P R E S S R E L E A S E

The Sixth Street Effect:

Art, Community, and Cultural Survival

San Francisco Is Losing Its Cultural Spaces.

Sixth Street Refuses to Let Go

While San Francisco continues to lose arts institutions, TODCO’s 6th Street Arts Initiative is actively building the kind of cultural spaces artists and communities still need, through 6th on 7th and 6M galleries.

San Francisco, CA — As San Francisco continues to lose vital arts infrastructure, from school programs and community spaces to galleries, venues, and public investment. Two galleries on Sixth Street are proving what it means to remain rooted in community.

For decades, Sixth Street has been treated as a problem to be managed rather than a community to be invested in. And yet, time and again, it is the people, artists, organizers, and neighborhood institutions here who continue to create the very conditions the city claims to want: connection, activation, safety, belonging, and cultural vitality.

That is the work TODCO has been doing all along.

Through Tenants and Owners Development Corporation (TODCO)’s Arts Initiative, 6th on 7th Gallery and 6M Gallery have become more than exhibition spaces. They are neighborhood anchors, places where artists are supported, residents are welcomed, and creative programming is used as a tool for connection, visibility, and care.

At a time when the city continues to talk about revitalization while cultural institutions disappear, these galleries are doing the daily work of sustaining neighborhood life. Through exhibitions, workshops, artist-led programming, and public events, 6th on 7th and 6M offer something increasingly rare in San Francisco: accessible, community-rooted spaces where art is not separated from the realities of the people around it but embedded within them.

For Sixth Street, a corridor is too often defined by stigma rather than by the people and creativity that have long shaped it. These spaces play a critical role in the community. They bring artists and neighbors into dialogue, create opportunities to contribute to a broader sense of belonging, healing, and neighborhood pride.

Together, 6th on 7th and 6M represent a model of what cultural infrastructure can look like when it is built with and for the community. They are not simply responding to the loss of arts institutions across the city; they are actively filling that void.

A Community-First Approach

What sets TODCO apart is its deeply rooted commitment to the people who live and work in the neighborhood. Its approach to arts programming is not simply about exhibiting artwork; it is about building relationships, supporting artists, and creating welcoming cultural hubs where the community can gather and feel represented.

Through its integrated commitment to art, affordable housing, and social services, TODCO has created spaces that bring people together in meaningful and lasting ways. Workshops, artist-led programs, and public events offer residents opportunities to connect, learn, and express themselves creatively. These shared experiences foster belonging while providing meaningful outlets that support emotional well-being and community health.

In a neighborhood that has long carried the weight of economic hardship, social stigma, and systemic neglect, these cultural programs offer something essential: space to heal, connect, and imagine beyond survival. Through hands-on workshops and collaborative programming, residents and artists are able to share stories, build trust, and create new pathways for engagement. These moments of creative exchange reduce isolation, support mental health, and help cultivate pride, ownership, and possibility within the neighborhood.

6th on 7th Gallery — Celebrates 35 years with the power of photography

For 35 years, 6th on 7th Gallery has served as a vital creative platform and gathering space. Its origins trace back to 1991 with the Sixth Street Photography Workshop, spearheaded by the late Tom Ferentz and carried forward by S. Renee Jones. Rooted in a simple yet radical vision to give residents the tools and support to document their own lives. The program embraced an “art as therapy” approach, empowering participants to build confidence, find meaning, and share their stories through photography.

In 2013, TODCO expanded that vision by opening the gallery at 7th and Mission Streets, naming it 6th on 7th in honor of its origins. Since then, the space has introduced more than 500 adults to photography, offering not only technical skills but a platform for personal storytelling and creative expression. Today, the gallery continues to support generations of photographers while remaining deeply connected to the lived realities and creative energy of the surrounding community.

Its 35th anniversary exhibition, Picture This!, serves as both a celebration and a record of more than three decades of community voice through photography. Reflecting on the gallery’s history while chronicling Sixth Street and SoMa as enduring sites of artistic production, experimentation, and survival, the exhibition brings together artists connected to the gallery’s past and present. Featuring work from some of San Francisco’s most overlooked yet essential voices, it acts as both retrospective and living archive—honoring participants not only as photographers, but as historians of everyday life. Together, the works form a powerful narrative arc, moving from struggle to expression, from survival to celebration, and from isolation to community. On view until April 18th.

Opening April 25, The Narrative continues that commitment by exploring photography as a tool for storytelling of the photographer. The exhibition highlights the power of the image to document lived experience, shape identity, and reveal the layered realities of the communities and environments around us. Through the work on view, The Narrative expands 6th on 7th’s mission to uplift visual storytelling and create space for reflection, dialogue, and connection.

Beyond exhibitions, 6th on 7th remains an active site for community engagement through photography programs, workshops, and neighborhood photo walks. These offerings invite participants to deepen both their creative practice and their relationship to the community. Encouraging them to observe, document, and share the stories that define their surroundings. In this way, the gallery continues to function not only as a space for viewing art but as a space where the community actively participates in shaping its own visual narrative.

