On Thursday afternoon, Juthaporn Chaloeicheep was blow-drying prints onto four T-shirts at the Community Arts Program studio at Sixth and Market streets. The prints are from artwork by Douglas Jones, her 9-year-old son, which he painted at the studio. And the shirts are a surprise for Jones’ birthday party guests tomorrow.
“This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity and a dream come true,” said Joe Wilson, executive director of Hospitality House. For over 50 years, the Community Arts Program has been a haven for low-income artists across the city, mostly in the Tenderloin and South of Market area.
CAST was able to purchase the property in 2015 with the help of the federal New Markets Tax Credit program, a financing tool spurring cash investment from private investors into low-income communities in exchange for tax credits. The credit, which totals 39 percent of the original investment amount, is in return claimed by the buyers over a period of seven years.
If Hospitality House pulls off this purchase, they may be part of a larger trend. In the Tenderloin and South of Market, community-based nonprofits have begun to purchase properties in the hopes of establishing permanent homes and offering more stable services and resources. With the help of CAST,, an art incubator located at 80 Turk St., was able to buy its building last year, after leasing the space since 2016.