Kultivate Labs is a Non-profit Economic Development and Arts Organization
We create thriving commercial ecosystems by accelerating businesses that preserve culture and community. We provide space and opportunities for the arts to flourish so that commercial activities are activated and reflect the community at large.
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We activate spaces where relationships are central and where Filipinx culture is relevant, inspired, and ever-evolving as we discover our unique role in the diaspora.
We create thriving commercial ecosystems by accelerating businesses that preserve culture and community, and where development and improvements are possible without displacement.
We advance art programming rooted in our shared history that reflects the community at large.
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Development without the community and preservation of culture is a thing of the past.
Times are changing. The absence of soul, authenticity, and community benefit leads to a downward spiral into a sea of sameness.
We believe that the involvement of the community and the arts plus the preservation of culture is essential to the long term success of any commercial ecosystem.
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After World War II, San Francisco became a testing ground for the urban renewal movement that took hold across the country.
Urban renewal involved the relocation of businesses, the demolition of communities, the displacement of people, and the use of eminent domain (government purchase of property for public purpose) as a legal instrument to take private property for city-initiated development projects.
San Francisco's culturally rich Western Addition, Fillmore, and South of Market Area (SOMA) neighborhoods were uprooted to make way for new development.
A NEW CULTURAL DISTRICT
To reverse this trend, in April of 2016, San Francisco's Board of Supervisors passed legislation that would turn a large part of the SOMA into a Filipino Cultural district called SOMA Pilipinas.
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What started as the economic development strategy of San Francisco's Soma Pilipinas Cultural District will become our model for community conscious development.
Recognizing that there was huge a gap between what the Filipino community needed to develop its cultural district and what was available to accomplish this task, our founder Desi Danganan was inspired to start Kultivate Labs.
The Filipino people, like many people of color have been marginalized for centuries. They were forced into a worldwide diaspora to seek a better life as blue collar laborers, sailors, soldiers, nannies, entertainers, etc.
Many children of the Filipino diaspora have overcome the challenges of marginalization and have risen to the highest levels of education and prominence. No matter what level of success, they all posses the potential, talent, and drive to succeed.
Now we're given a golden opportunity to live up to our potential by abandoning the colonial mindset that's plagued our people and signal the start of a new Filipino Business Renaissance. Kultivate Labs is the culmination of our forefathers' struggles and a new chapter of the American Dream.
If we're successful in creating a thriving commercial community for SOMA Pilipinas, then we can take this model and apply to other communities seeking to develop themselves in a socially conscious way.
San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors unanimously vote to create SOMA Pilipinas
The boundaries of the district are Market St to Brannan St, 2nd St to 11th St or about 80% of the SoMa.
Kultivate Labs is Born
Desi Danganan joins the SOMA Pilipinas working group to lead the economic development strategies for the cultural district. After hosting various outreach workshops and strategy sessions, he’s inspired to start our non-profit organization, Kultivate Labs, to put action to words.
UNDSCVRD Team Assembled
Desi Danganan recruits Gina Mariko Rosales to co-create UNDCSVRD and they assemble Marky Enriquez and Mark Herlihy to be the music curators, Jenn Lui and Kevin Pelgone to be vendor curators, RJ Navalta for stage production, Paul Berrera for community outreach, Emerson Aquino for dance curation, Olivia Ongpin for art curation, Marco Jastillana for brand strategy, and Andre Sibayan for Art Direction to become the UNDSCVRD dream team.
Kultivate Labs becomes a 501(3)c
Kultivate Labs became a tax exempt 501(3)c to help lead the economic development of SOMA Pilipinas.
Filipino American Development Foundation
Kultivate Labs joins the Filipino American Development Foundation (FADF) as a fiscally sponsored organization.
Undiscovered SF Crowdfunding Campaign
Kultivate Labs launches a crowdfunding campaign to raise $65,000 to create the UNDSCVRD Night Market, an initiative to jump start the development of SOMA Pilipinas.
