Ralph Remington to Step Down as SF’s Director of Cultural Affairs

In a surprise announcement at today’s San Francisco Arts Commission meeting, Director of Cultural Affairs Ralph Remington said he would move into an advisory capacity and fully retire on June 30, 2026.

I have made the decision to step back from my current role as Director of Cultural Affairs to support the future objectives and vision of Mayor Lurie’s combined arts and culture department,” Remington said.

Remington has held the role since January 2021. According to his statement at today’s meeting, Deputy Directors Sarah Hollenbeck and Ebon Glenn will “guide operations and programming through this period of change.” Later in the meeting, he delivered his final “Director’s Report.”

Remington came to the SFAC from Tempe, Arizona, where he served as the deputy director for arts and culture. Prior to that, he worked for Actors Equity Association in Los Angeles and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) in Washington, D.C., and served on the city council in Minneapolis. He graduated from Howard University and has a background as a playwright, actor and screenwriter. A book of his essays, Penetrating Whiteness: How White Supremacy Built America, will be published by Books That Save Lives on Feb. 3.

His retirement comes during a time of turbulence for San Francisco’s arts ecosystem. The SFAC meeting was just days after Lurie announced the creation of a new position to oversee a merger of the SFAC, Grants for the Arts, and the Film Commission. That same day, news broke that the Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts had suddenly closed due to financial distress — after 49 years as a hub of Latino dance, theater, graphic arts and music.

Public comment at the meeting reproached the arts commissioners — a volunteer, mayor-appointed board — for a lack of action and urgency as an avalanche of closures has rocked the local arts community.