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Board upholds Arts Commission decision to deny renewal of street‑artist certificate
Summary
The Board of Appeals upheld the Arts Commission’s decision not to renew street‑artist certificate No. 6040 for Manuel Lowley, concluding the commission’s committee found evidence the vendor sold manufactured items rather than handmade goods.
The San Francisco Board of Appeals on Dec. 9 upheld the Arts Commission’s decision not to renew the street‑artist certificate (No. 6040) for Manuel Lowley, finding the Arts Commission and its advisory committee presented detailed monitoring evidence that items on Lowley’s display were manufactured rather than handmade.
Deputy Arts Commission Director Rebecca Crowell explained the Street Artist Program is governed by an ordinance in the Police Code (Section 24) that requires artists to sell only work they can show they made. Barbara Sklar, chair of the Street Artist Committee, told the board that committee members and staff conducted studio visits and documented repeated instances in which Lowley displayed and sold commercially manufactured items. ‘‘We really believe that he broke your trust and our trust and the law of the city of San Francisco,’’ Sklar said.
Several advisory committee members and monitors testified they had observed in‑market displays they believed did not meet the handmade requirement; committee member Renee DiCocio said monitoring and documentation had been ongoing. Public commenters disputed broader enforcement coverage of the program but did not refute the evidence specific to this license. Lowley did not appear to present testimony; the board relied on the Arts Commission’s written record and staff testimony.
Commissioner Fung moved to deny Lowley’s appeal and sustain the Arts Commission’s nonrenewal on the basis that the appellant had sold items not manufactured by himself. The board voted unanimously to deny the appeal and uphold the Arts Commission’s action (President Anne Lazarus: Aye; Vice President Daryl Honda: Aye; Commissioner Rick Swig: Aye). The board’s action affirms the commission’s conditional authority to suspend or revoke permits for repeated violations of the program’s handmade requirement.
The board recorded that enforcement is carried out by Arts Commission staff and advisory committee members; the committee’s documentation of photographs and studio visits formed the basis for the nonrenewal decision.
