The Creative Cities Fund

For years, Bay Area artists and arts organizations have faced an uphill battle to secure affordable, stable spaces. Rising costs, shifting real estate dynamics, and exclusionary practices have pushed artists to the margins of the cities they’ve helped shape. We understand these challenges and, with our Space to Dream Initiative and the Creative Cities Fund, we’re working to address the root of the issue by providing a long-term solution that moves beyond temporary fixes.

What is the Creative Cities Fund?

The Creative Cities Fund is designed to help the arts community take control of its future by providing the resources to secure and sustain affordable spaces. Through the Fund, CAST can purchase large-scale buildings and underutilized properties at discounted rates across San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, transforming these spaces into vibrant cultural hubs with below-market rents. By lifting the burden of unaffordable space, we’re freeing up funding for artists to focus on their work and community impact rather than high rents.

How does the Creative Cities Fund work?

The Creative Cities Fund operates as a community-backed model, where every dollar deposited goes directly toward acquiring properties for artists and arts organizations. Key features of the Fund include:

• Federally Insured Deposits: The Fund allows depositors to make federally insured deposits of up to $50 million through the IntraFi Cash Service® program. These deposits provide the collateral CAST needs to acquire properties, ensuring stability for tenants without relying on ongoing subsidies.
• Targeted for Large Acquisitions: With loans ideally starting at $1 million and up, the Fund is structured for major property purchases and conversions of office buildings into arts and cultural hubs, primarily in downtown San Francisco and Oakland. This large-scale approach enables the transformation of underutilized spaces into thriving creative communities.
• Accessible to the Bay Area Arts Community: The Fund is open to any Bay Area artist, arts organization, or collective, and is similar to social impact investing for the arts. It gives arts groups access to affordable, flexible capital to secure spaces in increasingly competitive real estate markets.
• Flexible Terms for Longevity: Loans are structured with five-year terms, making them a viable option for organizations looking to establish a long-term presence without the immediate pressures of traditional real estate financing.

With a minimum deposit requirement of $200,000, the Fund also appeals to donors or patrons who want to support arts spaces in a sustainable way. By participating, supporters provide capital that’s used specifically for community-minded real estate projects, helping to activate spaces that were once vacant.

Who is it for?

The Creative Cities Fund is for Bay Area arts and cultural organizations with a strong network of supporters who need long-term, affordable space to continue their work. Many of the groups seeking support through the Fund serve as vital cultural hubs, providing a network for broader communities but often without the security of stable ownership or rental agreements. If your organization is ready to invest in a sustainable arts space but lacks the capital to purchase property on your own, the Fund is designed for you.

The Creative Cities Fund is tailored for those organizations that are able to work within a larger-scale vision for space ownership, but it’s not just for those with large budgets or corporate backing. It’s about providing the resources to give more artists and arts organizations a chance to stake a claim in affordable real estate—where they can build community, provide services, and activate spaces that have long been underutilized.

Why this matters now

The Creative Cities Fund comes at a crucial time when affordable spaces are increasingly scarce, and Bay Area arts and culture are at risk of being displaced. By securing space now, we aim to reshape what “affordable” looks like in the Bay Area arts landscape. This Fund doesn’t make space free, but it helps reduce costs to a level that supports artists in doing what they do best—creating, inspiring, and building communities.

With the Creative Cities Fund, we can purchase large-scale buildings and quickly place artists, arts organizations, community groups, and pop-ups into spaces that work for them. By acquiring multiple properties within the same neighborhoods and providing affordable, flexible leases, we’re creating more opportunities for artists and organizations to thrive. These acquisitions also provide revenue streams through leasing to mission-driven tenants, such as small businesses, community banks, and workforce development organizations—many of which are BIPOC-led. These tenants also benefit from below-market rates, helping to offset the cost of debt and further reducing financial strain on artists.

The Fund also offers an opportunity for your network of donors and patrons to contribute in new ways. Instead of only offering traditional gifts, donors can make deposits that provide flexible, affordable capital for real estate and development projects. Their investment in the Fund directly supports the creation of arts spaces and community hubs.

Bringing your network in

The Creative Cities Fund is a tool that allows your network—partners, funders, and community stakeholders—to play an active role in the future of arts space ownership. Partner groups can help sell the vision and encourage their supporters to invest in spaces that will benefit the entire arts ecosystem. These contributions make the Fund a powerful way to build a network of supporters who want to see affordable, creative spaces become a reality for more organizations.

We believe that tools like the Creative Cities Fund can help reclaim and preserve the Bay Area’s cultural heartbeat. If you’re interested in learning more about how the Fund can help sustain your work, or how to get involved as a supporter, contact our investment team. Let’s build a future where the Bay Area’s creative communities are here to stay.