San Francisco Arts Commission

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We support artists and arts nonprofits in San Francisco. To learn more visit, sfartscommission.org

The San Francisco Arts Commission is the City agency that champions the arts as essential to daily life by investing in a vibrant arts community, enlivening the urban environment and shaping innovative cultural policy. Our programs include: Civic Art Collection, Civic Design Review, Community Investments, Public Art, SFAC Galleries and Street Artist Licensing.

10/26/2026

Join us for a panel discussion exploring how artists and institutions are evolving archives to make room for more stories, more histories and more truths. Presentations will include projects that reimagine engagement with public spaces and public knowledge, and memory work practices for preserving and passing down culture.

This program is the final installment of the Power & Public Memory: Shaping Legacy Program Series, which uplifts community stories and artists’ proposals for reimagined commemorative landscapes and inclusive spaces of public memory.

Panelists:
Adrienne Storey, City Archivist, SFPL
Yolanda Wisher, Senior Curator, Monument Lab
Christy Chan, Artist and Filmmaker
Moderated by Shamsher Virk, Program Officer, Performing Arts Program, Hewlett Foundation

Image credits: Adrienne Storey (photo by Isaac Ortiz/The Guardsman), Yolanda Wisher (photo by Mark Palacio), Christy Chan (photo by Bethany Herron), Shamsher Virk (photo by Lydia Daniller)

10/20/2026

Thank you to all who attended the opening of “Excavating Uranus, A Psalm for Nyota Uhura”! We were grateful to celebrate with you all and applaud the curator, Ashara Ekundayo and the artists, Sydney Cain, Ayana V. Jackson, Courtney Desiree Morris, and Bryant Terry!

An extra thank you to producer and musician Khalil Anthony and vocalist Branice McKenzie for closing out our opening remarks.

“Excavating Uranus, A Psalm for Nyota Uhura” will be on view at the SFAC Main Gallery in the War Memorial Veterans Building though January 30, 2027.

Link in bio for more information

10/14/2026

The fourth and final installation of the 2026 Art on Market Street Poster Series, by artist Amir Khadar, is now on view along Market Street!

The posters will be displayed along Market Street, between 7th and Steuart streets, at 15 SFMTA transit shelters through the end of 2026.

Commissioned around the 2026 poster series program theme, “Now & Then: Living Memories,” Khadar’s six poster designs honor the visionary work of San Franciscans who have fought displacement and worked to preserve the cultural legacy of the Western Addition.

Pictured: “Great Migration”

Features the Great Migration, when millions of Black Americans left their homes in the Jim Crow South in search of opportunity and safety. San Francisco’s wartime economy drew many migrants between 1920 and 1945. This labor boom gave rise to many Black communities throughout the Bay Area

Pictured: “Maritime Workers”

When Black Americans moved to San Francisco in the tens of thousands during World War I and II, they staffed the city’s shipyards, ports and waterfronts. Despite discrimination, the City’s new arrivals became welders, riggers, longshore workers and union leaders. Their labor developed the city’s wartime economy and Black Middle Class.

Pictured: “Harlem of the West”

Features the Fillmore as a vibrant West Coast cultural hub, known as the “Harlem of the West” during the 1940s and 50s. Following the wartime incarceration of Japanese Americans and migration of Black Americans, the neighborhood became home to a thriving scene of businesses, churches, and dozens of jazz clubs.

Pictured: “Reverend Cecil Williams and Janice Mirikitani”

GLIDE Memorial Church, one of San Francisco’s largest social service organizations and congregations, was a center for social justice, arts, community, and faith. It was built by esteemed minister and civil rights leader Reverend Cecil Williams and celebrated activist and poet Janice Mirikitani, who was incarcerated as a child during World War II.

Pictured: “Western Addition Community Organization”

The Western Addition Community Organization (WACO), founded in 1968, united neighbors fighting displacement caused by urban renewal. The neighborhood tra

10/13/2026

Opening Oct 16 | Jamie Emerick: Knifing Down the Black Ledges & Nina Zurier: Painted Pots - https://mailchi.mp/0e08cecb5895/aumfi2mu6s-10740468

10/09/2026

We're Hiring! Join the San Francisco Arts Commission as a Gallery Program Associate (1840)

The San Francisco Arts Commission is seeking a Gallery Program Associate to support the day-to-day operations, exhibitions, public programs, administration, and visitor experience of the San Francisco Arts Commission Galleries.

Pay range: $42.175 - $51.275/hr

This position is a part-time (.50 FTE) position, working approximately 1,040 hours annually, structured around the Gallery’s public operating schedule which is currently Wednesdays through Saturdays from Noon to 5:00 PM, with regular work to also include evenings and weekends. This position’s schedule is subject to change, and will include evenings and weekends, based on program schedules and special event needs.

Application Deadline: Friday, October 23, 2026 at 11:59 PM Pacific Time

To learn more and apply, visit sf.gov/artscommission.

(Image: “Me Llaman Calle: The Monumental Art of Juana Alicia,” SFAC Main Gallery, Photo by Aaron Wojack)

10/08/2026

Happening tomorrow!

