In a unique blend of performance art, oral history, and historical research, KQED’s Alexis Madrigal transforms into “The Memory Clerk” for 24 hours, beginning Friday, September 5, 2025, stationed in Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture’s historic Gateway Pavilion, to collect and catalog five decades of memories from one of San Francisco’s most beloved cultural spaces.

To schedule a 15-minute session with Madrigal to discuss memories, please visit this Calendly link. Walk-in hours (no need to schedule) are available on Friday, September 5, 2025, from Noon to 10:00 p.m.

From noon Friday – dovetailing with the Fort Mason Night Market from 5:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. – to noon Saturday, Madrigal conducts short oral history interviews and accepts online submissions of memories from anyone who has experienced Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture since its 1977 creation. The project serves as immersive research for a forthcoming book commemorating the center’s 50th anniversary and its role as an arts and cultural hub home to events as varied as the premiere of Sam Shepard’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play, the People’s Republic of China’s first trade show in the U.S. in 1980, the debut of Windows 98, Macy’s popular Passport fashion shows, and the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt, among thousands of others.