In partnership with The Svane Family Foundation, Host Emily Wilson spends time with neon artist & Director of the Culture Forward Initiative, Kelsey Issel.
Welcome to Art is Awesome, the show where we talk with an artist or art worker with a connection to the San Francisco Bay Area.
Emily & AIA is glad to partner with The Svane Family Foundation's Culture Forward initiative — a $5 million grant program to support arts and culture projects in downtown San Francisco.
In the first of episodes, Emily chats with Kelsey Issel, a neon artist and also the Director for the Culture Forward initiative.
Kelsey traces her path from organizing the renegade Fountain Art Fair in the early 2010s (including a memorable "war of the inflatables" with union protesters at the 69th Regiment Armory) to co-founding She Bends, a women's neon arts collective. She discusses the foundation's unconventional approach to philanthropy, which began with giving 100 artists $10,000 each during COVID and evolved into Culture Forward — a general-support grant designed to get cash quickly into artists' hands with the explicit understanding that "some projects might fail."
The episode also highlights the foundation's earlier million-dollar gifts to the Headlands Foundation Fellowship Program and the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, which enabled the acquisition of works from 30 local contemporary artists — several of whom have been past guests on the podcast.
About Artist Kelsey Issel:
Kelsey Issel is a culture worker, artist and curator whose practice centers the ethos of craft—learning through doing, cultivating attention, and recognizing the social responsibility held within materials. She leads Opie Project (space), an arts and culture firm that develops cross-sector programs investing in cultural capital, with partners including the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Headlands Center for the Arts, the San Francisco Office of Economic and Workforce Development, the Port of San Francisco, and Coca-Cola.
With a background in alternative photography, car mechanics, and neon, Kelsey’s hands-on material practice informs her approach to curating, programming, and public initiatives. Her work bridges art and infrastructure, sustaining cultural ecosystems and the communities that grow around them.
Issel was the 2025/2026 Antigravity Residency Artist with Corning Museum of Glass and Rockwell Museum and sits on the Board of Directors at Southern Exposure in San Francisco.
Learn More About "She Bends" Women In NEON - CLICK HERE
For More On The Svane Family Foundation & The Culture Forward Initiative - CLICK HERE
Follow Kelsey on Instagram: @KelseyMarieIssel
Follow The Svane Family on Instagram: @SvaneFoundation
--
About Podcast Host Emily Wilson:
Emily a writer in San Francisco, with work in outlets including Hyperallergic, Artforum, 48 Hills, the Daily Beast, California Magazine, Latino USA, and Women’s Media Center. She often writes about the arts. For years, she taught adults getting their high school diplomas at City College of San Francisco.
Follow Emily on Instagram: @PureEWil
Follow Art Is Awesome on Instagram: @ArtIsAwesome_Podcast
--
CREDITS:
Art Is Awesome is Hosted, Created & Executive Produced by Emily Wilson.
Theme Music "Loopster" Courtesy of Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
The Podcast is Co-Produced, Developed & Edited by Charlene Goto of @GoToProductions.
For more info, visit Go-ToProductions.com