Meet the Thinker - Moy Eng
Moy Eng – photo by Jason Sutherland Hsu
“We don’t just measure our progress by square footage or rental income. Instead, we ask, ‘How does this support artists? How many more people will have the space to dream?’”
In Left Bank Co.’s second Meet the Thinker, we’re meeting another remarkable woman whose career as a creative, grant-maker and agent for change is hard to surpass. Moy Eng, the outgoing CEO of the Community Arts Stabilization Trust (CAST) in San Francisco reflects back on ten years since this innovative property ownership vehicle was created and the impact it has made on the affordability of creative workspace in a very unaffordable city like San Francisco. There is much to learn from Moy’s journey and her learnings along the way.
In this article you will read about:
How the CAST came to be and how it has preserved affordable creative space in perpetuity in San Francisco, one of the world’s least affordable cities.
CAST’s achievements in the past 10 years and what’s ahead for this leading organisation in the provision of space for creativity.
How Moy’s creative career has been balanceD with her advocacy role.
Tell us about the origins of CAST: what were the drivers that led to its creation? Why was such an organisation needed in the Bay Area context?
In 2012, CAST emerged out of a brilliant partnership between the Kenneth Rainin Foundation and what was then known as Northern California Community Loan Fund or NCCLF (now Community Vision). The Kenneth Rainin Foundation’s CEO Jennifer Rainin and Chief Program Officer Shelley Trott along with Joshua Simon, former NCCLF Director of Real Estate Consulting who later became part of CAST’s founding board and is currently Senior Advisor at CAST, were meeting with other San Francisco Bay Area stakeholders to figure out a way to help artists and nonprofits from being displaced. Recognising the tech boom in San Francisco could once again create a surging and prohibitively expensive real estate market for arts organisations, both Trott and Simon embarked on a mission to ensure artists could remain in our cities regardless of market changes. The idea is that if these artists and nonprofits could buy their own buildings, or at least sign long-term, affordable leases to stabilise their current and future operations, they could afford to stay in the Bay Area.
This seed of an idea was incubated through NCCLF and evolved into what is now known as Community Arts Stabilization Trust. Formally established in 2013, CAST has helped transform access to space for nonprofits in the Bay Area. With arts and culture being the fourth-largest economic driver in San Francisco, the development of CAST as an intermediary to support real estate acquisitions and capacity-building was a significant move in showing what bold thinking, leadership, and resources could achieve to support this vibrant sector.
This year marks the tenth anniversary of CAST: what are your proudest achievements? What are the lessons to share?
Since its founding in 2013, CAST has grown from a staff of two to a team of 12. The organisation now has six projects across San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose totaling over 80,000 square feet (approx 8,000 sqm) in affordable space, and has raised approximately US$50 million, which is dedicated to securing and stewarding space for artists and cultural workers.
80 Turk St – photo by Cesar Rubio
One standout achievement is CounterPulse’s purchase of their building back from CAST this past March. CounterPulse is the culmination of CAST’s original vision: a successful completion of a lease-to-own model with a contemporary arts organisation. CounterPulse pioneered a new pathway to ownership with CAST when we purchased a run-down former adult theatre in the Tenderloin neighborhood. Over a period of seven years, we leased the space to CounterPulse while renovations were completed and they fundraised to acquire the building themselves. Now, CounterPulse owns a state-of-the-art, custom-built space including a theater, rehearsal rooms, offices. For a mid-sized arts organisation to achieve this,at a time when rising real estate costs have unfortunately driven many culture makers to leave, gives us hope that this is a model that can be replicated at scale.
We’ve started replicating this locally, in Oakland. We are partnering with two new projects in Oakland, including our first mixed-use development in partnership with Black Cultural Zone, that will include 119 affordable residences and the Liberation Park Market Hall and Cultural Hub for Black-led local businesses and cultural programs.
We are proud that CAST’s model has inspired others around the globe to develop CAST-like ventures including London, Austin, Denver, and Seattle.
Moy, you are a singer and performer yourself: how did you find yourself running an organisation like CAST? What was your journey from creative to advocate?
Ten years ago, I had finished my time directing the arts program at the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, one of the largest US grantmaking foundations and the largest arts funder in the Bay Area. The next natural step would have been to lead another foundation arts and culture program or a foundation. Instead, I received a call from a friend who was consulting on a brand new venture, one that would focus on securing cultural spaces in perpetuity, for and with the community. It was too good to resist and I signed on to lead CAST in June 2014.
I have been inspired all my life by art and at its heart, creating works that ask questions of and reflect the human condition as well as those which envision worlds beyond the present. While I trained classically as a young singer, I was most intrigued by the potential of how to bring together resources and leadership around ideas to impact greater access to diverse beauty and agency to those artists to create and present the works to the wider world, whether the Orchestra of St. Luke’s and Alvin Ailey in New York City to building permanent spaces at CAST in San Francisco. Hence, for more than 40 years, I have focused my daytime life on impactful work for a wider sector, especially for those who have not been historically invested in, and my evening life on my poetry, songwriting and singing. There is a natural and beautiful symmetry in such a life.
What data and evidence do you rely on to direct investment and measure impact?
We are only able to do this work when we follow the lead of community leaders, particularly leaders in communities that have faced historical and systemic oppression and underinvestment, to ensure that our work is community-informed on multiple levels. We gather data and evidence through our community engagement efforts, which include conducting listening sessions with various constituencies of artists and cultural workers, holding regular 1:1 conversations with community activists and arts advocates, and stay closely connected to government and policy makers.
As community partners, it is crucial that we always consider the needs and intentions of communities and neighborhoods and create space for the open exchange of ideas. We don’t just measure our progress by square footage or rental income. Instead, we ask, “How does this support artists? How many more people will have the space to dream?” Impact isn’t only based on the number of buildings we have acquired, but also how many individuals and organizations we’re able to provide meaningful support to based on their needs and goals.
What’s in store for the next 10 years of CAST?
Firstly, we will continue to expand CAST’s programming and events at our home base 447 Minna, and look forward to building out our artist residencies, Creative Container and Art for Intergenerational Healing, which launched this year. Being able to provide a long-term affordable home to three arts nonprofits (Women’s Audio Mission, PUSH Dance Company, and the San Francisco Neo-Futurists) at 447 Minna in addition to hosting multiple community groups under one roof through pop-ups and short-term rentals has been exciting to see unfold. As a space stewarded with and for the community, CAST at 447 Minna has already attracted such a wide spectrum of people together from the local SoMa neighborhood to the greater Bay Area and serves such a diverse range of disciplines. We hope the opportunities for collaboration and creative exchange only continue to grow.
Last month, we also announced our expansion into the South Bay and are embarking on a new partnership with the School of Arts and Culture at Mexican Heritage Plaza in East San Jose, California. We have several additional projects in development in San Francisco and Oakland that we’ll be announcing soon. So…stay tuned!
Shaping a local agenda:
CAST has been a go-to model for Sydney and Melbourne as our cities also tackle the unaffordability question. Key lesson from CAST’s journey are:
It is critical that as regions grow and change, we create and solidify the conditions for artists and cultural workers to flourish and thrive, anchored in where they create.
Build the mechanisms around the needs of organisations that you know and can interact with. Each organisation has its own internal blueprint.
The pandemic has shown us what we’ve always known to be true - that space for arts and culture can be abundant when we are willing to think creatively and in new ways. From outdoor events to slow streets, we’re seeing that when we’re willing to think outside the box and put community first, creative expression and cultural connection can thrive.
For more information on Moy’s achievements and next steps, read here.
