San Francisco Open Studios celebrated its 52nd year this past September/October, with over 300 artists welcoming the public into their homes and studios thanks to ArtSpan’s small, dedicated staff. Early fall is a lively time in the Bay Area, with Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, Portola, Fleet Week, and ample sunshine from the late-summer heat, all competing for a spot on people’s weekends. Still, collectors and patrons flocked to galleries, studio complexes, and residential spaces to see the creators who infuse San Francisco with culture, beauty, and identity.
Discourse about artists’ conditions in the city heated up over the five-week event. On Oct. 19, artists who received San Francisco Arts Commission 2026 Project Support Grants received coverage from multiple media outlets, including a feature in the daily Artnews newsletter, which has a readership of 50,000, reporting that grant funding for these projects was months late. According to the San Francisco Examiner, Executive Director of Arts and Culture Matthew Goudeau noted that grants were delayed due to a consolidation merging the San Francisco Arts Commission (SFAC), Grants for the Arts, and Film SF, along with standard agreement revisions that stirred the public to attend SFAC meetings and voice opposition to the proposed changes. Just days before the reporting, on Oct. 16, Mayor Daniel Lurie highlighted on his Instagram that the city recently invested $25 million in artists and arts organizations, with overall municipal investment up 5 percent to $182 million (presumably from the previous year).
In an open letter published on community arts hub art bae on Oct.7, Lucas Foglia outlined measures City Hall could take to improve its relationship with the creative community.
While municipal leaders seem to be operating in good faith, downtown revitalization and ballot measures to restructure commissions have created tension. Grassroots efforts by artists who don’t cavort with the administration as easily as, say, a creative director at a major clothing label with a downtown store, or the curator of a wing at a major local museum, are starting to find new ways to make their voices heard. Several new initiatives run counter to supporting an organic San Francisco arts community, instead cultivating a sterilized one. Here are a couple of examples:
– Efforts to revitalize downtown prioritize corporate partnerships for events like San Francisco First Thursdays or the Civic Joy Fund, which organize raves, night markets, and art walks. Meanwhile, the nonprofit Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts has closed.
– A heavily endowed institution, Vanderbilt University, is introducing an AI-driven design program in what will have previously been the California College of the Arts campus, replacing a traditional arts school that ran on a nonprofit model.
– Public spaces managed by various entities are hosting temporary installations of large-scale artworks vis-à-vis the Big Art Loop, which is curated via initiatives backed by wealthy privately funded foundations.
– Streamlining government art agencies into single administrative points of contact has unintentionally introduced grant payment delays. Ballot measures dating back to 2024 propose restructuring commission oversight, cutting underrepresented voices from policymaking in the name of efficiency.
– Local artists continue to find ways to keep their heads above water while the bottom of Maslow’s Hierarchy falls apart beneath them, and at the same time they show up to commission meetings, write letters, and organize. Open Studios offers a snapshot of the current climate. Read on for several participating artists’ take on Open Studios.
Lucas Antony — Ingleside Gallery at Ballast Point Coffee
“I’ve been actively working as an artist in San Francisco since 2023 and joined SFOS [San Francisco Open Studios] late that year. For two consecutive years, I hosted visitors in my home studio to share my work and build connections within the local art community. This year was a special milestone — I presented my solo exhibition, SAUDADE, at Ingleside Gallery at Ballast Coffee. That opportunity grew directly out of relationships I built through hosting Open Studios at home, proving how these events open doors.
Hosting in a new venue allowed me to connect with a broader audience in West Portal, make direct sales to local collectors, and see firsthand how art brings neighborhood residents together. After hosting in my home, sharing work in a different neighborhood was a rewarding step forward. It remains an essential way to reach new patrons and grow as a working artist in the city.”
“There is constant creative energy pulsing through San Francisco, but that energy can only survive if local residents actively invest in supporting artists. Without that patronage, the city risks turning into a generic landscape devoid of distinct cultural character.”
— Mickael Kerbow, artist
Fuzz E. Grant — 1890 Bryant Studios
“Open Studios has been a vital bridge connecting me to the broader arts community. I’ve participated twice a year for 12 years, which helped me mature as an artist and made the broader art world feel far less daunting. Visitors often express surprise that active studio practice still thrives in San Francisco, which highlights the need for ongoing, creative ways to keep the public connected to local creators.
“Making art in [San Francisco] presents obvious financial challenges due to the cost of living, but the city remains remarkably open to new perspectives and nontraditional ideas. It’s a rare cultural environment where unique artistic concepts are genuinely embraced by the community.”
Mickael Kerbow — 1890 Bryant Studios
“I have participated in S.F. Open Studios since 2010. Over the years, I’ve developed a loyal core of regular visitors and collectors who return every year to see my latest work. Supporting myself purely through art in an expensive city like San Francisco is a constant challenge, but the density of resident art patrons makes staying put worthwhile.
“I love the physical climate and unique light in the Bay Area. There is constant creative energy pulsing through San Francisco, but that energy can only survive if local residents actively invest in supporting artists. Without that patronage, the city risks turning into a generic landscape devoid of distinct cultural character.”
Sizelove Studios
Gordon Sizelove
“We [Barbara and Gordon Sizelove] arrived in San Francisco in the mid-1970s to attend the San Francisco Art Institute and have lived in SoMa for four decades, participating in Open Studios since 1989. ArtSpan has evolved significantly from the early days of black-and-white newsprint catalogs to a comprehensive, professional organization offering workshops, exhibition spaces, and constant advocacy.
“While studio space and gallery access remain steep hurdles for emerging artists, a growing grassroots movement of pop-ups, independent galleries, and neighborhood art walks is creating fresh alternatives. Open Studios remains the cornerstone event of the year, connecting creators directly with diverse audiences and enabling sustainable, independent art practice.”
Barbara Sizelove
“This year marked the return of Hunters Point Shipyard to the map, whose artists’ studios are otherwise only open during their own independently run open studios event,” says Sarah Stangle, a longtime affiliate of the stronghold artists’ studio complex housed in a former Naval shipyard.
Lorna Kollmeyer, an artist at Hunters Point Art Studios since 1982, has spent her career creating a library of plaster and wax casts of moldings from Victorian ornaments in San Francisco.
“This is the only resource of its kind here in the city. People don’t do this kind of trade anymore, carving the tin sheets that decorate ceilings and things like that. I think people like coming in and seeing things that are done by hand. There’s an effort to bring 3D printing to making ornamentation for buildings, but it’s not the same as things made by hand.”
Laura Kollmeyer
Kollmeyer emphasized the importance of an ongoing effort to save Hunters Point Shipyard Artists from a redevelopment plan and finance a new roof. You can follow that story by keeping abreast of STAR, the Shipyard Trust for the Arts.
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Finding ways to make a financially viable system for people whose work doesn’t necessarily garner money equal to the value it brings to the community is a worthwhile effort, and a walk through the studios of artists like Lorna will show you just that. With a number of highly dedicated arts organizations still occupying San Francisco zip codes, our artist community continues to find support and community in an increasingly challenging situation. Artists are voicing their concerns and ideas to an administration, one that voices a desire to create support systems for them, but struggles to put those measures into place in a timely manner. In the meantime, artists still find time to wrestle with their mediums, open their doors, and do their administrative due diligence to keep the lights on and put some wine out.