Kultivate Labs hosts ‘Hiraya’ to raise funds for Filipino Cultural Corridor

Desi Danganan (left) and Gina Mariko Rosales at “Hiraya” at the Salesforce Tower. Photo by Marky Enriquez

SAN FRANCISCO – Kultivate Labs, a nonprofit economic development arm of SOMA Pilipinas, San Francisco’s Filipino Cultural Heritage District, recently hosted “Hiraya,” an exclusive, invite-only fundraising event at the Salesforce Tower.

SOMA Pilipinas was one of the first cultural districts selected for state designation by the California Arts Council in 2017.

Hiraya means the “realization of one’s hopes and dreams” and the event was geared toward realizing Kultivate Labs’ vision “to economically empower and transform Mission Street [between 4th and 6th Streets] into a Filipino Cultural Corridor,” said Desi Danganan, Kultivate Labs executive director.

“We’ve decided that Mission Street would be the first area that we will focus on because of its proximity to transit, parking and also a lot of other existing community anchors,” she said.

The Aug. 2 event attendees – composed of community members and stakeholders, artists, funders and entrepreneurs – were treated to drinks, small bites and a panoramic sunset view as a way to inspire, empower and garner support.

A map of the Filipino Cultural Corridor in SOMA Pilipinas. Courtesy of Kultivate Labs

As a nonprofit economic development and arts organization, Kultivate Labs creates thriving commercial ecosystems by supporting businesses that preserve culture and community.

“Now we’re saying ‘cultural corridor’ instead of ‘commercial corridor’ to be more inclusive of the activities that are happening, not just of financial transactions but also in support of our culture bearers and artists and creatives as well,” Danganan said.

“Hiraya” is part of a crowdfunding campaign for the development of a Filipino Cultural Corridor in SOMA Pilipinas.

Filipino-owned spaces and businesses include SOMCAN, Bayanihan Community Center, JT’s Restaurant, Executive Order and Sentro Filipino. There are currently two existing spaces with programs under Kultivate Labs along Mission Street: Balay Kreative and Kapwa Gardens.

Along with Undiscovered SF, a creative night market designed to jump-start the economic activity and public awareness of SOMA Pilipinas, Kultivate Labs had laid out plans for the development of what was then known as a commercial corridor on Mission Street.

This included Republika, a permanent innovative retail space for pop-ups and events on the ground floor of the 5th and Mission Street Garage. Plans for Republika was unveiled in 2019 with an anticipated opening of the space in 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic upended this and plans for the commercial corridor were put on hold.

The Kultivate Labs team at the “Hiraya” fundraising event at the Salesforce Tower. Photo by Marky Enriquez.

Coming out of the pandemic, the development of a Filipino Cultural Corridor along Mission Street has been slow. The recent budget cuts from the city of San Francisco that slashed funding for the project only made things worse. Danganan and his team decided to reach out to the community for help.

“The crowdfunding campaign is to support the ongoing effort to make Mission Street the Cultural Corridor,” said Danganan. “Particularly, this year, we’ve gotten cuts from the government and that’s slowing our progress down, and that’s why we’re out there asking for support from the community to keep our momentum going.”

Plans for the Filipino Cultural Corridor includes new spaces and businesses in the 5M development area on 5th Street between Mission and Howard Streets.

The latest addition to these spaces is Bituin Studio – an art gallery, body art studio and community space managed by artists Jenn Ban, Jerome Noveras and Thank You Saint. They acquired their space through Kultivate Labs’ SEED Network’s ACE Collective.

Additional spaces in the area will include a building by the Filipino American Development Foundation, a cafe and a barbershop, Yoü by Hü, which is currently located on 6th Street, between Market and Mission Streets.

Hü was approached by 5M with an offer to move into a building in the area. “We’re going through and coaching him with the negotiations with 5M,” Danganan said.

He also shared that the “big push” for 2025 is opening up the Westfield Mall with Filipino-owned businesses and spaces.

Danganan admitted that, initially, he was not optimistic.

“I was walking into that event going, ‘Oh man, when I get to the pledge drive part, it’s gonna be hard.’ No one’s gonna raise their paddle and I’m gonna like flounder in front of 200 people,” he said.

But it turned out to be a success, and Danganan was amazed by the support of the community.

“The first set of pledges, paddles went up quick, and after that it just kept going faster and faster and faster which was awesome,” he said.

The goal was to raise $20,000 at Hiraya. Paddles continually went up with the amount of pledges, including Danganan doing ten push ups for $500. At the end of the night, the goal was exceeded and Kultivate Labs was able to raise $26,000 worth of pledges from the community.

“That wasn’t the conclusion that we were envisioning, we were envisioning the opposite.”

The goal for Kultivate Labs is to raise $80,000 in 60 days to be able to continue the work of the ongoing development of a Filipino Cultural Corridor in SOMA Pilipinas. Danganan and his team are grateful for the support of the community.

“I came into this thinking that the Filipino community is not ready to support itself but, coming out of it, I was like, the Filipino community is now ready. That narrative that we’re not going to support one another is no longer true.”