Leadership change at Community Arts Stabilization Trust
Moy Eng to step down as CEO from CAST at the end of May 2023
For Immediate Release: April 11, 2023
San Francisco, California
San Francisco, CA –After nine years of leading Community Arts Stabilization Trust (CAST), CEO Moy Eng has announced she will be stepping down effective May 31, 2023. Moy joined CAST in 2014 as its founding Executive Director, and was promoted to CEO in 2020.
“As CAST’s founding CEO, Moy exceeded all expectations to turn a complex concept into a transformative solution,” said CAST Board President Shelley Trott. “Through her visionary leadership and deep knowledge of the local arts ecosystem, CAST stewarded valuable resources to great effect.” CAST’s evolution from an idea into an innovative community-centered real estate organization has helped over two dozen arts/community groups gain dedicated space for their work.
Since its founding, CAST has grown from a staff of two to a team of 12. The organization 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.
CAST’s tenant buyback model has been cited as a prototype for rooting arts and culture in communities by the San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank & the World Cities Culture Forum in London. The framework, which supports the acquisition of a property and stabilizes escalating real estate costs over 7-10 years, builds arts organizations’ capacity to lease or own property in the long-term. CAST has proved this model with pilot project CounterPulse’s successful purchase of its building this spring. CAST-inspired ventures have emerged in major cities across the world from London, Sydney, and Vancouver to Austin and Seattle.
“This is a bittersweet moment for all of us. While we say a fond farewell to Moy, we are also excited to be celebrating CAST’s tenth anniversary this year,” said CAST Director of Marketing and Communications Catherine Nguyen. “As we look to the future, we’re furthering our commitment and investment in the communities that we serve here in the Bay Area. In the coming months, we will be offering new resources and tools that will empower artists and communities alike.”
The CAST Board of Directors have named Director of Finance & Operations Owen Levin and Director of Real Estate & Partnerships Carolyn Choy as Interim Co-CEOs. Both leaders have helped CAST get to where it is now and were chosen based on their solid leadership and measured ability to navigate through moments of change. The Board and staff are excited to see Owen and Carolyn continue the practice of collaborative leadership that is employed in all CAST’s projects and processes. After May 31, Moy will continue in an advisory capacity to ensure a supportive and thoughtful transition to the next era of CAST’s leadership.
Led by Board member, Brady Forrest, the national search for the next leader of CAST will begin in April. Follow this link to learn more about the job description and application information.
“This transition calls on us to do what we do best: be flexible and creative in the face of change, and apply lessons from our experience to the work ahead, said CAST Interim Co-CEO Carolyn Choy. “We will continue to listen to communities as we build a new paradigm in real estate — one that ensures artists and cultural workers can stay anchored where they create.”
In addition to its newest investment in San Jose with the School of Arts and Culture at Mexican Heritage Plaza, CAST is partnering on two new projects in Oakland, including a mixed-use development with 119 affordable residences and the Liberation Park Market Hall and Cultural Hub in partnership with Black Cultural Zone.
CAST honors Moy’s extensive contributions to the arts and culture sector and the dedication she brought to CAST in its nascent form.
“It has been an incredible honor to work alongside her, learn from her, and celebrate her many successes,” Shelley added. “We are profoundly grateful for the strong foundation Moy built from which CAST will continue to soar to new heights to help Bay Area artists thrive.”
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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.
