Episode 4: Housing for the Artist Workforce: Revisiting Artists’ Housing Solutions

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Arts for a Better Bay Area "State of the Art Summit” breakout session on Affordable Housing for our Creative Workforce

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"So looking at how do we build an ecology where affordable housing isn't just a place you stay, it's a place you stay and work and build a business and raise a family and, you know, build the economic resources,for the next step. " - Josh Simon

This episode is part of our special series on how the arts and culture sector is coming back from the Covid 19 pandemic and features voices from our co-production of Arts For a Better Bay Area’s State Of The Arts Summit on June 28th 2023. The focus of the summit was how artists and arts organizations are adapting in a post pandemic marketplace along with the economic developmental power of our arts and culture economy in rebuilding our communities. 

This episode features our panelists from our breakout session “Housing for the Artist Workforce: Revisiting Artists’ Housing Solutions” Kathryn Reasoner, Executive Consultant with Vital Arts, Mark Morrisette, the Facilities Director at Berkeley Repertory Theater, Joshua Simon, a Senior Advisor at the Community Arts Stabilization Trust, Ian Winters, the Director of Incubation and Special Projects at the Northern California Land Trust, and Meg Shiffler, the Director of Artists Space Trust, along with Julie Baker, the CEO of Californians for the Arts and California Arts Advocates.

Kathryn Reasoner - Executive Consultant,Vital Arts

In her role as Executive Consultant for Vital Arts, Kathryn Reasoner draws on deep experience in the fields of arts and cultural policy. She has won awards and recognition for her advocacy and leadership on behalf of artists and seminal art spaces in the Bay Area. She has directed institutions such as Headlands Center for the Arts, Richmond Art Center, and di Rosa Center for Contemporary Art, among others. Reasoner has led cultural planning teams and played an active role in strategic arts planning for the California Arts Council, the City and County of San Francisco, and the County of Napa. Her background offers relevant user experience in the design, development, construction, and management of cultural spaces, along with international models from working and living abroad.

Mark Morrisette - Facilities Director, Berkeley Repertory Theater

Mark Morrisette is the Director of Facilities for the Berkeley Repertory Theatre, overseeing the maintenance operation of the downtown theaters and other buildings on the two Berkeley Rep campuses including the recent new construction of the Medak Center, a 45-unit work-force housing building for artists.   Prior to joining the Berkley Rep in 2014, Mark spent more than 30 years in the North Bay area serving as the Director of Operations for Luther Burbank Center for the Arts in Santa Rosa, Director of Development for Sebastopol Center for the Arts in Sebastopol, Director of the Furth Center in Windsor, President of the Windsor Chamber of Commerce, Administrator for the Jarvis Conservatory’s Opera programs in Napa, and as the North Bay Coordinator for FIFA outreach in the 1994 World Cup Games in the San Francisco Bay Area. Mark studied theatre at Southern Oregon University in Ashland, Oregon, and holds an MBA in Arts Administration from Golden Gate University in San Francisco. 

Joshua Simon - Senior Advisor, Community Arts Stabilization Trust

Joshua is dedicated to building vibrant, healthy neighborhoods that are affordable for all. Prior to becoming Executive Director for the East Bay Asian Local Development Corporation, Joshua was Director of Real Estate Consulting at the Northern California Community Loan Fund, where he helped nonprofits plan and finance their facilities. From 1994–2006, Joshua worked as a Senior Project Manager and Director of EBALDC’s Real Estate Development Department, overseeing the development of major mixed-use complexes that combine affordable rental apartments with community and retail facilities benefitting the broader community. Throughout his career, Joshua has been an active civic leader, serving 13 years as a School Board member for Emeryville Unified School District and on committees that address education facilities and affordable housing, and is Vice President of Emeryville’s Redevelopment Successor Agency Oversight Committee. Joshua holds a B.A. in Architecture from UC Berkeley and an M.S. in Real Estate Development from MIT.

