California College of the Arts closure shakes San Francisco's arts scene
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In 2022, California College of the Arts staff went on strike over alleged unfair labor practices. Photo: Brontë Wittpenn/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images
The planned closure of San Francisco's oldest private art school has ignited criticism from artists who say the loss reflects years of neglect of the cultural identity that once anchored the city.
Why it matters: The scheduled 2027 closure of California College of the Arts (CCA) underscores a deeper fear — that San Francisco is losing the institutions that sustain its cultural framework even as leaders tout the city's comeback.
- Its shutdown would also mark another loss for the city's deteriorating arts scene, which has faced a steady wave of school, museum and gallery closures in recent years.
What they're saying: "San Francisco's art scene feels quite battered right now," Gallery 16 owner Griff Williams told Axios. "The things that made San Francisco great — the deep cultural community — is not a priority for our civic leaders right now."
Catch up quick: School leaders cited long-running financial strain and enrollment challenges when announcing the closure last week, but it nonetheless landed abruptly for some students, faculty and alumni.
- The fallout has spread beyond campus. FOG Design+Art Fair founder Stanlee Gatti, a CCA board member since 2016, resigned in protest, and Gov. Gavin Newsom said he was shocked by the news after the state approved a $20 million grant.
State of play: The campus will be acquired by Vanderbilt University, a prestigious Nashville-based private college that's promised to honor the art school with a California College of the Arts Institute on site, with continued programming at the Wattis Institute.
- In his comments following the announcement, Mayor Daniel Lurie acknowledged CCA's longstanding cultural contributions and said that honoring its legacy "will be an important responsibility for Vanderbilt and for us here in the city."
Yes, but: Those assurances have done little to quell outrage among the arts community, Williams said.
- "The point was that nobody was concerned about CCA's failure," said Williams, whose career was launched at the now-defunct San Francisco Art Institute. "The city didn't care that the oldest surviving nonprofit art school in Northern California was closing — that's the bottom line. It wasn't an effort to save it; it was simply an effort to find a buyer for it and that says a lot about our priorities."
- Lurie's office did not respond to Axios' questions about how his administration plans to support the arts community in the wake of CCA's closure or address concerns about the city's commitment to preserving arts institutions.
The big picture: The backlash comes amid SF Art Week — when the city is publicly showcasing its arts and culture — and highlights the arts scene's growing sense of exclusion from civic conversations, alongside mounting concerns that tech and corporate interests are hollowing out San Francisco's identity as a creative hub.
Flashback: Founded more than a century ago, CCA grew from a small arts school into a nationally recognized institution whose alumni have gone on to lead architecture and design firms, contribute to museums and public art and become influential figures in the arts world.
The bottom line: "Local leaders have to do more," Williams added. "Their unwillingness to see this as a problem is an indication that either they don't care about the arts community or they just don't understand it."