Undiscovered SF Launches
The first UNDSCVRD Night Market Launches at the historic San Francisco Mint with over 8,000 people attending the inaugural event.
Undiscovered SF is recognized by the city of San Francisco
UNDSCVRD receives recognition of achievements from Board of Supervisors, State Assembly, and the Board of Equalization.
SEED Accelerator Launches
Kultivate Labs launches the S.E.E.D Accelerator as a partnership with the Renaissance Entrepreneurship Center.
UNDSCVRD Goes Outdoors
UNDSCVRD moves from the SF Mint to the SF Chronicle parking lots and transitions to an all outdoor format.
UNDSCVRD: Manila Rising
ABS-CBN signs on to become a major sponsor of UNDSCVRD. With their support, the Manila Rising Edition of UNDSCVRD debuts with underground artists from the Philippines taking the stage at UNDSCVRD.
SEED Relaunches as a 1:1 Custom Consulting Program
The S.E.E.D Accelerator separates from the Renaissance Entrepreneurship Center relaunches as an intensive 1:1 custom consulting program providing branding, marketing, legal, PR and more. The 1st cohort of businesses include Alchemy Kitchen, Arkipelago Books, Covo, Mestiza, Pinoy Heritage, and the Sarap Shop.
Kultivate Labs Launches A Self-guided Food Crawl In SOMA Pilipinas
Kultivate Labs launches Kultinary Confidential, an invite only self-guided food crawl in SOMA Pilipinas. 8 secret dishes a week at 7 different food businesses, from 6 of the top emerging chefs in the Bay Area.
UNDSCVRD Is Awarded 2nd Place For Epic Youth Leadership Award
EYLA is the latest iteration to the Gawad Geny Lopez, Jr Bayaning Pilipino Awards (Filipino Heroes) founded by Eugenio Lopez, Jr., a pioneer of Philippine television and the late Chairman Emeritus of the largest media conglomerate in the Philippines – ABS-CBN Corporation. Lopez founded the Bayaning Pilipino Awards in 1994 to recognize modern-day Filipino heroes whose values, actions, and projects are geared towards service of the Filipino. Lultivate Labs places 2nd Place.
UNSCVRD Season 3 Launches In A New Location
UNDSCVRD move to a new location on Stevenson Alley between 6th and 7th St. Known as the roughest alley in SoMa, UNDSCVRD successfully transforms the forgotten wasteland into a family friendly festival ground. The success of UNDSCVRD leads to the revitalization of the area and later being dubbed the Skybridge on Stevenson complete with Filipino inspired lanterns.
The Beginnings of Balay Kreative
The Mayor’s Office of Housing & Community Development awarded Kultivate Labs $275,000 to start the process of building a new Filipino-American Cultural Center.
Kultivate Labs Creates Its First Pop-up Activation
Kultivate Labs was awarded a $40,000 grant from OEWD and Zendesk to create a pop-up activation called the UNDSCVRD Court, a wellness play space built by over 75 volunteers. The 4,000 sq ft space was re-imagined as a bold, immersive backdrop reminiscent of Philippine vinta sails for dance classes, basketball games, and live music.
SEED Accelerator: Cohort 2
The S.E.E.D Accelerator admits its 2nd cohort of businesses which includes Malay Botanicals, Mirage Medicinal, Manila Bowl, Nick on Mission, Pinoy Heritage, SOMAHH, Straight-up, and The Living Room.
Republika Business Accelerator Announced
The Republika business incubator project is announced and a crowdfunding campaign kicks off the initiative. Republika is billed as the next step for economic development in SOMA Pilipinas.
UNDSCVRD Is Awarded A Revitalization Award By The Center for Architecture + Design
Center for Architecture + Design and AIA San Francisco’s Community Alliance Awards program honors the individuals, firms, and organizations whose overall work, leadership, and dedication shape the character and vibrancy of our communities and the future of our built environment.
UNDSCVRD is recognized for it's contribution to the advancement and enrichment of the quality of life in the Bay Area through it's commitment to design excellence and continued efforts to engage, educate, collaborate, and advocate elevates the value of design and its impact on the experiences of our daily lives.
