- Real Estate Solutions
The Creative Cities Fund
Through the Creative Cities Fund, we can reimagine entire commercial corridors and reshape city blocks left vacant and underutilized.
How WeWork
CAST models new ways to secure and steward affordable, inclusive spaces for creative and cultural expression.
We are building a new paradigm in real estate — a better system that recognizes the essential role of arts and culture in communities and creates a long-term engine for ensuring artists and cultural workers can stay anchored where they create.
Our programs and services have helped arts and cultural organizations build pathways to ownership, enabled artists to secure long-term affordable leases, and created dedicated spaces for cultural connection and exchange.
How does one get started?
There are three main avenues to access CAST:
Illustration by Raine Robichaud
Trevor Parham
Founder & Director
Oakstop
CAST has been critical in helping Oakstop purchase our original building in downtown Oakland. Their partnership has included access to patient capital, support with financial modeling, guidance through the development process, and even connections to other partners and clients. Their model offers a needed approach that should be replicated throughout California and to other cities across the country.
Community Engagement & Knowledge-Building
We enter communities with care, build relationships with people to understand the diversity of each community, and share knowledge to strengthen the capacity of people to help them find agency in whatever path they choose, be it ownership or a long-term lease.
Real Estate Solutions
We build a bridge between arts and culture and real estate.
CAST provides a rare artist’s perspective on real estate, bringing a creative and community-centered perspective to the real estate world. We support our partners to take on projects that require additional capacity, providing experience, financial resources, and partnership to achieve their goals.
Discover how we are…
- Real Estate Solutions
East Bay Permanent Real Estate Cooperative Secures 4799 Shattuck to Preserve Community Space
Explore CAST’s work with the EBPREC to help secure 4799 Shattuck and preserve it as a vital community space.
- Real Estate Solutions
Next City: For Years, Philanthropy Has Been Trying to Buy Buildings For The Arts. Now We Know It Works
San Francisco’s CounterPulse shows how arts organizations can take advantage of a lease-to-own model developed by CAST.
Activation and Space Rentals
We know that not every arts group wants to own or is in a position to manage a building. We hold the “container” so artists and cultural organizations can focus on bringing valuable programs to the community, whether it’s a short-term use for rehearsals, screenings, or exhibitions, a quick access point for a workshop or meeting, or a pop-up that helps grow a small business.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Ready to visit or host your event at CAST? Here are some things to know before getting started.
Yes! Before we can schedule that, please submit an Event Request Form to tell us about your activity and how we can support. Send that with your proposed availability to rentspace@447minna.com and our staff will be in touch to set up a time.
As a multidisciplinary space, we welcome all arts and culture uses from around the Bay Area, especially those with ties to the SoMa neighborhood and/or are located in zip codes that directly impact the immediate community.
These include: 94103, 94110, 94112, 94124, and 94134
In addition to our lowest “neighborhood” rate, we offer a discounted “non-profit” rate which makes up our next pricing tier. There are three levels available (from lowest to highest): neighborhood, non-profit, and standard. View the pricing split here.
At the moment, we’re focused on supporting Bay Area artist communities and organizations experiencing challenges in space affordability or displacement.
To better assess your needs, please fill out our intake form first, and learn more about our services by attending a CAST info session. Our Community Engagement team look forward to meeting you!
The intake form gives us a snapshot of who you are and how you align with CAST’s values and mission. It’s about understanding the priorities and needs of the artists or nonprofits who need our support, assessing what is needed financially, and then developing a solution that fits where they’re at, organizationally.
Please see below for our basic eligibility requirements and priorities for partnership.
Basic Eligibility: CAST serves San Francisco Bay Area individual artists, culture bearers, and arts & culture organizations and projects that have been actively practicing and/or programming for 1 or more years.
We prioritize arts & culture nonprofits and fiscally-sponsored projects that serve artists & cultural workers in San Francisco and Oakland with demonstrated programming over the past 3 or more years.
Equity & Inclusion Priorities:
- BIPOC and/or LGBTQ+ Leadership: BIPOC or LGBTQ+-led and BIPOC or LGBTQ+-serving: Building equitable access to real estate resources, especially for communities of color and disadvantaged communities.
- Displacement Risk & Impacts: Honoring legacy communities and acknowledging current and historical impacts.
- Community Impact: Creating access to the creation, production, and presentation of arts and culture for systemically under-resourced or under-recognized groups, such as Black/African-American, Hispanic/Latinx, and Indigenous communities.
- Place-keeping: Recognizing and serving your immediate, hyper-local neighbors, prioritizing neighborhoods CAST is actively working in.
- Arts & Culture Ecosystem Position: Acknowledging impacts and opportunities of place and location in the Bay Area, and how projects impact the ecosystem.
Photo (Top): 447 Minna artist-in-residence Sean Coughlin
(Bottom): Music band Skip The Needle