Ian Winters - Director of Incubation & Special Projects at the Northern California Land Trust

Ian has served as Executive Director of the Northern California Land Trust (NCLT) since early 2002 and is a long-term CLT & coop resident. Professionally he has over 10 years experience in sustainable construction and architecture as well as community activism and organizational development. He trained as a photographer/filmmaker and art/architectural historian at Tufts University and the Boston Museum School and graduated architecture/design work at the San Francisco Institute of Architecture. Outside of the CLT world, he maintains an active life as a working artist.

Meg Shiffler - Director, Artists Space Trust

In her role as inaugural Director of Artist Space Trust, Meg brings 17 years of service to the Bay Area’s diverse artists and communities. Her unique cross-sector background in government, and nonprofit and private organizations in the San Francisco Bay Area, Seattle, and New York, includes envisioning and building organizations, inclusive engagement with varied stakeholders and communities, and managing complex budgets and contracts.. During 16 years as Director and Chief Curator of the San Francisco Arts Commission Galleries, Schiffler vastly increased the galleries’  scale, space, staff, and programming while commissioning new work from regional, national, and international artists. has taught, written, and lectured on artists, exhibition history, and curatorial practice. Most recently, she was the Head of Space and Operations at Swissnex, an international network of innovation hubs supporting entrepreneurs, researchers, scientists, and artists working toward a more sustainable future.

Julie Baker - CEO of Californians for the Arts & California Arts Advocates

As CEO of California’s statewide arts advocacy organizations, Julie has worked to increase the legislative clout and visibility of the arts and culture communities. She engages in coalition-building across non-profit sectors of California’s creative industries. She produces a month-long arts awareness and advocacy campaign every April. Baker has an established history of fighting for resources and legislation that serve and protect artists and cultural workers. She serves as the California State Captain for Americans for the Arts' National Arts Action Summit. On the State Arts Action Network Council, she is the co-chair of the Western Arts Advocacy network for WESTAF. Baker is a board member of California Heritage: Indigenous Research Project and the Nevada County school board. She is a founding member of the Nevada County Relief Fund advisory council.

Over the years, Julie has owned a fine arts gallery for emerging artists, co-founded Flow art fair — a satellite of Art Basel Miami Beach — opened her own consulting firm, and curated Crocker Art Museum’s annual music series. Earlier in her career Baker was President of her family’s arts marketing firm in New York City and worked at Christie’s Auction House. Baker also served for eight years as the Executive Director of The Center for the Arts, a non-profit performing arts venue, and California WorldFest, an annual music and camping festival in Grass Valley, CA. Baker received the inaugural Peggy Levine Arts & Community Service Award from the Nevada County Arts Council and the 2021 Alene Valkanas State Arts Advocacy Award from Americans for the Arts, which honors individuals whose arts advocacy efforts have impacted the political landscape.

Vital Arts

Our Story
Soaring rents and costs are displacing Bay Area artists and forcing them to live and gather for events in deathtraps like the Oakland Ghost Ship warehouse, threatening the continuation of innovative arts and culture in the Bay Area, long recognized as a fertile place for creativity.  
Edwin Bernbaum, whose son Jonathan died in the Oakland Ghost Ship fire, started Vital Arts alongside friends Beth Jay and Tom Dolan to address these problems and to honor those lost in the fire by working to ensure that no artists or art lovers have to pay for their passion with their lives. Vital Arts envision a world in which groundbreaking arts and culture that are essential for the continued health and vitality of society at large are recognized and cultivated. We seek to bring this about by implementing projects to meet the needs of low and moderate-income artists in the Bay Area. We believe that if we are successful, our efforts to preserve and support a strong innovative creative arts community can provide models and seeds that can be replicated nationally and internationally. You can find out more about Vital Arts Approach and the work they are doing in the community along with their projects and partners along with supporting their work.

