Annice Jacoby (author) has produced innovative public art projects incorporating visual arts, literature, theater, and media. She has served as Director of Performing Arts Public Events at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and Director of Public Relations at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Her work includes launching City of Poets for the San Francisco Public Library; The Roof Is on Fire, No Blood, No Foul, multimedia community performances with youth, police, and national media, in collaboration with the California College of the Arts and the City of Oakland; The Fort Point Project, in collaboration with the United Nations, a multimedia site-specific performance; and Watershed & River of Words, national environmental programs with Poet Laureate Robert Hass.

Carlos Santana (foreword), the Grammy-Award winning musician, was raised in the Mission and has long been identified with the cultural renaissance of the neighborhood. He is a longtime mural aficionado.