UNSTAGED: Live on Mid-Market Returns Summer 2025
The returning free, monthly event series will inaugurate the new Mid-Market Entertainment Zone, starting Thursday, June 19
SAN FRANCISCO (May 16, 2025) – Market Street Arts announces the return of UNSTAGED: Live on Mid-Market, the free, interactive monthly event that brings arts and performances to Market Street between 5th and 6th Street, activating the new Mid-Market Entertainment Zone. Starting on Thursday, June 19, and running monthly on the third Thursday, UNSTAGED will energize the City’s biggest thoroughfare with live music, immersive art, and community celebration. Through a $75,000 grant from the Svane Family Foundation’s Culture Forward initiative and through support from San Francisco’s Office of Economic and Workforce Development, Mid-Market Foundation will present UNSTAGED for the upcoming five months, through October 2025.
"San Francisco's comeback depends on thriving neighborhoods and businesses, and we've seen the successes and joy that come from entertainment zones in neighborhoods across our city," said Mayor Lurie. "I'm excited that the Mid-Market Entertainment Zone will bring our downtown community together and energize the city with music, art, and culture. Thank you to the community leaders and business owners who are partnering with us to launch this entertainment zone and the fun that will come to Market Street this summer and fall."
UNSTAGED will take place on the third Thursday of June, July, August, September, and October. Each event runs from 4 to 7 p.m., activating the Mid-Market Entertainment Zone with an array of performances, interactive installations, and culinary experiences. With the Entertainment Zone activated, community members can visit local bars and restaurants within the zone, purchase drinks, and enjoy them outside. This return marks a new milestone in Market Street Arts' ongoing commitment to revitalize San Francisco's Mid-Market neighborhood, propelling it forward as a world-class arts and entertainment district. Standing out with its laser focus on live performances, UNSTAGED nods to Mid-Market's storied history as the city's historic theater district.
2025 dates have been announced and are scheduled for:
June 19, 2025
July 17, 2025
August 21, 2025
September 18, 2025
October 16, 2025
"UNSTAGED goes beyond entertainment–it's an economic catalyst for Mid-Market,” said Steve Gibson, Executive Director of the Mid-Market Foundation. “By bringing thousands of visitors to the area each month, we directly support local businesses while creating paid opportunities for over 50 local artists and performances. UNSTAGED celebrates what makes San Francisco special: our diverse creative community, entrepreneurial spirit, and distinctive neighborhood character—all offered as a free experience accessible to everyone.”
“Last year's UNSTAGED events injected excitement and energy into Mid-Market. Building on that success, the new entertainment zone will give the neighborhood’s vibrant businesses and cultural organizations new opportunities to benefit from what will be an amazing series of events. As we’ve seen in other neighborhoods, street activations like UNSTAGED are fundamentally changing our relationship to downtown, and the addition of this entertainment zone expands the way people can enjoy this event," said Sarah Dennis Phillips, Executive Director of OEWD.
In 2024, there were three UNSTAGED events, each of which featured over 20 experiential or immersive performance and art interactions, utilizing over 10,000 square feet of space, including vacant storefronts. Highlights of the inaugural events featured a diverse lineup of artists, including Kat Robichaud's Misfit Cabaret, Renegade Opera, BANDALOOP, San Francisco Bellydance Theater, various musical acts, illuminated art pieces, culinary presentations, and immersive experiences like The Hotsy Totsy Club F Train Experience.
As the first event series to debut within the newly established Mid-Market Entertainment Zone—a designation spearheaded by the Mid-Market Foundation—UNSTAGED’s return represents a pivotal moment in the neighborhood's transformation. UNSTAGED is made possible by support from the Svane Family Foundation’s Culture Forward initiative, which supports creative projects that attract families, students, and professionals to downtown San Francisco. Awarded to Mid-Market Foundation, the grant will provide funding for artistic programming and ensure that participating artists and performers receive equitable compensation while helping to revitalize an iconic San Francisco corridor and the downtown core.
UNSTAGED: Live on Mid-Market is supported by the Mid-Market Foundation, Urban Alchemy, the Office of Mayor Daniel Lurie, the Svane Family Foundation, the San Francisco Office of Economic and Workforce Development.
For more information about UNSTAGED and to stay updated on upcoming performances and activities, visit unstaged.org or follow @marketstreetarts on social media.
ABOUT THE MID MARKET FOUNDATION
The Mid Market Foundation (MMF) is a 501c3 established in 2019 to conceive, implement, and manage transformative programs. It launched Market Street Arts in August 2023, creating a uniting vision for the neighborhood. MMF also launched the Tenderloin/Mid-Market Community-Based Safety Program, which is one of the largest alternative community safety programs in the country, providing ambassador services across San Francisco’s Mid-Market, Tenderloin, and SOMA neighborhoods.
ABOUT MARKET STREET ARTS
Led by the Mid-Market Foundation, Market Street Arts is a multi-year collaboration between the City, neighborhood stakeholders, businesses, residents, private donors, and corporate sponsors to actualize the true potential of Mid-Market. It capitalizes on Mid-Market’s centralized location and creative infrastructure as San Francisco’s historic theater district. Implementation strategies specifically leverage the neighborhood’s larger cultural venues with a fabric of new and existing creative entrepreneurs, arts organizations, businesses, public art, beautification, and events of various scales, serving as a multipronged platform for creative expression, human connection, and economic investment.
Market Street Arts is funded by the Mid Market Foundation, a 501c3 established in 2019 to conceive, implement, and manage transformative programs, in partnership with the San Francisco Office of Economic and Workforce Development.
