Mapping Cultural Arts in Silicon Valley, an Overview

The non-profit Mosaic America worked with practicing academics at San José State University to create an interactive digital map that would make the cultural arts from the distinct immigrant and Indigenous communities of the San Francisco Bay Area visible to artists, advocates, grantors, and non-profit organizations. The Mosaic Atlas helps deepen and accelerate the work of Mosaic America - to break down cultural silos, increase social cohesion and build a sense of community. Anthropologists and geographers collected and interpreted data to make the atlas a reality. This section highlights some of that work. Graham Wade used the techniques of user-experience research to shape strategy and use cases. Patrick Padiernos and Mitchell Tran employed visual anthropology and reflect on that process. Kiley Stokes created ArcGIS StoryMaps on the region's muralists. Caroline Ammon Yildiz worked with Muslim artists to build a different narrative about these communities in the Bay Area. The section ends with an article that linked the Mosaic Atlas to a local museum, the New Museum Los Gatos. The applied anthropologist, Alexandra Garcia, worked directly with the Muwekma Ohlone to create a decolonized StoryMap.