Grantee Database
SAN FRANCISCO CHILDRENS ART CENTER
Grant Year
2023-24
Grant Program
General Operating Support
Award Amount
$54,998.00
Project Description
With support from the California Arts Council, San Francisco Children’s Art Center’s (SFCAC) will continue our mission to provide process-oriented artmaking experiences that nurture creative self-expression to honor and amplify the voices of children in San Francisco. We will prioritize our work in economically vulnerable and historically marginalized communities, with a particular focus to address the identified need for developmentally-appropriate, open-ended, visual arts exploration in Early Education classrooms in San Francisco Unified School District and in Head Start preschools in San Francisco. Working collaboratively with classroom teachers, we will nurture students’ creative, social, and emotional development while strengthening our community partnerships. With California Arts Council funding, we will hire and train new teaching artists, prioritizing BIPOC and bilingual artists, allowing us to expand residency programs and increase our reach to San Francisco’s youngest artists.
Organization Summary
Annually, SFCAC serves approximately 1200 San Francisco children, ages 2-10 years old, and their teachers and families. Our students are predominantly from economically vulnerable families (70%) and students of color (90%).
SCHOOL PROGRAMS:
The majority of our students participate through SFCAC school residency programs in San Francisco preschools and elementary schools. Our primary focus is providing visual arts residencies to PreK classrooms in San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) and HeadStart preschools. This focus grew from an identified need for developmentally-appropriate creative exploration in Early Education settings in under-resourced communities which have historically lacked equitable access to arts engagement.
OUT-OF-SCHOOL ART CLASSES & CAMPS:
At SFCAC’s art studio in San Francisco’s Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture, we provide out-of-school time classes and summer art camps for young artists. While our studio programs are fee-based, we reserve 50% of all spots for scholarship students. Earned income from enrollment fees is re-invested directly in our community programs.
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT:
SFCAC provides professional development for education partners including classroom teachers and SFUSD visual arts teachers. Our workshops are designed to build understanding of the benefits of process-oriented artmaking and how this approach supports individual student agency while fostering a classroom culture of collaboration and collective learning. In the 2024-25 school year, we provided more than 20 hours of professional development engagement to SFUSD educators.
COMMUNITY OUTREACH:
SFCAC engages directly with the San Francisco community with free family art workshops at our studio and at public events across the city, including at public library branches, farmers’ markets pop-ups, and other community partner venues. These inter-generational, hands-on artmaking workshops provide opportunities for families to engage together in creative play, enhance parent/caregiver confidence in supporting their children’s creative development, and nurture families’ sense of belonging and increased visibility of families in San Francisco’s cultural spaces.
Organization
SAN FRANCISCO CHILDRENS ART CENTER
Address
2 Marina Boulevard
Fort Mason Center, Building C
San Francisco
94123
County
San Francisco
Region
Bay Area – San Francisco
Phone
(415) 771-0292
Congressional District
California's 12th congressional district
State Assembly District
District 19
State Senate District
District 11
