SF Camerawork, Legacy Photo Nonprofit, Avoids Closure
Nearly three weeks after SF Camerawork announced its sudden, permanent closure, the 52-year-old photography nonprofit now says it will remain open, thanks to a new interim executive director and a fully replaced board.
“After a period of uncertainty, we are thrilled to announce that SF Camerawork will continue,” the organization announced on social media and its website on Aug. 29.
Camerawork, which supports photographers with exhibitions, publications, critiques and other events, was founded in 1974 and has been a crucial space at the beginning of many artists’ careers.
The effort to avoid closure was led by photographer Hal Fischer, one of three original founders of the nonprofit, and Monique Deschaines, director of Euqinom Gallery and a former Camerawork board member.
Fischer will now serve as board president; Deschaines is the interim executive director. Other new board members include Alexis Gordon, Sarah Miller, Adrian Martinez, Alex Ramos, Dave Elfving and Erika Gentry. The group is a mixture of artists and arts professionals, many with long ties to the organization.
“The last three weeks are really a blur,” Fischer told KQED. The group needed to work fast; Camerawork’s lease at Fort Mason Center was due to end Aug. 31.
Camerawork cited rising operating costs, declining public funding and changes to the “philanthropic landscape” as the reasons behind its closure. But few in the arts community had heard the organization was in trouble before the Aug. 10 announcement.
“Nobody knew really what was going on,” Fischer told KQED that day. “And I am getting emails, calls from all over, from LA. ‘We wanna help, we wanna stop this.’”
Over the past three weeks, Fischer, Deschaines and a working group of supporters made a proposal to the former board: let us look at the books and put forward a new board, and we can help fund the organization through early 2027.
The transition to new leadership has gone fairly smoothly, Fischer said. “I think they were pretty fatigued,” he said. “I think it’s been a really tough road.”
The reversal is happy news for an arts community that has suffered its fair share of institutional closures in recent years. For his part, Fischer is optimistic about the future: “What Camerawork does for emerging photographers, emerging curators, there’s more need for that than ever.”
SF Camerawork will reopen with a members’ exhibition Sept. 16–Oct. 4, 2026. An opening reception will take place Thursday, Sept. 17, 5–8 p.m.