SFAI Legacy Foundation + Archive

San Francisco Art Institute Legacy Foundation + Archive, referred to as the SFAI Legacy Foundation + Archive (SFAI LF+A) is an independent nonprofit created to safeguard and sustain the former San Francisco Art Institute’s (SFAI) legacy and historical collections. Its mission is to preserve the Institute’s 150-year history, which chronicles Northern California art since 1871 and the school’s influence as a leader in experimental artistic practice and innovative scholarship. SFAI LF+A provides access to its archives for artists, scholars, and the public through programs, publications, and exhibitions.^[1]

With no financial options left, the San Francisco Art Institute ended all course and degree programs, held its final commencement on July 12, 2022, and closed permanently.^[2]

Amid the school's impending closure, SFAI librarians Becky Alexander and Jeff Gunderson secured a $234,000 National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) grant in April 2022. The grant funded "Expanding the Conversation: Improving Access to 150 Years of Archival Collections at the San Francisco Art Institute,"^[3] project, which aimed to arrange, describe, and rehouse 544 linear feet of the school's archives, significantly enhancing both public and scholarly access to the school's historical records.^[4]

After the San Francisco Art Institute’s July 2022 closure, Gunderson and Alexander led an informal group of SFAI community members to discuss the possibility of starting an independent nonprofit focused on preserving SFAI’s archives and legacy resources, and protecting the collection from the school’s creditors. As a result of these meetings, in August, SFAI Legacy Foundation + Archive (SFAI LF+A) was officially established as a 501(c)3 tax-exempt nonprofit organization, with Charles DeSantis, Gale Elston, and Katie Hood Morgan serving as founding board members, and archivists Becky Alexander, and Jeff Gunderson overseeing daily operations.^[5] Building on this progress, in November 2022, the SFAI Board of Trustees officially granted possession of the SFAI archives to SFAI LF+A.^[1] It also transferred the right to administer the July 2022 National Endowment for the Humanities grant to SFAI LF+A.^[6]

In April 2023, as the SFAI filed for bankruptcy, the school's collection and archives, now overseen by the new SFAI LF+A, were removed from the campus's Anne Bremer Memorial Library and the school's bell tower. Around 1,000 boxes of materials were moved to a 1,500-square-foot space in the basement of a building on Hawthorne St., the new home of SFAI LF+A, located next to Crown Point Press in San Francisco’s South of Market (SoMa) district, near several major museums.^[7]^[5]

In April 2025, the Trump administration rescinded the 2022 National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) grant of $234,000 awarded to the SFAI Legacy Foundation + Archive. The grant was part of a broader, politically driven effort to claw back funding for cultural projects, with approximately 75% of the award intended for preserving the San Francisco Art Institute's historic collection.^[8]

Archive and collections

Following SFAI's permanent closure in 2022, protecting its 152-year history of influencing Northern California art and culture became a critical mission. To ensure that the SFAI legacy and unique archives remain available for future scholarship, the SFAI LF+A made preserving these records an essential priority. The collection comprises 550 linear feet of archival material. It includes manuscripts, account books, meeting minutes, blueprints, ephemera, photographs, audio and video recordings, and student and alumni artworks.^[6]Additionally, there is an eclectic assortment of items that archivists, Becky Alexander, describes as: “Having a file on the ghost(s) haunting the school’s central bell-less bell tower that includes audio recordings made by a team of ghost hunters, invitations to a Halloween party featuring a medium, and ghost sighting report forms filled out by students. A “dogs on campus” file features a string of 1970s-era memos from then-Dean Fred Martin as he struggled to rein in the increasingly out-of-control problem of students’ dogs roaming the building in packs, unsupervised and not well cleaned up after by their owners. The collection also includes various interesting objects, like the folding chair that John Cage happened to sit in when he performed on campus, lovingly affixed with a metal plaque by a student to commemorate the occasion, or the ashes of photography department faculty member Jerry Burchard, baked into small ceramic buddhas by Richard Shaw, a member of the ceramics department, and handed out at his memorial service wrapped in fabric reminiscent of the Hawaiian shirts he had loved to wear. It’s an interesting collection because it documents an interesting place, and because it was shaped over time by the collecting impulses of interesting people.”^[9]

Community engagement

In October 2024, SFAI LF+A launched a series of complimentary Walking Tours throughout downtown San Francisco. These tours uncover the city's obscured artistic legacies by navigating diverse routes, guided by knowledgeable guests who’ll provide personal insights into the little-known stories behind each location and landmark and point out events that define the city's unique cultural history.^[10]^[11]

An ongoing project, The SFAI Memory Collection was created by the SFAI Legacy Foundation + Archive and SF Artists Alumni to preserve the history and creative legacy of the San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI). It serves as a digital repository for contributions from alumni, faculty, and staff, initiated to document the school's history.^[12]

SFAI LF+A was a major contributor to People Make This Place: SFAI Stories, an exhibition at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) running from July 26, 2025, to July 2026. The exhibition celebrates the legacy of the San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI) and features works by more than 50 alumni and faculty, including archival ephemera provided by SFAI LF+A, such as student newspapers, posters from 1950s Beat-era galleries, and flyers from the 1970s punk and new wave music scenes. It was a collaborative effort between SFMOMA and SFAI LF+A. Archivists Becky Alexander and Jeff Gunderson from SFAI LF+A worked closely with SFMOMA curators, including David Senior, to select and interpret the historical records featured in the exhibition.^[5]^[13]^[14]

SFAI Legacy Foundation + Archive

Archive and collections

Community engagement

References

External links

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