Bay Area-based nonprofit Community Arts Stabilization Trust (CAST) will award $350,000 in funding to Oakland-based art groups to ensure the viability of artist communities in a rapidly-gentrifying Oakland.
Fourteen arts and cultural organizations will receive funding as part of CAST’s Keeping Space—Oakland program, the nonprofit announced on Nov. 30, mere days before the first anniversary of the Ghost Ship fire.
Founded last year with funding from the Kenneth Rainin Foundation and the William + Flora Hewlett Foundation, Keeping Space—Oakland is CAST’s pilot program in the East Bay to assist a varied set of arts nonprofits vulnerable to displacement.
“With the Bay Area’s escalating real estate costs,” said CAST Executive Director Moy Eng in a statement, “Keeping Space–Oakland investments are timely and essential to help keep artists and arts groups in Oakland.”
Each organization will receive a grant ranging from $6,200 to $56,250, which can be utilized for acquiring spaces, planning acquisitions, bringing existing spaces up to ADA and safety code, or for paying off rental and moving expenses.