Published on March 25, 2026
For fifteen years or so, I’d been kicking around the idea of resurrecting the artist-apprentice model that reigned in the art world for hundreds of years. Again and again, I’d heard from young people who lamented the astronomical and ever-rising cost of art school. For many college-level art programs, the total cost to undergraduates is now over $100,000 a year. I hope we can all agree that charging students $400,000 for a four-year degree in visual art is objectively absurd. This prohibitive cost has priced tens of thousands of potential students out of even considering undertaking such an education.
For years, I mentioned this issue to friends in and out of the art world, and everyone, without exception, agreed that the system was broken. Even friends I know who teach at art schools agreed that the cost was out of control, contributing to the implosion of many undergraduate and postgraduate art programs.
Then I brought it up with JD Beltran, a longtime friend prominent in the San Francisco art scene, who herself was suffering under the weight of $150,000 in art school debt, incurred in the late 1990s. She’d been carrying that debt for thirty years for a degree in painting from the San Francisco Art Institute, and together we started mapping out an alternative.
It’s important to note that the current model for art schools is very new. For about a thousand years, until the twentieth century, artists typically either apprenticed for a master artist, learning their trade a studio, or attended loose ateliers where a group of artist-students studied under an established artist, paying very little to do so. These students would help maintain the studio, hire models, practice their craft together, while the studio’s owner instructed them.
Somehow, though, we went from a model where students paid little to nothing and learned techniques passed down through the centuries, to a system where students pay $100,000 and often learn very little beyond theory. A recent graduate of one of our country’s most respected MFA programs—not in the Bay Area—told me that in her third year as an MFA student, she paid over $100,000 in tuition and fees, and in exchange, met with her advisor once every two weeks. That year, there were no classes, no skills taught—only discussion. At the rate of $5,000 an hour, this seemed to be an inequitable system in need of adjustment.
So JD Beltran and I began thinking of an alternative. For years, it was little more than idle chatter until one day in 2022, while biking around the Embarcadero, I happened to loop around Pier 29, and noticed it was enormous and empty.
JD and I started making inquiries with the Port of San Francisco, the agency that oversees the waterfront, which has played a significant role in revitalizing the area. We began meeting with the Port in 2023, and they encouraged us to write up a proposal and matched us up with the Community Arts Stabilization Trust, an SF nonprofit dedicated to aiding arts organizations.
The core of our proposal was straightforward: ten established artists would receive free studio space in the pier. In exchange, they would agree to teach a cohort of twenty emerging artists, who would also get free studio space.
The simplicity of the idea was promising. With ten established artists teaching just three hours a week, together they would provide thirty hours of instruction weekly—an invaluable resource for the emerging artists. Because these thirty artists would be sharing the pier, they could regularly consult with each other, fostering more mentorship and camaraderie, something often lost in contemporary art education.
Driven , we sought to identify a leader for our group of established artists. JD thought of Ana Teresa Fernandez, an accomplished artist and former student of hers. When we contacted her, she immediately embraced the idea, having experienced the shortcomings of traditional art education herself.
Over the summer, Ana Teresa and JD assembled a remarkable group of San Francisco artists to serve as our first cohort of artist-educators. This group encompasses a diversity of practices, yet they share a commitment to the Bay Area and a vision for a more equitable art education model. They will move their studios to Pier 29 this fall and are currently developing a rigorous one-year curriculum for the twenty emerging artists.
Details on how to apply for this opportunity will soon be available through the Art + Water website and social media platforms. We invite aspiring artists of any age to apply for this thorough art education. The program will cover essential skills that have traditionally been taught, alongside modern techniques that allow for personal artistic expression.
Pier 29 will also feature ample gallery space for both established and emerging artists. This space will allow artists to set up exhibitions of their work on their own terms, and projected foot traffic from the Embarcadero means significant visibility for their creations.
Additionally, the pier will accommodate local nonprofits, arts organizations, and galleries looking for affordable space—addressing the challenges many small and community-focused organizations face in today’s real estate market.
Art + Water aims to create a welcoming community space—akin to Fort Mason—that draws people in and encourages participation through visual arts. We will host free classes, community projects, and artistic demonstrations for all ages, making art accessible to the broader public.
Our exhibition hall, curated é de Guzman, one of the country’s leading curators, will serve as a significant feature of Art + Water. The first show will spotlight the work of musician and filmmaker Boots Riley, offering transformative experiences, classes, and public events.
We understand the importance of accessibility, especially for families and educators wanting to experience art together. Thus, we will provide mini-grants to assist teachers in arranging school trips to our exhibitions, ensuring that finances are not a barrier to experiencing art.
As we pave the way forward, we acknowledge and celebrate the transformative potential of this new educational model.