life’s final chapter, musicians create original music inspired by and in honor of each patient’s life.

“ALIVE INSIDE” is a transformative program that establishes a symbiotic relationship between local artists and the incarcerated community through music and poetry. Facilitated by YG2D trained personnel, led by local artists, and in collaboration with prison health and wellness programs, YG2D offers this marginalized community the uncommon opportunity to express grief and honor loss through creative mediums in the context of a safe and powerful communal listening space. The shared experiences within these sessions foster large-scale communion as both artists and inmates connect through their vulnerability and sharing of personal experiences of grief, ultimately amplifying the voices of the incarcerated population both within and beyond prison walls.

“Weekly Community Grief Release”: YG2D facilitates a weekly online gathering space where individuals share and witness grief within a supportive community. The event features music and poetry from local artists and time for communal sharing in a safe virtual space.

“You’re Going to Die” Podcast: YG2D’s weekly podcast navigates conversations on grief, loss, and mortality through personal stories, insights, and reflections shared by a variety of guests, including activists, authors, musicians, and individuals who have experienced profound loss.

“You’re Going to Die” Open Mics: Poetry, Prose, and Everything Goes; Mourning Our Mothers/Fathers; All The Feels, and more! YG2D’s beloved open mic events have been the main attraction of YG2D since its inception. Now held live monthly in the Lost Church in San Francisco and virtually every quarter, YG2D continues to provide communal space to explore and embrace mortality through live music and poetry performed by local artists while celebrating the joy of being ALIVE together.

Organization

YG2D

Address

375 Elsie St

Lower Unit

San Francisco

94110-5519

County

San Francisco

Region

Bay Area – San Francisco

Website

Email

Subscribe to the California ArtBeat weekly newsletter

Skip to content