SAN FRANCISCO, CA.- Following on the heels of the successful launch of three site-specific lighting installations in the Central Market corridor, Director of Cultural Affairs for the San Francisco Arts Commission Luis R. Cancel is pleased to announce a new round of arts events taking place in March as part of The ARTery Project. Funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, The ARTery Project is a series of art events, fairs, installations and performances taking place along Market Street between U.N. Plaza and 6th Street. ARTery partners the Gray Area Foundation for the Arts, Central City Hospitality House and the luggage store will each open new exhibitions throughout the month, offering the public many weeks of fun activities in which to participate.

"The ARTery Project is aimed at revitalizing the Central Market corridor into a nationally-celebrated cultural destination," said Mr. Cancel. "This exciting series of art openings is just one of the many ways in which this initiative is activating the corridor and shining a spotlight on the incredible work of neighborhood arts organizations."

"In general The ARTery Project has ignited civic engagement among arts groups in the Tenderloin and Central Market neighborhoods and I think that's an incredible step forward," said Josette Melchor, executive director of the Gray Area Foundation for the Arts.

The fun begins on Saturday, March 12, 6:00 p.m. to midnight with the opening of Bullet Train at the luggage store (1007 Market Street). This exhibition brings together artists from two distinctly different locales--locales traditionally thought to be polar opposites: San Francisco and Los Angeles. The exhibition will feature new work that explores the individuality as well as the inconsistency of each artist and their representative city. Bullet Train will be on view through April 16, 2011.

On Friday, March 25 from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m., Central City Hospitality House (1009 Market Street, Ground Floor) will open Identity Project, a group exhibition featuring new work by artists in the Community Arts Program. In a new era of digital media where people often choose to represent themselves through the use of avatars, social networking and blogs, this exhibition presents a modern take on the classical "self-portrait" through multimedia artworks that explore the darker and more complex aspects of our persona and how we choose to portray ourselves to the world. According Ivan Vera, community arts program manager, "We persuaded the artists to venture into their psyche, and to encourage their ego to tango with their id; reverential self-reference is the whole idea of this project." Identity Project will be on view through April 29, 2011.