PND (10/24/2000) -- San Francisco's Arts Community Sees Both Sides of Boom Economy

Amid concerns that an increasing number of small arts groups and individual artists are being priced out of the city, San Francisco's major arts and cultural institutions are thriving, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

The San Francisco Ballet and San Francisco Symphony, the American Conservatory Theater, and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art are all reporting booming membership and attendance rates, as well as increases in funding. But the new high tech wealth that is fueling their success is also responsible for driving up rents and the cost of living in the city, thereby forcing out cutting-edge and experimental arts groups and causing San Francisco cultural leaders to express concern over the growing "arts gap."

"It's a delicate ecosystem," said SFB executive director Arthur Jacobus. "The strength and health of the majors have an impact on all the arts institutions, and vice versa."

While staff members at the large institutions often provide assistance to small groups by serving on their boards and speaking on their behalf in public forums, they are also obliged to look to the well-being and growth of their own organizations, which are not immune to market down-turns. "It wasn't so many years ago," points out Jacobus, "that the Ballet itself was in a very fragile position."

Winn, Steve. "Big Arts Organizations Thriving." San Francisco Chronicle 10/19/2000.

See also: Hamlin, Jesse. "Creative Use of Space: Chicago, Seattle Take Tentative Steps to Find Places For Artists." San Francisco Chronicle 10/19/2000.

See also: Chonin, Neva and Dan Levy. "No Room for the Arts: The Economic Boom Threatens to Kill Off S.F.'s Cutting-Edge Culture." San Francisco Chronicle 10/17/2000.

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