Join Daniel Lucas (Education Director at Problem Library) and Nicole Meldahl (San Francisco historian and Executive Director of Western Neighborhoods Project) for a presentation and open conversation. Together, they’ll trace the origins, ethos, and contemporary resonance of San Francisco’s homegrown art schools.

San Francisco has a storied history of community-led arts education, from long-standing juggernauts like the California College of the Arts and the now-defunct San Francisco Art Institute, to influential experiments like the Alvarado School Art Workshop and The Rudolph Schaeffer School of Design. These schools and their associated scenes nurtured generations of artists, thinkers, and builders who shaped the global image of San Francisco as a cultural haven.

By revisiting these examples, we can draw lessons and inspiration about how to build similar spaces today. These histories sharpen our thinking as we consider: What are we offering young creatives today? What conditions are we creating for discovery, risk, and deep engagement? How do we build on the legacies of foundational institutions?

At its best, arts education is not just about individual development—it is a force that radiates out into the community, creating shared language, visions for the future, and a sense of continuity and heritage. More than schools, these spaces functioned as cultural incubators, sites of experimentation, and community anchors.

We’ll reflect on the people, places, and ideas that have shaped San Francisco’s creative foundation—and consider how that legacy might spark new possibilities in the present.

And we hope you’ll be part of this reminisce. If you’ve passed through any of these spaces—or helped shape them—your memories and reflections are part of the living history we’re gathering. After all, arts education in San Francisco has always grown through the spaces we’ve built together, the conversations we’ve kept alive, and the futures we’ve dared to imagine.