SF Launches Chinatown Artist Registry With $2.26 Million for Public Art

The San Francisco Arts Commission (SFAC) and the Chinese Culture Center (CCC) announced today the creation of the Chinatown Artist Registry, launching a call for artists with meaningful connections to the neighborhood.

Artists accepted into the registry will be eligible for public art opportunities that total $993,000 in artist fees, including a sculpture commission in Portsmouth Square, two-dimensional artwork purchases for the Chinatown Public Health Center, and a wall work integrated into five arched niches at the Chinatown Him Mark Lai branch library. The registry will be used for other upcoming projects through 2027.

Jenny Leung, director of the CCC, marks this as a major milestone in the story of Chinatown’s city-funded public art. “I just really commend the city for listening to the community,” she told KQED. “Chinatown really does care about its public presentation, and our community has been really deeply underrepresented in our public spaces in public art.”

In November 2023, the CCC, along with six other Chinatown organizations, successfully advocated for the removal of Patti Bowler’s Dragon Relief from the Chinatown Public Health Center. The SFAC had proposed to reposition the artwork on the building’s façade or roof, but ultimately decided that the 56-foot-wide bronze and brass sculpture, installed 1970, no longer met the city’s standards for a community artwork.

Similarly, Portsmouth Square’s existing public art has been part of an evaluation process set forth in 2023 by the city’s Monuments and Memorials Advisory Committee. As CCC Deputy Director Hoi Leung told KQED earlier this year, the square currently contains no artwork that commemorates Asian American history or artwork made by artists of Asian descent.

Portsmouth Square, the Chinatown Public Health Center and the Chinatown library are all undergoing multi-million dollar renovations in the coming years. The funding for public art in these projects comes from a combination of San Francisco’s Art Enrichment Ordinance (or 2%-for-Art-Program) and other state and city sources.

These are no small commissions. The artist fee for a new, human-sized Portsmouth Square sculpture (inclusive of fabrication and transportation costs) is $340,000. At the Chinatown Public Health Center, the budget for a new exterior artwork near the clinic entrance is $107,000.

Integral to SFAC’s partnership with the CCC is a robust outreach plan, which involves virtual and in-person workshops and language support. A large percentage of Chinatown’s residents are monolingual seniors.

“We’ll also have one-on-one hours for artists that want support and help navigating the process,” said Leung.

The registry builds on the model of the Bayview Artist Registry, a similar neighborhood-specific call that led to artwork commissions and purchases for the Southeast Community Center, Southeast Family Health Center, Southeast Wastewater Treatment Plant and India Basin Shoreline Park projects.

“We are excited about the new artists that will be applying for this opportunity, and undiscovered artists that maybe have not had their work showcased or uplifted,” Leung said. “We want to make sure that everyone has the ability to apply.”

Applications to the Chinatown Artist Registry are due by Sept. 11, 2024. The Chinese Culture Center will hold a virtual workshop on Aug. 6, 5–6:30 p.m. and an in-person workshop on Aug. 13, 5:30–7 p.m. Click here for more information.