- By James Salazar | Examiner staff writer
- Mar 2, 2026 (SFExaminer.com)
City leaders are turning the focus of their investments in San Francisco’s Mid-Market neighborhood to its arts scene, with a new proposal on the table and positive feedback from the community.
Under a proposal from District 5 Supervisor Bilal Mahmood, the area and its five historic theatrical venues would be targeted for street performances, public art installations and other improvements as part of an effort to create a robust theater-arts district.
So far, community stakeholders have expressed optimism about what the proposal means for the continued revitalization of the area.
Last week, Mahmood proposed turning the stretch of Market Street between Fifth and Ninth streets into a cultural destination with murals, digital displays highlighting current theatrical productions, pop-up events with local small businesses, and other attractions.
The area is already a significant city hub for the performing arts. It’s home to the American Conservatory Theater’s Strand Theater, the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, Golden Gate Theatre, the Orpheum and The Warfield. The proposal for a theater-arts district builds on post-pandemic investments in the neighborhood to continue its revival.
“San Francisco’s recovery starts downtown, and downtown’s recovery starts with the arts,” Mahmood said in a press release announcing the plan. “The theater arts district is about … turning the incredible venues we already have into a destination people experience both inside and outside.”
The proposal would cost an estimated $5 million, which Mahmood’s office said it will raise through a mix of philanthropic donations and contributions from The City’s public and private sectors.
Mahmood said he aims to secure an initial $1 million in pilot funding to begin the first phase of the project by the end of this year. (As a public-private partnership, the proposal would not require a formal vote by the Board of Supervisors, per Bay City News Service.)
Mahmood said in an interview that since announcing the proposal, it has been “really encouraging to see the outpouring of support from so many different walks of life.”
Tenderloin Community Benefit District Executive Director Kate Robinson said the “renewed investment in arts and thoughtful placemaking represents an important step” toward reestablishing the Mid-Market neighborhood as “a vibrant destination for both residents and visitors.”
Fernando Pujals, executive director of the Mid-Market Business Association and Foundation, said a theater-arts district will turn “a collection of great venues into a destination.” The proposal is “a great step forward,” which “catalyzes momentum that has been building in the neighborhood,” he said.
In early February, tech billionaire Chris Larsen gave The City $5 million to help revitalize the Larkin Street commercial corridor with “better lighting, cleaner sidewalks, decorative security gates and regular cultural events,” Mayor Daniel Lurie said at a press conference announcing the public-private partnership.
Last summer, the nonprofit workforce-development program Holy Stitch and the Roar Shack Live creative lab — both of which occupy formerly vacant storefronts — celebrated their one-year anniversaries in the Mid-Market neighborhood.
Mahmood said that city-backed grants, such as those issued through the Tenderloin Storefront Opportunity Grant Program, have also been helpful in revitalizing the neighborhood. Launched earlier this year by The City’s Office of Economic and Workforce Development, the program issues grants of up to $100,000 to entrepreneurs who set up shop in the neighborhood, with money going toward purchasing equipment, decreasing operating costs and tenant improvements.
Last February, the Community Arts Stabilization Trust and San Francisco public-radio station KALW jointly acquired the Warfield Building, with aims of turning the property into an arts and media incubator. It will provide studio and training space to local artists and arts organizations, as well as house KALW’s new broadcast studios.
“When buyers like that are investing in Mid-Market, it validates the direction this neighborhood is heading,” Pujals said.
Mahmood said that before announcing the proposal, he spent six months talking with neighborhood entertainment operators, businesses and other residents about the safety and security improvements they wanted to see in the neighborhood. He said that as a result, San Francisco Police Department officers have increased foot patrols throughout the neighborhood on weekdays, while the multiagency Drug Market Agency Coordination Center task force, launched in 2023 by then-Mayor London Breed, continues to target illegal drug activity in the Tenderloin and SoMa.
As details of the theater-arts district get hammered out, Pujals said, there needs to be continued coordination among city officials and community stakeholders.
“This has to be built together with the people who are already here,” he said.
To that end, Mahmood said, the proposal will be accomplished in stages, meaning that officials can take their efforts block by block, or focus on one element on the corridor at a time, such as lighting or artwork.
“What is clear is that this will be a phased process, so that we can continue to show progress throughout the street for years to come,” he said.
James Salazar
Neighborhoods & Culture Correspondent