Balay Kreative Debuts
Kultivate Labs debuts Balay Kreative after an intensive community outreach program with the general public and culture bearers to help define what a Filipino American Arts Hub could look like. A multi-year plan of pop-ups and collaborations with other arts organizations is unveiled.
The Tragic Passing of Marco Jastillana
Co-creator of UNDSCVRD, Marco Jastillana passes away. His loss is a tremendous blow to the organization and is a foreshadowing of the bad things to come with the looming pandemic.
#FilipinosFeedTheFrontlines
With quick creative thinking as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic, #FilipinosFeedTheFrontline is an alliance of Filipino food businesses, like-minded individuals and organizations that have come together to provide meals to heal their community.
In 43 days, #FilipinosFeedTheFrontline raised $83,757 from 800+ donors to provide 8,300+ meals to those in need while stabilizing 11 Filipino food businesses that have seen their revenue drop 90%
Republika Mentioned As A World Changing Idea
The design concept and mission for Republika has been recognized by Fast Company's World Changing Ideas 2020 as an honorable mention in the Social Justice category!
Brownthought Academy Launch
To honor our late friend and marketing mastermind, Marco Jastillana, and to uplift the next generation of creative thought leaders, the Jastillana family and Kultivate Labs launched a 4 month paid bootcamp internship. 3 selected interns learned all aspects of marketing from email campaigns, social media, website maintenance, paid social media, and the fundamentals of socially conscious economic development.
The First Resident Of Balay Kreative Studios Moves-In
Builder and Fashion Designer Cir Sayoc, moves into the unbuilt Repbulika project site to setup a temproary artsits studio. this sparks the imagination of the org and soon, Repbulika is reused as Balay Kreative Studios with Ramon Abad and Kristian Kabuay joining Cir Sayoc as the first residents of the studio.
UNDSCVRD Sunday Markets
Taking over 2 blocks of daytime outdoor dining, artisan markets, and street art in SOMA Pilipinas. From temperature checks, onsite COVID-19 testing, and providing vendors with gloves, face shields, and hand sanitizer, our approach in safety precautions during the pandemic eased the community to safely gather. UNDSCVRD Sunday Markets set the gold standard for safety.
Construction Of Kapwa Gardens Begins
350 volunteers over the course of 6 months, come-out to build Kultivate Lab's newest programming space. Billed as a COVID recovery project it will mark an important milestone in the organizations growth as an organization mobilizing the community to build large scale activations of public spaces.
Our Popular Filipino Night Market Expands To Global Audience With ‘UNDISCOVERED X'
The largest online Filipino convention, gathering Filipina/x/o entrepreneurs, creatives and thought leaders around the world. With four virtual stages, four streaming hub cities, Manila, Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco, over 60 key guests and 50+ sponsors. During the uncertainty of a global pandemic, social unrest, and economic collapse, UNDSCVRD X harnesses our shared cultural values of Kapwa and Bayanihan, at a scale never attempted in recent memory.
SEED Accelerator Company Rebrands As Uncle Tito
The 2020 COVID-19 pandemic caused small businesses to suffer. Despite this setback, Uncle Tito, Filipino American business owners, took the time to pause, reflect, and pivot their pop-up while quarantined. SEED paired Uncle Tito with Plinth Agency to work closely with the owners of Straight Up Bar & Grill to rebrand and develop Uncle Tito's new brand identity that represented the authenticity of the Filipino American owners.
By employing a strong emphasis on pandemic dining/mobile orders & takeouts with a completely rebranded website, we helped increase Uncle Tito's social media followers 5x + optimized their website for Uber Eats & DoorDash during the COVID Pandemic.
YBCA 100 Award
Kultivate Labs is honored to be featured among the changemakers and everyday heroes Yerba Beuna Center for the Arts is recognizing for their efforts to build sustainable, equitable, and regenerative communities. Thank you to our followers for your support and nomination!
