Poised For Brighter Future, Root Division Unveils New Headquarters

Poised For Brighter Future, Root Division Unveils New HeadquartersPhotos: Brittany Hopkins / Hoodline
Brittany Hopkins
Published on September 10, 2015

One year after being displaced from its longtime Mission District home, Root Division is ready to celebrate the opening of its new South of Market headquarters. Located on Mission Street between Seventh and Eighth, the visual arts nonprofit now has 13,400 square feet over three floors to continue and grow programs that offer subsidized studios to artists, art education classes to local youth and adults, and regular art exhibitions and interactive events. 

Addressing a small crowd of board members and artists at a press preview this week, Executive Director Michelle Mansour said that while abruptly relocating across town wasn’t an easy task — the prospect forced the organization to consider closing its doors — the new location is bigger, better and brighter than their previous space. It doubles the number of artist studios they can rent to local artists for less than market rate and offers more space for hosting art education classes on site.

Mansour also paints the organization's experience with displacement over the past year in a positive light. The challenge definitely stretched Root Division's board, she said, but also attracted new members with additional concrete skills and the drive to help the nonprofit succeed. And while the goal of raising $850,000 within the year seemed impossible, they're now 90 percent there, with nearly 25 percent of the funds coming from board members themselves and 50 percent from working artists.

Tom DeCaigny, director of cultural affairs for the San Francisco Arts Commission, added that with the cost of living rising in urban centers across the country, the troubles art and nonprofit organizations are facing are far from over. But Root Division — which received assistance from the Arts Commission, Northern California Community Loan Fund and Community and Community Arts Stabilization Trust in addition to private funders — is a prime example of how the public can and should respond to displacement.

DeCaigny discussing Root Division's contribution to the community and artist displacement locally and nationally.

Getting artists into the 16 completed studio spaces on the first and second floors was a priority for the organization during the move and all but one space is currently filled. Renovations continue in the basement, where six to seven additional artist studios, a digital lab, and a fabrication shop with woodworking equipment, a 3D printer and laser cutter will soon be located.

One of 16 completed artist studios.

For local artist Xiao Wang, the expansion of Root Division’s studio program, which provides local artists a subsidized studio in return for teaching hours, was perfect timing. Wang graduated from the San Francisco Art Institute in the spring and was racing to find a studio and work to satisfy the requirements of his student visa. Root Division’s program sounded like the best option around, he said, and he gratefully moved in at the end of July.

Wang, showing off his new studio space.

To celebrate the new space and inaugural exhibition, Resonate, Root Division is hosting The Big Bash from 7-11pm on this Saturday, Sept. 12th. All of the exhibiting artists are current and former members of the Root Division community and their works explore the value of artistic survival and shifts in the cultural landscape; the public is invited to explore the exhibition’s visual and interactive works and the new space while enjoying cocktails from nearby bar Forgery. For those who can't make Saturday's event, Resonate will be on view from 2pm-6pm Wednesdays through Saturdays, until Sept. 26th.

While all at Root Division are ready to move forward, Mansour does have a few words of advice for nonprofits that may find themselves in a similar situation: "Know what you do well and be positive."