Application Answers -

• What is the mission? We aim to create an immersive art experience that challenges players' ideas on five core principles. The five principles we play with at People on A Mission are universality, seeing through another's lens, connection, vulnerability, and resilience.
• We engage people through our interactive narrative game in which the players get involved with silly campaigns, but they lurking under every silly idea is a deeper concept that we believe needs to be discussed in modern society. The goal is to provide an experience that allows people to question the social structures that exist, interrogate their own beliefs, and explore how to meaningfully engage in the co-creation of society.
• Our long-term goals are to create an interactive troupe, similar to Meow Wolf or Nonchalance, that engages our audience both in these on-the-street campaigns (which we plan to keep free) and into physical experiences in which we charge entry or acquire grants to put on.
• Tell us about yourself. Why would you be a good fit? (150 words or less) Jason and I are artists and entrepreneurs who have been inspired by San Francisco our entire lives. We created People on a Mission because we wanted to connect with the thriving artistic community in SF and the greater bay area. We have found that our game/experience can attract and pull players from locations across the bay area. We feel like we’ll be able to transform the space into a unique art destination reflective of San Francisco and encourage people to explore different parts of the city.
• What is the title? Memory Market
• Tell us about your activation! What kind of experience are you creating? From the outside, the Memory Market looks like a cool vintage shop or retail space, but when visitors enter they see that none of the items have price tags, instead each item is accompanied by a card detailing a memory that is associated with the object. Visitors can either bring an item to the shop to trade for an item on display (a Memory Market employee will ask questions and take notes about the item's memory) or purchase an item as a patron.
• The goal of the Memory Market is to have people examine the relationships we have to the objects we surround ourselves with, and how our objects and memories connect us to one another.
• During the day (11 am - 4pm) the Memory Market will operate like any other retail store, but in the evenings (5pm - closing) we will take reservations and the Memory Market will be used as a narrative escape room in which visitors use clues hidden throughout the space to solve puzzles that speak to a larger narrative theme.
• How does your activation aim to enliven downtown? Memory Market aims to enliven downtown by providing an immersive art experience that blends retail and experiential design to deliver a space that encourages artistic engagement. We believe that San Francisco is a city full of art, but many people only think to look for it in museums and galleries. We want the Memory Market to show visitors and residents that art lives everywhere. By having a art/retail space that transforms into a game in the evenings we hope to bring people downtown and show them that the city is very much alive and thriving.
• Please describe any relevant experience you have with pop-up activations. We have already begun running micro pop-ups of the Memory Market across San Francisco in order to test the concept and reception. We have promoted the market with flyers, reaching out to our player database, as well as sharing on social media — then set up a sidewalk table (images provided above) with the objects and memories. In our 3 micro Memory Markets we have seen tremendous turnout with over 200 visitors and a roughly 30% conversion rate (both people trading memories or purchasing them).
• How many days per week do you plan on operating? We plan on operating 4 days a week.
• What would your hours of operation and public accessibility potentially look like on a weekly basis? Thursday - Sunday 11am-8pm
• Who is your target audience?Please be as specific as possible. Examples may include residents in a certain neighborhood, queer community, muralists, etc. Our target audience are artistic/ funny people. We drive the same kind of audience as a comedy show might or a piece of live theater. We are often told we remind our community of old San Francisco a value we hold dear. Our space will be friendly to any identity that a person may have.
• Please link the URL to any social media platforms you are active on — https://www.peopleonamission.info/
• https://www.instagram.com/people.on.a.mission/
• https://www.tiktok.com/@peopleonamission
• How do you plan on promoting your pop-up activation? We plan on promoting our pop-up activation through our social networks, website, as well as through our player database (1,000+ active players)
• How did you hear about this program? Sara Bahat from YBCA told us about it
• Is there anything else you would like to share with us? Here are links to some local press about our collective and previous campaigns we have run: