70 Artists Face Displacement In The Mission
Studio 17, Mission District San Francisco, one of our city’s largest art collectives
Studio 17, one of our city’s largest art collectives may disappear this year. Redlick Building owner failed to renew the lease which expires June 2015.
“We are stuck in limbo and our situation as working artists in this city is dire,” said Robert Donald, visual artist and the master leaseholder for Studio 17 who has made numerous attempts to work with Holman and his realtors to renew the studio’s lease.
“As a longstanding and cornerstone presence in the heart and soul of San Francisco’s Mission District, we are looking to find solutions that preserve our presence as artists and as a community.”
Since purchasing the building in 2013, Rick Holman has evicted In the Works, a community and events collective, and Homeless Children’s Network, a non-profit dedicated to solving homelessness and poverty among youth, has silently left the building. Despite being zoned for a neighborhood-serving business, the space once home to the Homeless Children’s Network is currently being rented to PlanGrid, a software company.
Studio 17 is one of at least three artist studios currently facing eviction in San Francisco. The other artist collectives are Workspace Limited and SOMA Artists Studios, which are home to about 30, and more than 40 artists respectively. These open studios could be the last opportunity for the San Francisco community to engage with Studio 17 as a collective artist community.
The Artists of Studio 17
“San Francisco has a unique,creative culture that draws people from all over the world and the city’s artists are essential in crafting a robust and vibrant society,” said Joen Madonna, Executive Director, Art Span. “In this boom economy, we are losing artists studios at an unprecedented rate and now more than ever we need conscientious protection of these valuable communities.”
13 Comments
There is something about that picture of the artists that I just can’t put my finger on. They are suppose to represent the Mission…hmmm. The blinding whiteness must be making it had for me to what it is.
Why assume they are all “white”? Did you ask them what their ethnicity is?
You ask pictures and get answers? where did you get these super powers? But yup I shouldn’t trust my eyes cause everyone know that having white privilege regardless of ethnicity doesn’t exist and being an artist is just like being an actual marginalized group born in the Mission. They have only their degrees from CAA and AI to keep them warm at night and the comfort of other transplants happy to not look in the mirror for solutions.
Good point , Generic Name. I understand your frustration. I assume since you looked as far as you have, you are more concerned with the shifting culture of SF and less with the skin color and more concerned with the message they are addressing. I get the impression that you consider these white artists to think of themselves as victims of “the Man” and yet they ARE the man (bieng white) Living in America, I’m sorry, but stuff like this is the petty bullshit you should look past and deal with. You raised the issue, and you get a response. What is the skin color of the woman who leads Pecita Eyes? Who’s got her back? These people are looking in the mirror, plenty. They are also looking at the world around them.
Aside from that, I saw the damn picture. Doesn’t look like a white Christmas to me.
No, you shouldn’t trust your eyes. No-one should. That’s the problem right there. We place judgement on what our eyes see, regardless to what is really there. Stop judging so fast, people are people.
Who says they are representatives of the Mission? “The blinding whiteness must be making it had for me to what it is.” WTF does that even mean?
The artists need to buy their own building and not rent.
sounds great. where?
Where they can afford but my thinking is if they can afford rent they could pool their money together they could afford to buy the building. They might look at becoming a non-profit too. Artists in Boston missed a chance to buy the building they lived and it was sold to a developer.
Realistically .. you can’t compete with the tech folks.. They will give this guy an offer he can’t refuse..
Why does it have to be places like San Fransisco or New York Ciyt? We can leave these big cities behind and look at the smaller places that can be and often are more suitable for us. It would give us more of a voice. It can happen.
Mommy and Daddy are paying for everything else, why shouldn’t they buy them a building too. Its not like any of them ever sold any “art” to buy one on their own.