The San Francisco Arts Commission was established in the Charter of the City and County of San Francisco in 1932 to ensure that the arts would be incorporated into the civic infrastructure for the City’s residents. We meet our responsibilities through an extensive set of programs and special projects.
Programs Overview
City Hall Docent Tours
The City Hall Docent Tour Program offers guided tours of this historical landmark Beaux Arts building, the seat of San Francisco government for nearly a century.
Civic Art Collection
The Civic Art Collection program is responsible for cataloguing and conserving the more than 3,500 pieces of art belonging to the City outside its museums.
Civic Design Review
The Civic Design Review Committee of architects and designers conducts a three-phase review of new and renovated civic construction projects to ensure design quality of city structures. Projects include buildings, bridges, viaducts, elevated ways, approaches, gates, fences, lamps or other structures on land belonging to the City and County. The Committee also reviews arches, bridges, approaches and other structures extending over or onto any street, highway, park or other public place belonging to the City and County.
Community Arts And Education
For over four decades, the Community Arts and Education Program has invigorated neighborhoods through innovative arts programs that support economic revitalization and community engagement. Programs include:
- Art in Storefronts temporarily places original art installations by San Francisco artists in vacant storefront windows to reinvigorate neighborhoods.
- Arts Education partners with the San Francisco Unified School District to provide arts access to every student every day.
- Cultural Centers serve the community by providing low-cost arts programs and rental space.
- StreetSmARTS is a partnership with the Department of Public works that teaches youth about public art and commissions mural artists to address graffiti vandalism.
- WritersCorps places professional writers in community settings to teach creative writing to youth.
Cultural Equity Grants
Cultural Equity Grants provides support for the enrichment of San Francisco’s multicultural landscape. Four programs offer project-oriented grants to arts organizations and individual artists to nurture the continuing growth of a vibrant arts scene that celebrates the City’s vast ethnic diversity and variety of cultural traditions.
Public Art: Art Enrichment
Courthouses, libraries, City offices, the airport and other civic structures are enlivened through this program, which integrates works by artists in the construction of City buildings and parks, as well as in broader urban design contexts, such as traffic and pedestrian malls and transit corridors.
sFAC Gallery
The San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery makes contemporary art accessible to broad audiences through curated exhibitions that both reflect our regional diversity and position Bay Area visual art production within an international contemporary art landscape. Please visit exhibitions at our flagship gallery at 401 Van Ness Avenue in the Veterans Building, and stroll by our window installation site at 155 Grove Street. Our Art at City Hall program, located on the ground floor of historic San Francisco City Hall, offers rotating exhibitions of artwork with a social conscience.
Street Artists
San Francisco’s street artists provide residents and visitors with a colorful outdoor marketplace that contributes to the economic life of the city.
San Francisco Symphony - Engaging Communities
The San Francisco Symphony and the Arts Commission partner to produce a concert series that appeals to youth, families, and the greater demographics of the city. The diverse and affordable performances include the youth symphony, concerts for children, and holiday concerts including Dia de los Muertos and Chinese New Year celebrations. We also sponsor a free concert each summer in Dolores Park.