San Francisco Opera made a journey to the south and brought back all sorts of creative wisdom.

At the corner of First and William in downtown San Jose, one sees an old roll-up garage door on the side of a former ’60s car dealership now housing MACLA, a contemporary Latino and Chicano art space. Inside, at an undisclosed back-office location, one will find the headquarters of Art Builds Community (ABC), a women-led, nationally operating public art planning, consulting and curatorial firm. There is no sign anywhere.

ABC brings critical thinking and artists’ perspectives to the creative design of cities, buildings and infrastructure. Now it can add opera to that list.

Beginning this weekend, when SF Opera unleashes the world premiere of The Monkey King, the production will include a curate

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