CCSF’s $190 million Performing Arts and Education Center will transform the campus and feature the Diego Rivera mural

By Diane Ayerdi

[email protected]

Excitement is building at City College of San Francisco as the long-awaited $190 million Performing Arts and Education Center/Diego Rivera Theater moves closer to becoming a reality.

The state-of-the-art, 77,000 square meter, three-story building, designed by LMN architects and TEF design, will contain three main performance venues: a 600-seat performance hall, a 150-seat studio theater and a 100-seat recital hall, along with various space to perform, rehearse, teach and study. These facilities will support CCSF’s music and drama departments by providing modern classrooms and rehearsal spaces. It will be between the Multi-Use Building and the Steam Center on Frida Kahlo Way.

At the heart of the new Performing Arts and Education Center will be the Diego Rivera Theater, which will house the iconic “Pan-American Unity” mural by Diego Rivera. The mural will be displayed in the vestibule with a glass wall that makes it visible to both the center’s visitors and pedestrians outside. “The unique thing about the building will be the installation and display of the mural,” said Alberto Vasquez, associate vice chancellor of the CCSF department.

Madeline Mueller, Chair of the Department of Music and Theater Arts, has long been a strong advocate for PAEC/DRT and feels the project is long overdue. “PAEC was always in progress and always procrastinating a bit,” she said. “Performing arts students need an auditorium because it’s part of what they need to complete their programs.”

Mueller added, “You have to have that kind of facility to train in those disciplines. So in that sense, CCSF has been an incomplete campus all these years because it hasn’t had that facility for the students.”

The center will also be open to the public. “It is planned for public use, but of course there must be some coordination in the event of a request. We need to ensure that there is adequate staffing to support the services,” Vasquez said.

“All the funds are secured for PAEC,” Vasquez said. The project is completely funded by taxpayers’ money. “The primary source of funding came from the 2020 Proposition A bond, and the remaining funds came from bond measures previously passed in 2001 and 2005,” he added. The building plans are currently awaiting approval from the Department of State Architecture (DSA).

Groundbreaking is tentatively planned for spring 2025.

“I’m excited to see this development moving forward and look forward to getting started,” said Alan Wong, chairman of the City College Board of Trustees. “This will give the west side of San Francisco and the CCSF community access to the arts and increase opportunities for people from many different backgrounds to participate to enjoy the arts.”

“There will be a 30- to 32-month window for construction,” Vasquez said. The target completion date is the end of 2027.

“The music and theater arts departments are planning a grand ribbon-cutting ceremony as soon as groundbreaking starts, and an even bigger one for the grand opening,” Mueller said.

The new center will provide the campus with a place where future musicians can perfect their artistic craft in a professional environment that will better prepare them for a career in the arts. It will offer a creative environment that will inspire many talented students in the arts to grow, while allowing the community to enjoy and access many different types of performances.

“I hear enthusiasm, interest and passion for this project from someone

a lot of people,” said Jasmine Kaw, senior project manager in the CCSF department. “I’m excited to see it break ground. It will also be a great asset to the CCSF community and the greater neighborhood. The mural is an internationally known historic landmark that will now be prominently displayed, and that in itself will be a huge attraction.”

With the groundbreaking of the Performing Arts and Education Center/Diego Rivera Theater on the horizon, enthusiasm is growing at City College of San Francisco. This state-of-the-art facility will equip students with the necessary resources to thrive in the performing arts.

“We use the words ‘state of the art’ to describe something at the forefront of new ideas in all areas of progress,” Mueller said. “The college hired the best architectural team including the best acousticians to ensure we have the most 21st century performing arts complex possible. San Francisco is considered the most outstanding art cities in the world. City College must have facilities for its students and community , reflecting the high standard and reputation.”