Space Wars in San Francisco - artists losing studio space due to higher rents - Brief Article

Art in America, Jan, 2001 by Joe Lewis

In San Francisco, especially in the Mission District, once a working class and middle-income neighborhood, commercial-space needs of dot-com and multimedia enterprises have quadrupled rents, driving out artists, cultural organizations and community-based groups. In response, artists have organized to save their studios and help city officials and business people find solutions to the space crisis.

Hoping to stem skyrocketing rents in the Mission, Artists Eviction Defense Coalition and AARGG! (All Against Ruthless Greedy Gentrification) have joined with neighborhood organizations and marched on City Hall, staged instances of civil disobedience and occupied properties whose tenants were targeted for eviction--all with little success. In addition to numerous individual artists, the recently homeless include the Women's Philharmonic, the San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, the Brady Street Dance Center and American Indian Contemporary Arts. Rena Bransten Gallery renewed its lease for one year at triple the price and will be moving next September. Galeria de la Raza now has a month-to-month lease. The Vortex gallery and performance space was closed, and Downtown Rehearsal Studios, which served 2,000 musicians and 500 bands, is no more. Currently on the chopping block are the Graystone Gallery, San Francisco Cameraworks and the Cartoon Museum.

Not surprisingly, dot-com-driven rents are an emotional political issue. Two propositions on the November ballot that attempted to place restrictions on development were both defeated. Proposition L was backed by "slow-growth" proponents and would have limited a landlord's ability to evict nonprofit groups in favor of businesses able to pay going rates. Proposition K, supported by Mayor Willie Brown and business interests, encouraged more development in areas like the Mission but also provided incentives for the development of new arts spaces throughout the city. Backers of Proposition L are vowing to get the measure back on the ballot as soon as possible.

One bright spot in all of this is the passage of the $1.5-million Rent Relief Emergency Fund, administered by California Lawyers for the Arts. The RREF provides rent subsidies, with numerous restrictions, to nonprofit organizations whose rents have increased by at least 100 percent. The organizations must have budgets under $1.2 million, at least one year remaining on their leases and a minimum of two years' residency in the city. They must also have a strategy in place to secure ongoing funding once their subsidies evaporate. Unfortunately artists' studios are not covered.