Berkeley Repertory Theatre

Berkeley Repertory Theatre has grown from a storefront stage to an international leader in innovative theatre. Known for its ambition, relevance, and excellence, as well as its adventurous audience, the nonprofit has provided a welcoming home for emerging and established artists since 1968. Over 5.5 million people have enjoyed nearly 500 shows at Berkeley Rep, which have gone on to win six Tony Awards, seven Obie Awards, nine Drama Desk Awards, one Grammy Award, one Pulitzer Prize, and many other honors. Berkeley Rep received the Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre in 1997. To formalize, enhance, and expand the processes by which Berkeley Rep makes theatre, The Ground Floor: Berkeley Rep’s Center for the Creation and Development of New Work was launched in 2012. The Berkeley Rep School of Theatre engages and educates some 20,000 people a year and helps build the audiences of tomorrow with its nationally recognized teen programs. Berkeley Rep’s bustling facilities—which also include the 400-seat Peet’s Theatre, the 600-seat Roda Theatre, and a spacious campus in West Berkeley—are helping revitalize a renowned city. Find out more about Berkeley Rep’s In Dialogue Program, Antiracism Commitment, Housing, and how to get involved along with donations and subscription.

Community Arts Stabilization Trust - CAST

Mission: To create stable physical spaces for arts and cultural organizations to facilitate equitable urban transformation. This seed of an idea that was incubated through NCCLF evolved into what is now known as the Community Arts Stabilization Trust. With a $5 million grant from the Kenneth Rainin Foundation to launch CAST’s first two pilot projects, CounterPulse and Luggage Store Gallery, CAST set out on its mission to slow the exodus of artists and arts organizations in the Mid-Market neighborhood of San Francisco by buying two buildings, leveraging New Markets Tax Credits, and holding the asset for a period of seven years until the arts partner was strong enough operationally and had enough funds raised to buy their building back from CAST and acquire a permanent home. Founded in 2013, CAST has helped transform access to space for nonprofits in the Bay Area, at a time when artists were being priced out left and right in San Francisco and particularly vulnerable to an escalating commercial real estate market. Find out more about the model, programs/services, partnerships resources, and partnering with CAST, looking for space and supporting their work.

Northern California Land Trust

Mission Statement
NCLT is a Community Land Trust (CLT) that incubates and nurtures permanently affordable communities. NCLT uses community ownership and control of the land in order to provide affordable homes and community facilities in perpetuity. Founded in 1973, we have led the development of many innovations and developments in cooperative and community ownership models. We believe that community-based ownership and co-stewardship of land and homes in the Bay Area help transform housing from a commodity to a building block of local community autonomy and agency. NCLT envisions a world where everyone has secure, sustainable, healthy, and affordable places to live and the opportunity to thrive. Find out more about NCLT’s services, housing openings, and resources along with their incubation of new housing opportunities and support their mission.

Artists Space Trust

Artist Space Trust (AST) is an innovative national model for equitably securing permanently affordable artist housing and creative space. Utilizing methods developed by the community land trust movement, AST will facilitate an inter-generational transfer of property to prevent losses for future generations locked out by market forces. Artist Space Trust grew from the shared commitment of Vital Arts and the Northern California Community Land Trust (NCLT) to stem the displacement of artists economically vulnerable to rising real estate costs. We believe that community control and ownership are necessary to ensure that local artists have access to safe, affordable spaces to live, create, and share their work. Find out more about what AST does, and how, to get engaged and support their efforts.

Californians for the Arts & California Arts Advocates

Californians for the Arts (CFTA) is the only comprehensive, multidisciplinary organization focused on advancing and building public awareness of the value and impact of arts, culture, and creativity across California. With over 15,000 active subscribers and hundreds of members representing thousands of artists and arts and cultural organizations, we take on opportunities and challenges that no single organization or artist can represent alone. Moved by our deep conviction of the civic and personal value of the arts, our mission at Californians for the Arts is to ensure that the arts are accessible to all Californians; are an ongoing part of the public dialogue, and encourage Californians to care about the arts as a critical component of their own lives and the lives of their communities. We fight for arts resources and policies that benefit our members and all residents of California. Our work and support of civic engagement, arts education, cultural equity, and the creative economy, positively impact every community across the state. Find out more about CFTA Programs, Resources, Campaigns with California Arts Advocates, and how to support their work to support the creative economy.

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