What We Need
We’re actively in search of collaborators, building owners who would benefit from a major tax break, and who would enjoy playing an active part in the city’s revitalization. Members of the Burning Man community might find this of special interest, since part of the project’s design is to bring elements of the playa experience to the city. Burning Man at the Black Rock was planned for almost an entire decade in ArtHouse director P Segal’s flat, where she championed the move to the desert from Baker Beach.
In the last two years, we’ve investigated the concept of the corporate-nonprofit partnership, or the individual-nonprofit partnership. This is a new way of doing business that has no extensive rules and regulations and demands no government documents to validate it. It is done by contract, in which both parties determine what the agreements should be. It’s a collaborative and somewhat more detailed version of a rental agreement.
Our ideal building is residential and commercial, and on a commercial corridor. Unlike most prospective tenants, we’re not interested in modern places in pristine condition, because preserving that condition is sometimes antithetical to making art. Tenants can make a building more beautiful, can give an interior a fresh coat of paint, and have no problem with old plumbing. We love white elephants. That inherited property that needs too much renovation to be market rate is perfect for us.
What People Don’t Know
Most people have no idea that working artists of any kind cannot rent apartments in San Francisco. Landlords have agreed on a universal policy of not renting to anyone who does not have pay stubs proving they make three times the rent, and this policy is even part of DAHLIA, the city’s housing website. This is no doubt designed to make sure tenants don’t move in and refuse to move out when they have no money, protected by theoretically pro-tenant policies. No one in the gig economy, which includes most professionals in the arts and anyone who’s self-employed, are not allowed to rent here. With a 3-page CV of things done to make this city a better place, the director of ArtHouse SF cannot rent an apartment here – see what P Segal has done. In this city that prides itself on being inclusive and taking care of everyone, including illegal immigrants, the exclusion of the creative class is monstrous. That is why this project depends on collaboration with the private sector.
We did actively court the interest of the city’s Office of Economic and Workforce Development and gave them all the reasons why artists’ housing was a good idea. They ignored us, refused funding, and quietly did something themselves. They set up a space in a neighborhood that city natives didn’t know existed, a plan that completely missed the point of doing it—revitalizing depressed areas. They did nothing to attract attention to the space. Bureaucrats know nothing of the creative process and have no idea what to do with a mass of creative energy. That’s a task for other creative people to manage.
This video shows more of Alex Segal’s artwork
ArtHouse SF does not have an office or center for fundraising, events, meetings, visiting foreign artists, or housing, since there are no pay stubs, no philanthropic interest in artists’ communities, and no government support. However, a landlord can rent to the nonprofit and write off the entire rent as an in-kind charitable donation, as verified by the IRS. It’s a tax benefit for a building owner that costs them nothing and brings brilliant publicity, immense goodwill, and a charming legacy.
While an ArtHouse HQ is a much smaller space than a building full of artists, it’s the place from which all development begins, with fundraising dinner parties, art events, and presentations. We were able to launch Burning Man because we had a 4800 square foot, 2-story flat in a somewhat run-down inner-city mansion, where we could throw parties for hundreds of people and build huge community interest. We now operate from a single room, which has limited progress significantly. We need a home base to move forward, and we offer a sizeable tax advantage to the building owner who can provide it. We can also bring a shared experience unlike any other, a bit of unanticipated magic that comes with being a hero of the arts community.
In a city with more than 61K empty residential units, surely there is one for ArtHouse SF.
Other Needs
We need space to work and live, but we also need people. Members of our board are among the many artists forced out of town, and we need some people with new ideas for moving things forward, new connections, and fresh energy, on the scene where the work goes on. If you understand the value of restoring the city’s creative community, helping make it happen can be a source of true pleasure. This is a project designed to bring joy to the city, and we look forward to sharing it with all San Francisco.
We love opportunities to speak to groups about this project, and over the last few years, we’ve spoken at places like Manny’s, The Battery, and the Commonwealth Club. If you have a club, neighborhood association, professional group, or other organization that likes to have speakers discuss issues of general interest, we’re happy to speak about artists and their role in the common good. Or the city’s history of creative innovation. Every time we have spoken publicly, we’ve met amazing people and chanced upon extraordinary opportunities. Thus far, none of them have worked, because we have no capital to contribute—but what we bring is a fortune of another, even more powerful, kind.
Needless to say, a nonprofit that doesn’t fit the guidelines of any foundation or government funding certainly needs money. If we had qualified for any grants, we would have buildings by now, but we rely on small donations from individuals, that are fully tax deductible, to cover our expenses. We know, however, that everyone’s inboxes are stuffed with urgent requests for money, and the cost of living has made spare cash less easy to find. But if you can, please do Donate