Art Works Downtown
Mission
To provide an environment where visual arts thrive for the well-being of community.
Vision
Art Works Downtown strives to be a bustling ecosystem of creative well-being, organizational stability, and IDEA—inclusion, diversity, equity, and access. Through our spectrum of efforts, we weave a greater engagement and appreciation of the visual arts into the fabric of our community.
About
Art Works Downtown is a 501(c)(3) Marin’s premier non-profit organization with a vibrant artist activity in the heart of downtown San Rafael. Our 40,000-square foot building is home to galleries, 33 artist studios, innovative businesses, affordable housing, and more. We carry out our mission through exhibitions, events, and our popular 2nd Friday Art Walk.
Art Works Downtown is more than an art center.
We believe visual art is a universal language that connects people across cultures, backgrounds, and experiences. Art inspires new perspectives, encourages understanding, and brings people together.
As a public charitable organization, we rely on your generosity to help provide a place where artists create, audiences discover and collect art. Your support makes art thrive and your donation is fully tax-deductible allowed by law.
History
Art Works Downtown champions the idea that visual art is a universal language, a bridge between different cultures, backgrounds, and experiences. Art speaks to the core of our humanity, revealing the depths of our emotions, our dreams, and our shared experiences that often can’t be expressed in words alone. Art is a path to understanding and truth. It inspires questions and challenges us to seek answers, engage, experience, and to grow as individuals and as a society.
Since the founding of Art Works Downtown (AWD) in 1996, the core purpose of the organization has been to enrich our community by encouraging artistic activities, educating the public, increasing appreciation of art, and strengthening the relationship between artists, arts organizations and the larger community. AWD provides an environment that is seeded in its historic building on Fourth Street in San Rafael, but expands its reach to the broader community throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. More than a physical location, AWD creates a setting that fosters unity, belonging, collaboration, opportunity, and creativity – all elements of a thriving and healthy arts community.
Read about our history here.
The best way to really get to know Art Works Downtown is to drop by and see us in person. Check out the current exhibitions in our galleries. Explore the meandering halls and hidden corners of our 130-year-old building.
By the numbers
Art Works Downtown is more than an art center. We are a thriving creative community, a cultural destination, and a driving force in downtown San Rafael.
As one of Marin County’s premier nonprofit arts organizations, Art Works Downtown brings artists, audiences, and the community together through inspiring exhibitions, engaging events, and our popular monthly 2nd Friday Art Walk.
Our 40,000-square-foot landmark arts center is home to 33 artist studios supporting more than 55 artists, multiple galleries, creative businesses, and 17 affordable residences—a dynamic hub where art, culture, and community thrive.
We don't just showcase art. We create opportunities for artists, connect communities, and help shape the cultural and economic vitality of downtown San Rafael.
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We are all about art. At any moment, works of art in almost every medium are being dreamed, planned, made, shown, or discussed somewhere in our building – and are inspiring artists and the public to begin the cycle again.
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Art Works Downtown is committed to keeping art accessible where the public can easily experience it—on San Rafael’s Fourth Street. We are firmly rooted here, and we are proud to have led the way by writing the successful grant that helped the City of San Rafael become a California Cultural District and establish the Downtown San Rafael Arts District. We’re proud to make an impact on our local community, and fortunate to draw inspiration from its cultural richness.
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We are firmly rooted here. As rising costs drive working artists out of many downtown areas, we’re committed to promoting art where the public can easily experience it: on San Rafael's Fourth Street. We’re proud to make an impact on our local community, and fortunate to draw inspiration from its cultural richness.
Art Works Downtown regularly presents local and Bay Area artists through exhibitions, artist talks, special events, and creative programming at our downtown San Rafael art center. Revisit these experiences through our videos and discover more about the artists, exhibitions, and ideas shaping our creative community.
Recently uploaded: the (3 words) Artist Talk, featuring artists from the exhibition in conversation about their work, ideas, and creative process.
Subscribe to the Art Works Downtown YouTube channel for artist talks, exhibition features, special events, and more—and stay tuned for exciting new content coming soon!
YT: @artworksdowntown