Community Arts Stabilization Trust Announces New CEO, Ken Ikeda
Ken Ikeda to start full-time as CEO of CAST December 1, 2023
For Immediate Release: November 15, 2023
San Francisco, California
The Community Arts Stabilization Trust (CAST) Board of Directors is pleased to announce Ken Ikeda will be joining the organization as its next CEO.
Ikeda joins CAST after serving as interim Executive Director for the Los Angeles-based International Documentary Association (IDA) for the past year and will begin full-time at CAST starting December 1, 2023.
“Visionary leadership is what transformed CAST from an idea to a proven, transformative solution for artists and cultural workers in the Bay Area. And visionary leadership is what we need now to ensure that the Bay Area’s future is built with arts at its center,” said CAST Board President Shelley Trott. “Ken’s passion and commitment to the arts as a vehicle for storytelling, coupled with his acumen around innovative public-private financing models, make him an excellent fit to lead CAST into its next chapter.”
Ikeda succeeds Moy Eng, who stepped down earlier this year after nine years leading CAST. Eng joined CAST in 2014 as its founding Executive Director and was promoted to CEO in 2020. During Eng’s tenure, CAST helped over two dozen arts and community groups gain dedicated space for their work. CAST now has six projects across San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose totaling over 80,000 square feet in affordable space, and has raised approximately $50 million, which is dedicated to securing and stewarding space for artists and cultural workers.
“I was drawn to CAST’s commitment to provide artists and arts organizations with spaces to dream,” said Ken Ikeda. “We are poised to scale from specific interventions in individual buildings to a bigger investment in the arts for the well-being and future of our cities. As we scale our working capital, we will be committed to listening and co-creation with the artists and cultural workers that make our communities so vibrant.”
Ken brings an extensive background in management and media to CAST. He has led a range of organizations, including BAVC Media, The Association of Independents in Radio, the International Documentary Association, Public Radio Capital, and Public Media Company. Organizations under Ikeda’s direction have leveraged private equity for nonprofit capital, managed loan funds, and navigated mergers and acquisitions to sustain and grow the reach of arts and media. Ikeda is also a co-founder of Oakland-based media strategy and production studio StudioToBe and co-authored the National Public Lightpath white paper as a blueprint for a public service internet for public media. He also co-architected the video streaming service, Vuhaus that is now NPR Live Sessions.
ABOUT COMMUNITY ARTS STABILIZATION TRUST (CAST)
Founded in 2013, Community Arts Stabilization Trust is a community-centered real estate organization committed to ensuring artists and cultural workers can stay anchored where they create. We work in deep partnership with communities across the San Francisco Bay Area to model new ways to secure and steward affordable, inclusive spaces for creative and cultural expression. By applying real estate financing tools and structural models in innovative ways, building community knowledge and agency, and creating and holding space for arts activation, our programs and services have helped arts organizations build pathways to ownership, enabled artists to secure long-term affordable leases, and created dedicated spaces for cultural connection and exchange. Together, we are building a new real estate paradigm in the Bay Area — one that recognizes the essential role of arts and culture and gives us all the space to dream. For more information, visit cast-sf.org and see what upcoming events are happening at 447minna.com.
Follow @CASTSF on Instagram & Twitter and @SFCAST on Facebook.
