SFMOMA 75th Anniversary starburst design by James Williams, SFMOMA senior graphic designer.

For those of you who somehow missed the news, or for those in parts more distant: SFMOMA turns 75 this January 18. Bay Area, if it hasn’t happened already, you are about to become intimately familiar with this pretty starburst, as SFMOMA prepares to spend 2010 celebrating 75 long years of life.

This post is a ‘save the date’ card for our long weekend anniversary extravaganza, happening January 16, 17 and 18 (Martin Luther King, Jr. weekend).

Six special anniversary exhibitions, showcasing hundreds of objects from the permanent collection, will be open that Saturday. There will be installations by Bill Fontana (in the Wattis) and Allison Smith ( on the fifth floor); the Mike Shine Show will be parked out on our Minna pad—in a borrowed SFMOMA artists gallery truck—on Saturday and Sunday; the Schwab room (that ground floor room off of the Atrium, where the cocktail bars normally live at the member openings) will be opened to Caffè Museo as a cafe extension/lounge; Blue Bottle is installing an additional, temporary cafe/bar in the 5th floor garden overlook; there will be food carts out in the alley; and the museum will be open late for a party on Saturday, with Matmos headlining, & a cash bar. A full day of family programs—and films—on Sunday, a set of conservation-related programs happening all day on Monday, plus an art supply drive for Bay Area schools all weekend long.

Last, totally not least—75 Reasons to Live : Riffing on Woody Allen’s ‘why is life worth living’ list at the end of Manhattan we invited 75 Bay Area artists, writers, musicians, filmmakers, arts professionals & fans, plus SFMOMA staff and curators, to wax passionate on some work in the collection they love. (Or hate.)  75 in-gallery talks,7.5 minutes exactly, two at a time, on the half hour, 25 each day of the anniversary weekend.

The whole weekend is going to be fantastic, and the exhibitions are stunning. Mark calendars please, and please everyone come down.  We all want to see you there.

Oh, and did I say free? FREE. All weekend. For everyone. Exhibitions included. Matmos included. Art supply drive included. 75 talks, films, music, family projects, included.