The Future of Art Spaces in San Francisco
Date & Time:
Sunday, April 19, 2026
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
Location:
San Francisco Art Fair Theater
As San Francisco’s art world evolves, what does the future hold for the city’s creative ecosystem? Join us for a panel exploring how different arts organizations support artists, connect with audiences, and keep culture thriving. Panelists will share their perspectives on innovative approaches, the challenges they face, and the exciting opportunities ahead for San Francisco’s art spaces.
JD Beltran, Co-Founder, Art + Water
A native San Franciscan who grew up in the Richmond District, JD Beltran has been a creative infrastruralist and arts cheerleader who, for more than 20 years, has advanced groundbreaking solutions and organizational initiatives that address cultural, social, environmental, and economic challenges. She has served on the San Francisco Arts Commission for 16 years, serving as President for 8 them. An award-winning artist with works in museums and collections worldwide, filmmaker, designer, writer, journalist, educator, and master in the use of the serial comma, Beltran has served as a longtime faculty in art, film, design, and technology at the San Francisco Art Institute (her alma mater), CCA, SFSU, and Stanford.
Martin Strickland, Director, Saint Joseph’s Arts Foundation
Martin Strickland is the Director of Saint Joseph’s Arts Foundation in San Francisco, where he leads exhibitions, public programs, and partnerships focused on radical hospitality, participation-rich spaces, and building deep relationships between artists and communities. He previously spent more than a decade at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, most recently as Director of Curatorial Initiatives, where he helped shape cross-departmental programs that centered artists, audiences, and civic life. Trained in exhibition and museum studies at the San Francisco Art Institute and art history at the University of Alabama, Martin’s work is driven by a belief that cultural spaces can be places of belonging, curiosity, and shared discovery.
PJ Gubatina Policarpio, Curator, Root Division
PJ Gubatina Policarpio is a curator at Root Division. He has organized exhibitions and programming including Trina Michelle Robinson: Open Your Eyes to Water and Cian Dayrit: Liberties Were Taken (Root Division), Ceremonies (SFAC Gallery), Notes for Tomorrow (Independent Curators International, 2021-Present), to see what isn’t hard to see (Headlands Center for the Arts), Conversations on Carlos Villa: World-Making and Cross-Cultural Solidarity (Asian Art Museum), Tarsal by Metatarsal (Headlands Center for the Arts ), Solidarity Struggle Victory (Southern Exposure), Rally: Queer Art and Activism Now (Dixon Place), bringing together artists, writers, poets, scholars, activists and collectives. PJ is co-founder of Pilipinx American Library, an itinerant library and programming platform dedicated to diasporic Filipinx perspectives. His publications are in the collection of the Thomas J. Watson Library at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Born in the Philippines, PJ immigrated to the United States in his early teens.