Okay, so I (a local artist), in a stroke of absolute serendipity and luck, managed to find a kind-hearted real estate agent who wants to lend out an abandoned building (2051 Market St) to do something good for the community before construction starts on it - we don't even have to pay rent! Turns out, he grew up in SF, worked in tech, then went into real estate because he's trying to figure out how to actually use real estate as a force for good in this royally facked up city.

(This was a day after I had met Edna Nyangau, a scientist-by-day-arts-advocate-by-night, and we had decided we were going to create a new thing together because we were both pissed at a previously good org that decided to sell out, start charging artists, and move like everyone and their mother to the lucrative fine arts scene in Miami. Sigh.)

SO, Edna and I came up with the idea for “thirdspace” - an arts-centered, communal gathering space that’s not home (first space) or work (second space). A neutral ground for drastically different sides of San Francisco to hang, talk, and understand one another.

I've been working with a few other Bay Area artists and advocates to get it up and running, and looping in every good cause and person I know. We're planning a launch event September 16th, bi-weekly pop-ups for artists to sell their work, cross-cultural conversations and panels, music and dance events, and rotating exhibitions!

I'm pushing for this to be a free space for people who don't have access to traditional galleries. Nestled in the old home of Eros, the treasured gay bathouse and safe space for San Francisco’s queer community, I want thirdspace to be a home for all - but especially under-resourced, independent, and low income creatives. Galleries for artists dealing with homelessness are in the works. Our events will be centered around exploring differences (ARTiculate and up to YOU, are some of our themes).

All in all, hoping for a more empathetic convergence of worlds.