By Diane Ayerdi

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Excitement is building at City College of San Francisco as the long-awaited $190 million Performing Arts and Education Center/Diego Rivera Theater moves closer to becoming a reality.

The state-of-the-art, 77,000-square-foot, three-story building, designed by LMN Architects and TEF Design, will feature three main performance venues: a 600-seat event hall, a 150-seat studio theater and a 100-seat concert hall, as well as various performance, practice spaces , teaching and learning. These facilities will support CCSF’s music and theater departments by providing modern classrooms and practice spaces. It will be located between the multi-purpose building and the Steam Center on Frida Kahlo Way.

The centerpiece of the new Performing Arts and Education Center will be the Diego Rivera Theater, which will feature Diego Rivera’s iconic mural “Pan-American Unity.” The mural will be displayed in the lobby with a glass wall, making it visible to both visitors to the center and pedestrians outside. “The uniqueness of the building will lie in the installation and display of the mural,” said Alberto Vasquez, assistant vice chancellor of the CCSF Facilities Department.

Madeline Mueller, chair of the Department of Music and Theater Arts, has long been a strong supporter of the PAEC/DRT and believes the project is long overdue. “The PAEC was always a work in progress and always put it off for a bit,” she said. “Performing arts students need an auditorium because it is part of the facilities they need to complete their studies.”

Mueller added: “You have to have these kinds of opportunities to be able to train in these disciplines. In that sense, the CCSF has been an incomplete campus over the years because there hasn’t been that opportunity for students.”

The center will also be available for public use. “It is planned for public use, but of course there needs to be some coordination if necessary. We need to make sure we have enough staff to support the services,” Vasquez said.

“All funds are secured for the PAEC,” Vasquez said. The project is financed entirely by taxpayers’ money. “The primary source of funding was the 2020 Proposition A bond and the remaining funds came from bond measures previously passed in 2001 and 2005,” he added. The construction plans are currently awaiting approval from the Division of the State Architecture (DSA).

The groundbreaking is expected to take place in spring 2025.

“I am excited to see this progress and look forward to laying the foundation for it,” said Alan Wong, president of the City College Board of Trustees. “This will provide the west side of San Francisco and the CCSF community with access to the arts and increase opportunities for people of all backgrounds to participate and enjoy the arts.”

“There will be a 30- to 32-month window for construction,” Vasquez said. The target completion date is the end of 2027.

“The music and theater departments are planning a grand opening ceremony once groundbreaking begins and an even larger one at the grand opening,” Mueller said.

The new center will provide the campus with a place for future musicians to perfect their artistic craft in a professional environment that will better prepare them for careers in the arts. It will provide a creative environment that will inspire many talented arts students to develop, while allowing the community to enjoy and access many different types of performances.

“I hear the enthusiasm, interest and passion for this project from a

A lot of people,” said Jasmine Kaw, senior project manager in the CCSF facilities department. “I’m excited to see how it makes a breakthrough. It will be a great asset to the CCSF community and also to the larger neighborhood. The mural is an internationally renowned historical landmark and is now predominantly on display and that itself will be a major attraction.”

Excitement is growing at City College of San Francisco with the upcoming groundbreaking for the Performing Arts and Education Center/Diego Rivera Theater. This state-of-the-art facility will equip students with the resources necessary to succeed in the performing arts.

“We use the words ‘state of the art’ to describe something that is at the forefront of new ideas in all areas of progress,” Müller said. “The college has hired the best architectural team, including the best acousticians, to ensure we have the most modern 21st century performing arts complex possible. San Francisco is considered perhaps the most outstanding art city in the world. City College must have facilities for its students and community that reflect this high standard and reputation.”