6M Gallery — Chain Reaction

Now celebrating a successful first year, 6M Gallery has quickly established itself as a bold contemporary art space and creative hub on Sixth Street. At a moment when many arts spaces are shrinking, closing, or struggling to survive, 6M has emerged as proof that artist-centered, community-rooted programming still matters and still works.

Its latest exhibition, Chain Reaction, is built around an “artists-on-artists” model in which participating artists select work by their peers. The result is an exhibition grounded in reciprocity, influence, and mutual support. In a city where the arts often feel increasingly precarious, Chain Reaction offers a different model: one built not on scarcity, but on connection. On view until May 23rd.

What distinguishes 6M is its commitment to creating opportunities that extend beyond the walls of a traditional gallery. In addition to its exhibitions, the space has developed a growing number of workshops, partnerships, and special projects designed to support artists in practical, creative, and community-driven ways. Multiple drop-in days with free art supplies, Seasonal Art & Wellness fairs, & 6th Street Neighbors (community betterment open discussions). Through programming that prioritizes exchange, access, and visibility, 6M is helping cultivate a more connected and sustainable artistic ecosystem on Sixth Street.

A key part of that work has been its collaboration with Vanguard Lab & Hospitality House’s Community Arts Program, which has helped bring workshops and educational opportunities to the community with art & free community meals to welcome everyone in. Along with everyone holding the ethos of art as harm reduction in everything they do.

These programs create room for artists and community members to engage directly with creative processes, develop new skills, and build relationships through shared learning and dialogue. By opening the gallery up as a space for participation rather than passive viewing, 6M reinforces the idea that cultural spaces can also function as sites of growth, resource sharing, and collective support.

TODCO’s Commitment

At a moment when San Francisco is watching many of its cultural pillars weaken, Sixth Street offers a different story. One is defined not by collapse, but by endurance, creativity, and care. Through 6th on 7th Photography Workshop and 6M Community Arts, Tenants and Owners Development Corporation (TODCO) continues to invest in artists, residents, and relationships that sustain neighborhood life.

These galleries are more than exhibition spaces; they are places of gathering, visibility, reflection, and possibility for the people that pass through their doors. They demonstrate what can happen when cultural investment remains rooted in the community. When artists are supported, stories are preserved, and creative spaces are treated not as luxury but as essential civic infrastructure.

As the city continues to lose arts institutions, TODCO’s commitment to Sixth Street stands as both a model and a challenge: if San Francisco is serious about its cultural future, it must invest in the neighborhoods and communities that have been doing this work all along.

Honoring a Legacy

On April 1st, 2026, John Elberling, President and one of the founding leaders of Tenants and Owners Development Corporation (TODCO), passed away. For decades, Elberling was a driving force behind TODCO’s mission—championing affordable housing, community services, and the belief that neighborhoods like Sixth Street deserve sustained investment, dignity, and care.

His leadership helped shape TODCO into an organization deeply rooted in community, where cultural programming, housing, and social services are not separate efforts but interconnected pillars that respond to residents' needs. The galleries and arts programming were a personal passion of Elberling’s, grounded in his belief that the arts have the power to bring people together, amplify voices, and strengthen the social fabric of a neighborhood.

Today, TODCO’s galleries and broader cultural initiatives stand as a direct reflection of its vision. Spaces are built not only for artistic expression, but for connection, opportunity, and belonging. As TODCO continues its work on Sixth Street, it carries forward Elberling’s legacy: a lasting commitment to people, to place, and to the idea that strong, thriving communities are built through sustained care, access, and collective investment.

For more than 50 years, TODCO has been a powerful advocate for affordable housing in the South of Market neighborhood. Today, our properties are home to more than 1,000 families and friends who call SoMa their home. Our residents are a living testament to what happens when you put people first in our neighborhood.

230 4th St. San Francisco, CA 94103 | todcomedia@todco.org  | (415) 697-6102 | @todcogroup

6th on 7th Photography Workshop is a community art space in San Francisco’s SoMa, offering free photography instruction to low-income adults and military veterans. Founded in 1992, the program has long centered on an “art as therapy” approach, using creative expression as a pathway to connection and personal insight.

105 7th Street San Francisco, CA 94103  | www.6thon7th.org  | 6thon7th@gmail.com | (415) 680 - 8855 | @6thon7th

Todco’s 6M is a community-driven gallery dedicated to advancing 6th street arts programming and neighborhood organizing. Functioning as both an exhibition space and a hub for community activity, 6M creates opportunities for artists, organizers, and residents to gather and collaborate. Through project-based arts and accessible programming, the gallery actively invests in artist-led initiatives, supporting the development of new ideas while strengthening connections within the local community.

1008 Mission Street San Francisco, CA 94103 |  kerim@6Mcommunityarts.org  | (415) 916-1428 | @6m_community_arts