With support from the California Arts Council, San Francisco Children’s Art Center (SFCAC) will provide San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) Early Education classroom teachers and district visual arts teachers with professional development workshops, experiential learning visual arts classroom residencies, and one-on-one coaching and support. SFCAC’s Professional Development program will focus on Early Education classrooms to expand capacity for facilitating process-oriented art engagement, to use creative experiences to foster collaborative learning environments for the district’s youngest students, and to use artmaking to strengthen home-to-school connections with families.
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.

