Meet Gregangelo Herrera | Artistic Director

We had the good fortune of connecting with Gregangelo Herrera and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Gregangelo, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking.
The Evolution of the Gregangelo Museum

Opening any business entails a leap of faith and a risk. Launching a niche-market arts and entertainment venture that serves the public is a daring adventure!

For artists, risk-taking is intrinsic to career development. There’s no safe or conventional path to success.

Balancing the roles of artist and entertainer, while serving the public’s interests, involves navigating the delicate balance between egoism and altruism.

While individual artists express their egos through their work, collaborative productions demand compromise to create captivating and altruistic experiences for our guests. Combining artist egos is a risk in itself, especially when venturing into unfamiliar territory to create unpredictable new works for the public.

Over the years, we’ve managed an ever-changing collective of thousands of artists who collaboratively produce productions across various mediums, including theater, circus, dance, events, fairs, festivals, and even dreams!

It’s crucial to note that our arts business operates as a For- profit basis, engaging artists to be entrepreneurial by collectively supporting each other. Unlike many non- profit arts organizations, we have to earn our livelihood one ticket, one commission, and one show at a time, placing us at the highest economic risk.

To remain afloat, we consistently innovate experiences that uplift, challenge, and entertain our guests, remaining relevant to changing times.

With over 40 years of experience, our creative headquarters, maker studios, and the home of our artistic director have grounded us in San Francisco’s artistic scene. During dry spells of little to no work, our business faces extreme risk and must reinvent itself to remain relevant, self-sufficient, and public-serving.

It was during those dry spells that we accidentally created “The Gregangelo Museum” — a byproduct of focusing our time and passions, culminating in our greatest attraction.

Today, it stands as San Francisco’s newest landmark, recognized for its consistent contributions to the city’s artistic and cultural landscape.

Every moment of this unexpected achievement was born from experimentation and ultimately taking risks.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
A. Please tell us more about your art. We’d love to hear what sets you apart from others, what you are most proud of or excited about.
My art truly stems from remaining connected to the curiosity of an age of innocence that has not been shattered through decades of experience. The art I create is genuinely experiential and immersive in every sense of the words, long before those terms became trending catchphrases. My interactive work guides guests through elements of the past and the future while always remaining in the present. It is highly inquisitive, vibrantly colorful, evocative, and ultimately caring. A signature element of my artistry is that we write stories and activations that engage our guests on a deep level, shattering perceptions and façades, creating a safe space for personal stories to emerge, and allowing our guests to embrace the present so they are free to move forward, in or out of grief, which seems to be the cycle of life.

The key word for our businesses is “Velocity”: Velocity Circus, Velocity Arts, Velocity Entertainment. V = d/t (velocity equals distance over time). This embodies that my work always questions one’s magnitude and direction. If you ask someone who experienced my art to explain it , they always say “there are no words“.

B. How did you get to where you are today professionally. Was it easy?
I got to where I am today through a long and hard journey. No shortcuts or unrealistic expectations—just vigorous work and dedication every waking and even dreaming moment to manifesting creations. By making my creative work my only vice, without distraction, I persevered. This meant missing benchmarks, family gatherings, and holidays, never engaging in normal activities such as going to clubs unless I was working and entertaining at them. When younger, I vividly recall showing up to an important family gathering, and my mother came up to me and said, “What the hell are you doing here?! Don’t you have a gig?” Decades later on the day of her funeral, I hosted her reception at the Gregangelo Museum with all of her favorite food, an Arabic band, Lebanese dancing, and I slipped out halfway through to go to SF City Hall to be a witness at my dearest friend’s wedding. I figured my mom would’ve liked that—a funeral and a wedding on the same day!

C. How did you overcome the difficult challenges?
The nature of arts and entertainment involves receiving endless punches, and I chose to get back up quickly. Consistently taking risks in creating new works, many of which were flat-out failures that were reshaped into more fruitful outcomes or just left behind, was crucial. Genuine collaboration and challenging other artists is key. For some reason, I’ve always attracted a lot of creative people who look to me for leadership, though I am not innately an excellent leader. Recognizing my weaknesses and focusing on my strengths has allowed everyone a voice and a vision to craft elevated experiences. I excel at pushing the limits of creators as well as guiding guests to be equally expressive in their own way.

Overcoming challenges is a daily task. Managing my own easily triggered passionate temperament is in itself a constant practice. There are always hurdles to jump and pathways that may not lead to a desired destination; however, there are always detours. Find them, or better yet, create the detours. Knowing how to remain calm, focused, and adaptable at every moment has proven essential for focused decision-making, problem-solving, and successfully smashing through any roadblocks and barriers. I also firmly believe, through my own experience, that speaking things into existence with positive energy is quite powerful. I have a few customs when in my presence: shout out something with conviction that you’d like to purge before we start a conversation, never say “No,” never say “Problem.” However, when you put the words “No problem” together, that’s a magical portal to a way forward.

D. What are the lessons you’ve learned along the way?
What I’ve learned along the way is that human connection is vital. And sometimes takes extreme means to get people to connect. I often say I create fantastical surreal shows and environments that are literally rubbing reality in your face.
I’ve also learned that while the arts are highly esteemed , artists are absolutely undervalued and at the bottom of the economic scale. So being sure that our artists in San Francisco are respected and valued is a key element of our services as we in turn value and practice, genuine acceptance with every guest we encounter.

