Our History

THE SHARON BUILDING

The Sharon Art Stu­dio is San Francisco’s largest pub­lic com­mu­nity cen­ter for the arts.

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Housed in the land­mark Sharon Build­ing in Golden Gate Park near the Children’s Play­ground, the Sharon Art Stu­dio was estab­lished in 1968.  In 1974, a fire gut­ted the build­ing and the pro­gram was relo­cated to the old Fleishacker Pool Build­ing near the San Fran­cisco Zoo. In 1980, the pro­gram was moved again to tem­po­rary hous­ing at the Ran­dall Museum while repairs were being made to the Sharon Building.

Ten years after the 1974 fire, the Sharon Art Stu­dio once again opened the doors of the Sharon Build­ing to the pub­lic.

The Stu­dio, once a fledg­ling arts and crafts pro­gram, had grown and diver­si­fied its offer­ings, serv­ing sev­eral hun­dred peo­ple annu­ally in the pur­suit of artis­tic growth and expression.

In 1991 a group of stu­dents founded the non-profit Friends of Sharon Art Stu­dio (FOSAS) in order to advo­cate on behalf of the Sharon Art Studio’s pro­gram and facil­ity. For more than 20 years FOSAS has part­nered with the San Fran­cisco Recre­ation and Parks Depart­ment to sus­tain and enhance the stu­dio and its pro­gram­ming.