Relaunch of S.E.E.D. to SEED Network
The SEED business program re-launches as the SEED Network to encompass a new mission of stimulating colaboration between minority owned businesses across the Bay Area.
UNDSCVRD Culture Crawl 2021
A historic reboot of our community-celebrated UNDSCVRD SF night market event featuring a district wide crawl at multiple locations like YBCA and the SF Urban Film Fest, Westfield Retail Walk, Bindlestiff Studio, Balay Kreative Studios, CAST SF, Executive Order, Kapwa Gardens, Jessie West Mural, Mint St., Manila Bowl, Uncle Tito & more.
UNDISCOVERED SF Cultural Crawl is a curated collection of emerging artists and merchants that celebrate San Francisco's new cultural district - SOMA Pilipinas with 60+ local artisans, food vendors, artists, live music/dance performances.
Desi Danganan Is Inducted As A NextCity Vanguard
Next City’s Vanguard Conference is the premier formative experience for rising urban leaders committed to cultivating equity and sustainability in cities for the next generation. Vanguards aren’t just talking the talk. Every day, they work to counteract historical patterns of social, economic and environmental injustice in cities. Our Executive Driector is accepted into the NextCity Vanguard program underscoring the innovative impact of our Economic Development and Arts Acceleration strategies.
Kapwa Gardens Named Best Non-Profit
800 readers of The Bold Italic have chosen Kapwa Gardens as the best non-profit of 2021! Every year, The Bold Italic recognizes the best Bay Area businesses, culture makers, and local movement builders making a change in their communities.This vote of confidence shows that Kultivate Labs' People Power has resonated not only in the Filipino community, but all of San Francisco.
Brownthought Academy Cohort #2 Launches
In Winter 2022, we brought in Brownthought Academy's second cohort. This cohort consisted of interns dedicated to specific skill-sets: Social Media, Photo/Video, Web Design, and Content Writing. This co-hort had the opportunity to participate in weekly workshops regarding career development and marketing, all while working on various marketing campaigns for every Kultivate Labs brand.
SEED Network Awards Its First Grants
Thanks to the Wells Fargo Foundation, we launched our first business matchmaking grants to (2) pairs of businesses; Barya Kitchen + the Gourmand Group & Victory Hall & Jimmie Flora. Reported ROI ranged from 2.25x to 8x!
Ube Takes Over SOMA Pilipinas
In 2022, Yum Yams transformed into an Ube Crawl. Collaborating with our partners from 5M, Yum Yams spanned two venues in SOMA Pilipinas - Kapwa Gardens & 5M Park. With over 1,200 attendees and 20+ vendors, this is Kapwa Gardens' biggest and most popular festival.
KQED: For Filipino Americans, There’s No Color More Delicious Than Ube PurpleHow to Build a Filipino American Cultural Center Without a Roof
Balay Kreative Studios is featured in a KQED series Called Our Creative Futures. Two years into the pandemic, artists are charting new paths forward. Across the Bay Area, they’re advocating for better pay, sharing resources and looking out for their communities’ wellbeing. Our Creative Futures, a KQED Arts & Culture series that takes stock of the arts in this unpredictable climate.
Balay Kreative Awards 7 New Grants
Out of a competitive pool of 67 applicants, we choose
- 🌟 Ouida (@sfduchess)
- 🌟 Joriz Madrid (@tropikalgothik)
- 🌟 Kim Requesto (@kimrequesto)
- 🌟 Amyra Soriano (@amyra.soriano)
- 🌟 Nikbo (@nikbomusic)
- 🌟 Cherisse Alcantara (@cherisse_alcantara)
- 🌟 Nathan Aurellano (@nathanaur)
Kapwa Gardens Named 2023 YBCA 100 Honoree
Kapwa Gardens has been included in the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts 100 Honoree list for our innovation an community connection through arts and event programming.
Kultivate Labs featured in San Francisco Chronicle
Kultivate Labs overall efforts in revitalizing downtown and rebuilding SOMA into a vibrant cultural district were featured in The San Francisco Chronicle.