Ark, a past arts program from the Svane Family Foundation, shared a similar mission as its new Culture Forward initiative: to directly support local art and artists.
Mikkel Svane, the cofounder of Zendesk, and most importantly (for this story anyway), an art lover, created the Svane Family Foundation in 2019 to support the arts in the Bay Area. Most recently, that support is directed toward downtown San Francisco, with Culture Forward. The program will distribute $5 million in grants on a quarterly basis starting this March through the fall of 2027, and applications for projects directed toward the downtown area open this month.
Previously, foundation officials have directed their generosity toward the arts with the Ark program in 2020, which gave $10,000 to 100 artists. The artists created works that were exhibited and then auctioned off, with the money going to ArtSpan, a nonprofit providing resources to artists, making a neat — and extremely welcome — circle benefitting artists during COVID.
San Francisco painter Chelsea Ryoko Wong with a model of “Community Feast,” the mural she unveiled at the Asian Art Museum in 2024. A painting by the artist is also on display at the de Young Museum as part of About Place: Bay Area Artists from the Svane Gift.
Artist Miguel Arzabe, shown here in his Oakland studio, has high hopes for Culture Forward.