E. What do you want the world to know about you or your brand and story?
I’d like the world to know that we are an authentic, born-and-bred San Francisco arts and culture experience that welcomes everybody from everywhere. Our seeds were planted early on, following the Summer of Love, enduring an age of liberation with values focused on civil rights, sexual liberation, feminism, queer liberation, and other freedoms that turned the culture inside out to what it is today. Regardless of the “doom and gloom” loop continually playing about San Francisco, we remain one of many bright, shining beacons, welcoming visitors and locals alike to only-in-San-Francisco experiences. There’s nothing else like it in the world, and we continue to grow and adapt. I mean, WTF! We are now San Francisco’s newest cultural landmark, and we are still alive and working on it!

As part of that honor, we will also share the path to other lesser-known destinations in San Francisco, so guests can truly explore and learn about the always in-flux culture of this fascinating city, as well as delve deeper into their own personal revelations and relationships. More than anything, we remain available to travel anywhere in the world at any time to bring our unique brand of artistry by gamifying our activations and creating miniature or site-specific installations based on what already may be there where you are.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
That is a loaded question! I’ve never been one for prescribing itineraries, but rather getting to know someone’s personal interests and then setting them out to freely explore destinations that may fascinate them, encouraging them to deviate along the way. However, I recommend that everyone spend an entire day just getting different perspectives of the Golden Gate Bridge from the SF Pacific Coast—locations rarely experienced by travelers.

If I were an objectophile , I’d fall in love with “The Bridge.”
I‘ve personified it in our shows as Ms GG Bridges, an in-the-flesh character, the liberated Grand Dame of the City. She is also depicted in artwork and activations throughout our museum experiences. The Bridge is the world’s largest masterpiece of art deco design and a miracle of engineering, straddling the majestic strait where the Pacific Ocean and the SF Bay meet. So go check “her” out!

If you’re a hiker, catch a glimpse of her from a coastal hike starting at Fort Miley through Lands End. I often carry a pumpkin or watermelon, depending on the season, and perform a smashing ritual: asking friends or passersby to write everything on it they want to get rid of, then tossing it and watching their troubles explode off the treacherous cliffs hundreds of feet below. The birds seem to enjoy it too.

If you are a golfer, view her from the 17th hole at Lincoln Park. If you’re a romantic, pack a picnic and view her from China or Baker Beach. If you are a nudist, view her from the north end of Baker Beach. If you are an exhibitionistic, polyamorous nudist queer, take the adventurous trek down to Marshall Beach and view her from there. If you really want to know the history of the bridge, view her from one of my favorite spots, Fort Point, and enjoy grandiose perspectives made famous in the movies. And if you have small children, view her from the Bay Area Discovery Museum in Sausalito.

For an added burst of inspiration, hike over to the Palace of Fine Arts, one of the world’s greatest yet lesser-known monuments, featuring sculptures of The Weeping Women. Architect Bernard Maybeck liberated these caryatids; instead of carrying the weight of the monument, they slump freely atop the colonnades, weeping away the sorrows of the world. Their tears figuratively cascade into the surrounding pond, nurturing all native flora and fauna.

When you get hungry, thirsty, want to shop, socialize, or have some fun, check out this list of legacy businesses. Each has contributed to and adapted to the culture of the city, thriving through the decades.

LINK: https://legacybusiness.org/registry

And, of course, visit the younger surrounding businesses that are equally relevant to today’s SF culture.

Definitely try a new cuisine from a different culture in a new neighborhood at least three times a day. You can travel the globe through authentic multicultural cuisine in San Francisco, prepared by people from those cultures. As the comical lyrics of the song “Deli-cate Topic” by Rita Abrams say:
“They’ve got a plethora of sushi, dim sum, and mushi mushi… But not one decent deli in this town! 4000 restaurants in the city, and I gotta fly back to New York for a bagel!”

San Francisco is built on 49 hills, each with a distinct neighborhood and culture, crowned by a jewel of a hilltop park. So explore and be prepared for some burning muscles. One of my favorite hills is Telegraph Hill. Be sure to trek up or down the Filbert Street stairs to experience some of the most unusual lifestyles in the city, where you literally have to climb to get to your home.

And scroll down to the bottom of our FAQ page to learn about my personal favorite sites and eateries on the lesser-known Pacific Coast west side of the city. Don’t miss the last remaining sand dunes in San Francisco, as it is a rare chance to see the exposed geological and seismic topography otherwise hidden by the city.

LINK: https://www.gregangelomuseum.com/faqs

Explore, get lost, be brave, and meet strangers. Find new adventures, play, and get into innocent trouble. Take an antique cable car to a hilltop , talk to the cable car conductor, or if you are feeling solitaire, hop into a modern driverless car to a random destination. With every city portal you enter, there’s an unknown world waiting.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Of the thousands of artists who have contributed vibrant color and texture to the odyssey of an ever-evolving story, I can trace back my roots to Amina Goodyear, a multicultural dance teacher in San Francisco
who trained me to be a whirling dervish. Ultimately, she taught me to be myself, nurturing and elevating my potential, and planting the seed to recognize the potential in other artists within this endless chain of events that form the lifeline of the business.

The philosophy of the whirling dervish is to simply “Be”through ecstatic dance, to connect with the core of one’s existence genuinely, and to transcend the limitations of the ego, experiencing the profound interconnectedness of all creation. And in my version, to also be entertaining!

I consider myself fortunate to have been exposed to this invaluable wisdom from an early age, and I strive to stay on that ever-spiraling path.

Website: https://www.gregangelomuseum.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gregangelomuseum/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-gregangelo-museum/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gregangelomuseum

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@velocitysf

Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@gregangelomuseum?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc

Image Credits
Hiromi Yoshida
Russel Johnson
Francesca Balaguer
Angelica Irreno
Zoart Photography
Scott Saraceno