Problem Library is a group of people driven by a responsibility to leave the world a better place than we found it.

  • a 501(c)–3 organization
  • 1288 15th Ave, San Francisco
  • Est. 2016

We are a home for people at all stages of life who seek personal growth as the foundation for leading meaningful lives.

Problem Library provides a nurturing environment for students to realize their potential, guides alumni and working artists to pursue fulfilling and challenging work, and encourages the broader community to step beyond just being a professional—to become role models and leaders in their communities.

Problem Library is a call to respond. “What do I care about, what is worthwhile, and what can I be proud to build that will serve others?”

An all-volunteer organization, we’ve built everything from programs in education, cultural infrastructure, and inter-generational symposiums, to our home space in the Inner Sunset from the ground up with an explicit focus on building the best possible examples in quality rather than scale and growth for their own sake.

Like any living system, every organization co-evolves. Its character and capabilities emerge as it plays with possibilities. It messes about with others until a workable system appears. This system has abilities and beliefs no one planned. It accomplishes work in ways no one designed.

— Margaret Wheatley

  1. Problem Children Closing Exhibition, 2023
  2. Benefit Art Show, 2022

Education is a foundational social task.

After nearly a decade of work and experimentation, we are currently investing our efforts towards education projects for ambitious and curious minds across all age groups.

In the summer we facilitate a cohort of Problem Children; in the spring and fall we present Too Much Information; and throughout the year we host various gatherings to support the work of the larger Problem Library community.

Problem Library is always open to meeting like-hearted individuals looking to do consequential work in the community.

Please reach out to office@problemlibrary.org to learn how to get involved.

The young generation of today is the caretaker of the future. It will without doubt build in good time institutions corresponding to new realities, able to adjust to the new ecology and to the new aspirations of humanity everywhere and so lead the march out of chaos toward community.

— Serge Chermayeff and Alexander Tzonis, 1971