It’s May, it’s May – the lusty month of May. This song from “Camelot” always plays in my head on May 1, and it always seems like the most beautiful month of the year. So much to do around town. The San Francisco International Arts Festival returns. The Asian Art Museum has a poignant exhibit. The ever-inspiring Decorator Showcase has a beautiful home to wander this year (as always). It’s Bay to Breakers month – maybe it’s your turn to try it. Carnaval explodes in a riot of color later this month. And we have several music venues that shine acoustically. And to all you Moms – Happy Mother’s Day.

Now-May 10. The 23rd San Francisco International Arts Festival

This year’s festival is a diverse lineup of performances by local and international artists at venues in the Mission. SFIAF celebrates the arts by bringing together a global community of artists and audiences. They present innovative projects that focus on increasing awareness and understanding within and across cultures.

In addition to working with larger institutions, SFIAF places a high priority on the participation of culturally diverse and smaller entities—in particular, communities whose histories have been marginalized or left out of the prevailing American narrative. SFIAF

Thru May 25. The 47th San Francisco Decorator Showcase

This year’s showcase is in a quintessential piece of the city’s architectural fabric. Built in 1897, the nearly 10,000-square-foot Queen Anne-style Victorian at 2315 Broadway Street stands as a testament to the Gilded Era of Pacific Heights. Inside, eight bedrooms and seven-and-a-half bathrooms are enveloped in the craftsmanship of a bygone era, and the sunroom and formal living spaces frame unobstructed, sweeping views of the Golden Gate Bridge and the San Francisco Bay.

This year’s curated group of designers has reimagined the interiors with modern artistry ranging from bespoke marble to hand-painted murals. The event benefits San Francisco University High School and brings you inside a new home each season with rooms carefully reimagined by different designers.  The showcase house at 2315 Broadway Street (Pacific Heights) is open Tuesdays through Sundays, April 25th through May 25th. Tickets ($50-$55/person) . DECORATORS SHOWCASE

 Chiharu Shiota at the Asian Art Museum

To artist Chiharu Shiota, yarn is a connective tissue. Her jaw-dropping yarnscapes take over the Asian Art Museum. She uses it to string together opposing forces—past and present, the internal and external—in webs that appear delicate and fluid but are, in fact, steely and immobile. Shiota used 20 miles of red yarn to weave together Diary’s tunnels. In its latticework, she suspended historical ephemera like snowflakes—pages from the diaries of fallen Japanese soldiers in World War II combined with personal objects from the same era found at flea markets in Berlin.

Collected together, they become a profoundly intimate archive of human experience that reveals what happens when memories are untethered from those who made them. Chiharu Shiota describes her signature style as three-dimensional drawing, a medium she invented after becoming disillusioned with the restrictions of painting. Over her nearly thirty-year career, it’s allowed the artist to confront the contradictions and tragedies of life while simultaneously drawing out their universality. CHIHARU

Surround Yourself In the Beauty of Sound

SF has many well known music venues, but here are a few lesser known places with acoustics that will surround you in the beauty of sound.

Audium

The first theater of its kind in the world, The Audium is like a sound bath on steroids. Listeners sit in total darkness as 176 speakers ping-pong the audio across multiple spatial planes in multiple directions, speeds, and intensities. There are just 49 seats strategically positioned throughout the circular, sloping-walled auditorium custom built in 1975. Now through May 16^th, you can be  immersed in The Moment: A Residency Replay from Audium alumni Alex Abalos and Roco Córdova, a work shaped by sounds from SF’s Filipino community and daily life in Gaza.  1616 Bush St.  audium.org

Soundbox

Think the symphony is outdated? Some of the younger generation believe that but tell that to the SF Symphony’s new SoundBox, an experimental performance space hidden inside Davies Symphony Hall. What happens at SoundBox isn’t a straightforward performance; it’s a multisensory experience that can be anything the curator desires. Part underground club, part cathedral of sound, this inventive speakeasy-like venue is an acoustic adventure waiting to happen. sfsymphony.org

The historic Old First Presbyterian Church

Located at Sacramento Street and Van Ness Avenue may not have the name recognition of nearby Grace Cathedral, but like the Gothic beauty on the hill, it has become a singular space for extraordinary acoustic experiences. Since the 1970s, some of the eclectic performances presented by Old First Concerts, that operates independently from the church itself—revolve around the meticulously cared-for Steinway concert grand piano. What the concerts  all have in common are acoustics that reverberate from the soaring ceilings and fill the space with sound. oldfirstconcerts.org

The Lost Church in the Mission

It isn’t actually a church. But the intimate venue literally carved out of the living room of its co-founders is no less breathtaking as a music venue. There are exactly 49 seats in the 1,000-square-foot space, a low stage lined with footlights, and acoustics so good that even unplugged performances feel powerfully amplified. From indie and bluegrass to experimental electronica, The Lost Church line-up is diverse, punctuated by comedy shows, open mics, and the occasional one woman show. thelostchurch.org

May 23-25. Carnaval

Carnaval San Francisco cultivates and celebrates the diverse Latin American, Caribbean and African Diasporic roots of the Mission District and the San Francisco Bay Area. They accomplish their mission through dance, music, the visual arts and by creating spaces for community learning, school–based education, and advocacy. Now in its fourth decade of celebration, Carnaval San Francisco has been an opportunity for many cultures to come together in one spirit to share their creative expression.

The free, two-day Carnaval festival takes place May 23^rd and 24^th and spans 17 blocks in the Mission District. It features five main stages, 50 local performing artists, and 400 vendors. It offers international food, dancing, sampling sites, and entertainment for families, and friends from all ethnic, social, and economic backgrounds.  CARNAVAL

May 17. Bay to Breakers

This is wild, crazy, and fun. If you have never participated in or watched any part of it, I guarantee it will lift your spirits. Having participated in this Bay Area craziness in the early 2000’s, I can attest to the joy and community it creates. No longer quite the alcohol fueled event it once was, it still carries you along in a wave of joy. It is worth jumping in (no need to register unless you really want to) and people watching.

The costumes are creative, the vibe is high, and it is an institution. Most people try to join the course mid-way and run for free, but if you want to be official, sign up in advance through the website. It’s a 12k event that is over 100 years old. It’s a race made for everyone, so dress up, bring your friends, and be cheered on every step of the way by SF’s finest crowds. Pushing boundaries and breaking records since 1912 – it’s your turn to join the party. BAY TO BREAKERS