The Kenneth Rainin Foundation awarded $834,000 in grants in November through its Open Spaces Program. The awards will support artist-driven, place-based public art that engages communities in San Francisco and Oakland around relevant and timely issues. These projects push the boundaries of what temporary public art can be, uplifting how it can serve as a catalyst for dialogue, healing and connection.
This grant round awarded four Development Support grants to emerging and early-stage projects, and four Production Support grants to fully conceptualized projects ready to be premiered. We received 62 applications, twice as many as 2024, with notable growth in Development Support proposals. Artists and organizations demonstrated a high level of financial need, with 88% of applicants requesting the maximum grant amount. To acknowledge the challenging arts funding climate, the Foundation funded projects at 100% of their requested amounts.
Community Centered Projects Span Artistic Disciplines
The 2025 Open Spaces Program grantee projects reflect ambitious, risk-taking approaches at varying stages of development and feature meaningful collaboration among artists, communities and nonprofit partners. A strong “for us, by us” throughline emerged in the proposals, underscoring grantees’ authentic connections with their communities.
This cohort showcases an impressive breadth of disciplines and experimentation across different artistic practices including movement, spoken word, visual and textile arts, sculpture, ritual and ceremonial dance, storytelling and radio:
- Planting Justice will use artistic public art activations to address food sovereignty and plant stewardship in deep East Oakland.
- Aureliano Rivera aims to democratize mural conservation in the Mission District using a mobile popsicle cart.
- Support for Intertribal Gatherings, led by three generations of Native activists and culture workers from the Ohlone, Pomo and Mi’wuk tribes, will explore the creation of a ceremonial dance residency and sculpture installation at Crissy Field.
- Skywatchers Ensemble and Rev. Marvin K. White will reimagine cultural touchstone Glide Memorial Church to transform its sanctuary into an inclusive, immersive installation experience.
- Black Arts Movement Business District Community Development Corporation will produce a series of ritual openings and closings of days, held in public spaces, to express interconnectedness, peace in place and demonstrate communal care.
- Cut Fruit Collective will investigate the use of music as a medium to connect the multicultural and multigenerational AAPI immigrant community in Oakland.
- Related Tactics will present a new large-scale public art piece using inflatable monuments to interrogate, discover and reshape civic monuments in San Francisco.
- East Bay Sanctuary Covenant will prototype a trilingual multimedia exhibit with, by and for the Mam immigrant community in Oakland.
Learn more about the 2025 Open Spaces Program grantees.
Impact Of Public Art In The Bay Area
Bay Area cities increasingly recognize the role of artists in revitalizing neighborhoods, especially as downtowns adapt to changing work patterns. Public art is becoming a key strategy to encourage greater cultural vibrancy and community engagement. As a funder committed to the transformative impact of the arts in civic society, the Rainin Foundation is thrilled to support these artist-led projects. They bring powerful, community-centered work to public spaces and spark authentic connection between residents and our region’s unique cultural identities and practices.
This vision for public art depends on more artists being supported to bring their creative practice to public spaces and to allow for early-stage ideas to take root. Our Development Support grant provides rare funding for research and development without the expectation of a finished product. Supporting projects in their formative stages offers opportunities to artists who may be newer to creating large-scale public art works.
More Support For Applicants Throughout The Two-Stage Process
In this cycle, we expanded guidance for applicants, who ranged from seasoned public art practitioners to first-time grantseekers. We offered one-on-one office hours to answer questions and help strengthen proposals—an intensive but high-impact investment for staff and applicants alike. We also revamped our finalist webinar into a dynamic panel featuring current and past grantees and representatives from San Francisco and Oakland’s public art departments. The new format provided practical guidance from peers and contextual insight into working with city agencies. All of these efforts resulted in artists having more tools to develop strong funding proposals and more robust project plans.
About The Jury Selection Panel
Following a two-stage application process, grantees were selected by a panel of public art facilitators and practitioners, which included Jocelyn Jackson, co-founder of People’s Kitchen Collective, past Open Spaces grantee and 2021 Rainin Arts Fellow; Hoi Leung, Curator, Chinese Culture Center San Francisco and past Open Spaces grantee; and Theresa Sweetland, Executive Director of Forecast Public Art.
About The Kenneth Rainin Foundation
Kenneth Rainin Foundation is a family foundation that collaborates with creative thinkers in the Arts, Education and Health. We believe in taking smart risks to achieve breakthroughs. We support visionary artists in the Bay Area, create opportunities for Oakland’s youngest learners and fund researchers on the forefront of scientific discoveries. Since 2009, the Foundation has awarded over $68 million in funding to support individual artists and small to mid-size Bay Area arts organizations that are pushing the boundaries of creative expression. Explore the Rainin Foundation’s funding opportunities.
