‘A Creator’s Dream’: Inside the SF Studio Building a Hub for Low-Income Artists

When the artist SupremeRivi11 first came across Hospitality House’s Community Arts Program on Market and Sixth streets in San Francisco, he felt like he’d discovered a gold mine. The fine art studio, tucked behind two street-level gallery spaces, offers low-income and homeless creatives workshops in printmaking, ceramics, and painting. Supplies are given freely. Staff and volunteers help coordinate exhibitions. If a piece sells, 100% of the profits go to the artist. 

“This is a creator’s dream,” says Rivi, an Iraq War veteran, who was unhoused when he first arrived in San Francisco years ago. “You can do everything in here: silk screen, paint, sew, you can make ceramics. I needed a place to be inspired, and it’s really hard to find a paint studio in the Bay Area.” 

Last week, Rivi’s hard work paid off. He opened a solo show with more than a dozen paintings on display in the studio’s gallery window, ranging from oil paints on linen to graphite sketches to silkscreens. 

Rivi is one of thousands of artists who’ve shown their work in the gallery over the last 15 years. Now, thousands more will have the chance to show their art, too. This month, Hospitality House, a Tenderloin-based homelessness nonprofit, announced it had purchased 1009 Market St., where its 56-year-old Community Arts Program has operated since 2010. In a time of great national economic insecurity, a rise in anti-homelessness sentiment in San Francisco, and an affordability crisis that has pushed many artists out of the city, this acquisition is a huge, increasingly rare win for both the arts and homeless communities.