Join San Francisco Arts Commission (SFAC) Galleries for “Excavating Uranus: A Psalm for Nyota Uhura.”

This exhibition transports the cosmonaut into a nonlinear temporal field shaped by Black temporalities. Through installation, experimental video, photography, sound, and sculptural fashion, the artists surface interdimensional relics, artifacts, and incantations lifted from parallel realities where memory and possibility meet. Together, these works explore ritual knowledge, cosmology, and the technologies needed to navigate multiple temporal and spatial realities.

🗓️: October 8, 2026 | 6 PM
📍: SFAC Main Gallery in the War Memorial Veterans Building | 401 Van Ness Ave, San Francisco, CA 94102

10/05/2026

Happening this Thursday, October 8! Join San Francisco Arts Commission (SFAC) Galleries for “Excavating Uranus: A Psalm for Nyota Uhura,” a group exhibition curated by Ashara S. Ekundayo, featuring the work of Sydney Cain, Ayana V. Jackson, Courtney Desiree Morris, and bryant terry.

“Excavating Uranus: A Psalm for Nyota Uhura” will be on view through January 30, 2027 at the SFAC Main Gallery in the War Memorial Veterans Building

This exhibition transports the cosmonaut into a nonlinear temporal field shaped by Black temporalities. Through installation, experimental video, photography, sound, and sculptural fashion, the artists surface interdimensional relics, artifacts, and incantations lifted from parallel realities where memory and possibility meet. Together, these works explore ritual knowledge, cosmology, and the technologies needed to navigate multiple temporal and spatial realities.

We hope to see you on the 8th at the opening reception!

10/05/2026

The Arts Commission and Grants for the Arts are thrilled to announce the award of 465 grants totaling $25.26 million in funding administered by the newly unified Arts Commission and Grants for the Arts (GFTA) to 393 grantees comprised of local individual artists, arts organizations, nonprofits, cultural institutions, and cultural centers!

Congratulations to all the recipients! 🎉

As part of the 2026-2027 grant cycle that began starting July 1, SFAC is awarding more than $7.3 million in grant funding to 61 individual artists and 49 arts nonprofit organizations, and $2.5 million in funding support has been awarded to support 6 cultural centers.

GFTA is awarding more than $15.45 million in general operating support, Arts Sector Response (ASRG), and Voluntary Arts Contribution Fund (VACF) grants to 297 grantees as part of its 2027-2028 grant cycle.

Combined, approximately 24.2% of grantees are first-time grant recipients with SFAC and GFTA.

Details for the next opportunity to apply for Arts Commission funding for the 2028 grant cycle will be announced and released in late 2026.

View the full list of SFAC Grantees and GFTA Grantees at sf.gov/artscommission (link in our bio).

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Photo Credits:

Alonzo King LINES Ballet, GFTA General Operating Support grantee. Photo by Chris Hardy, 2024

Brava! for Women in the Arts, Ballet Nepantla, GFTA General Operating Support grantee. Photo by Carmen Victoria, 2023

Movement, SFAC Arts Impact Endowment grantee. Photo Anthony Chen, 2025

Madeleine Lim, SFAC Artistic Legacy Grant Recipient, Frameline Film Festival
Brava! for Women in the Arts, Meklit Ethio-Blue, GFTA General Operating Support grantee. Photo by Robbie Sweeny, 2024

Lyrical Opposition, Sabrina Shauna with Elisa Solei, Liv Belda at Brick & Mortar Music Hall, SFAC Arts Impact Endowment Grantee. Photo by Orlando Torres, 2025

10/02/2026

We are thrilled to announce and welcome our newest Commissioner appointed to the San Francisco Arts Commission, Randi Fisher!

Commissioner Fisher was appointed by Mayor Daniel Lurie and sworn in at City Hall on September 29. She will serve a four-year term through January 2029.

Randi began her career at the National Endowment for the Arts and the San Francisco Arts Commission and has remained deeply engaged in San Francisco’s cultural and civic life. She believes strongly in the power of artists and cultural institutions to inspire, connect communities, and contribute to a thriving city.

Learn more about our work and meet all our commissioner at sf.gov/artscommission.

09/15/2026

Help shape the Geneva Car Barn mural's design by sharing your photos and memories of the neighborhood, and your ideas for what this mural should include.!

Join artist Claudio Talavera-Ballón, who was selected by the San Francisco Arts Commission to create a temporary mural honoring the history of the Geneva Car Barn, for a community engagement event at the historic Geneva Car Barn & Powerhouse this Wednesday, September 16 from 5:30 - 7:30 p.m.

Geneva Powerhouse
2301 San Jose Ave
San Francisco, CA 94112

Wednesday, September 16, 2026
5:30 pm to 7:30 pm

The evening will begin with an introduction by local historian and President & CEO of San Francisco Heritage, Woody LaBounty, who will share the history of the Geneva Car Barn & Powerhouse and its significance to the surrounding community.

Address

401 Van Ness Avenue, Suite 325
San Francisco, CA
94102

Website

http://www.sfartscommission.org/

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