Meet our Board

As a collective of working artists, arts educators, and cultural workers, Artnation is founded on a vision to celebrate life through art. Our intent is to create bridges between people and the process of art making. We believe it's the birthright of all people to tap their innate creativity. Through new works, programs, and activities, Artnation helps artists and amateurs reach new grounds in expressive capacities. We're deeply committed to advancing the vision, work, and reach of practicing artists locally and globally.

Founded in 2003, we are a 501(c) 3, grassroots arts organization based in San Francisco’s Mission District. For emerging and under-recognized artists, Artnation facilitates professional and artistic development, access to resources, and creative work opportunities. As an arts producing organization, Artnation nurtures the development of high-quality, non-commercial works that illuminate human truths, resonate with peoples’ day-to-day experiences, and reveal the interiority of people’s lives.

We encourage non-conventional approaches to art making, as well as the emergence of new arts processes and genres. Along these lines, we intend to develop our website as an exhibiting and broadcasting medium. Just as creativity knows no borders, Artnation hopes to build online arts community---free of geographic boundaries.

Artnation champions community arts participation in the form of workshops and public programs. Our programs include a free, monthly theater reading series, ongoing since April 2006. Using a process-driven workshop format, professionals and community members dramatize cold readings of plays—ranging from works-in-progress by local playwrights to experimental and contemporary masterpieces. The workshops contribute to the professional development of theater artists and provide a surface for community arts participation.

In early 2008, Artnation will be launching a writers' group, dedicated to an intensive, sustained creative writing practice for amateur and aspiring writers.

Artnation wants to make the arts truly accessible to everyone. To this end, all of our offerings, including arts productions, arts webcasts, and community arts workshops, are provided on a donation basis. No one will be turned away for lack of funds. Feel free to check back regularly for our upcoming programs and events.