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Supervisors start landmark process for Diego Rivera mural as San Francisco Art Institute seeks options
Summary
After public testimony from SFAI faculty, students and staff, the committee voted to initiate a landmark designation for Diego Rivera's 1931 mural at the San Francisco Art Institute while trustees and city leaders continue searching for ways to preserve both the mural and the struggling school.
The Land Use & Transportation Committee voted Jan. 10 to initiate the Article 10 landmark process for Diego Rivera's 1931 mural "The Making of a Fresco Showing the Building of a City" at 800 Chestnut Street and forwarded the matter to the full Board as a committee report.
Supervisor Dean Peskin introduced the item, noting the mural's long-standing civic significance and the 1977 landmark history for the San Francisco Art Institute campus. Dozens of speakers from SFAI's faculty, adjunct union, alumni and the broader arts community urged the City to protect the mural in place and criticized board and fundraising decisions that have left the Institute in precarious financial condition.
Art Hazelwood, an adjunct faculty union representative, told the committee the mural is "a property of the people at large" and that the adjunct faculty oppose any sale of the work. Several SFAI trustees and administrators said they share the desire to keep the mural in the city and the institution but asked the City to consider the school's fragile finances and help craft a preservation approach that does not immediately remove SFAI's ability to use the asset in possible restructuring plans.
"The SFAI board and administration is unanimous in our desire to keep our mural in the city it reflects," SFAI board chair Pam Rourke Levy said in public comment, while also asking for time to present the school's fiscal plan. Union and alumni speakers warned that treating the mural as a financial instrument to plug budget shortfalls would harm artists, students and the public trust.
The committee voted to forward the initiation to the full Board for a hearing; supervisors emphasized a shared goal of preserving the mural in situ while seeking a feasible path to stabilize SFAI.
What's next: The full Board of Supervisors will consider the committee report; landmark initiation starts a public review process and staff case report preparation.
