The San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI) faced financial turmoil two years ago when it filed for bankruptcy and made the difficult decision to close its doors after graduating its final class in 2022. The failed merger with the University of San Francisco added to the mounting debts, leaving the future of the prestigious institution in jeopardy. There were even talks of selling Diego Rivera’s iconic mural, “The Making of a Fresco, Showing the Building of a City” (1931), before the administration suspended educational operations.
However, hope arrived in the form of philanthropist Laurene Powell Jobs, who acquired the SFAI campus and the Rivera mural for $30 million in early 2024. Powell Jobs envisioned revitalizing the space and maintaining it as a hub for San Francisco’s artist community. Thus, the California Academy of Studio Arts (CASA) was born under Powell Jobs’s nonprofit, BMA Institute.
CASA is a free, non-accredited yearlong experimental studio program designed to support up to 30 emerging artists per annual cohort. The program will also engage with the city through exhibitions, workshops, and artist talks. One of the highlights of CASA is the restoration of Rivera’s mural, which has been inaccessible to the public since 2023.
Powell Jobs expressed her vision for CASA, drawing inspiration from Black Mountain College’s legacy of connection, experimentation, and care. The program aims to be dynamic and artist-centered, providing a space for creativity and collaboration.
The campus renovations and restoration will be led by Jensen Architects and Laplace, with Page & Turnbull handling historic preservation. The new construction will include private studios, workshop spaces, and communal areas while preserving SFAI’s original design and atmosphere.
CASA has already begun hosting listening forums to shape its programming, with artist Abbye Churchill and Serpentine Galleries’s Artistic Director Hans Ulrich Obrist leading the discussions. An opening date for CASA’s inauguration has yet to be announced, but the excitement and anticipation are palpable as the historic SFAI campus transforms into a new chapter with CASA at its helm.
