Lyanne MelendezSan Francisco's art market continues to struggle against other big cities in the U.S. We looked into the potential reasons why.San Francisco has long been known as an arts destination. But in recent years, the city has been losing out to places like Los Angeles. There are a number of factors involved in that decline, including the high cost of living here.
Vallejo, roughly 30 miles from San Francisco, is not what you might call a vibrant art hub, but it's where del Rosario can afford to live. "That's real. You cannot be a working artist in San Francisco and not have rent control," said Krissy Keefer, artistic director of the Dance Mission Theater. "So that has reduced the demand within the local community for the San Francisco art market, and it's part of the reason why it shrunk," said Karen Jenkins-Johnson who has owned a gallery for 30 years. She says the slowdown began in 2000 and has never really regained steam.Let's not fool one another -- images of the unhoused and people doing drugs on the streets, that we still see today, also play a role in driving potential collectors away.
But there are still some supporters willing to put up the money to save the galleries like the Minnesota Street Project, which offers affordable spaces. Without it, some smaller galleries would have had to close.