When Project Artaud was founded in 1971 with the purchase of a 100,000 square foot building at 499 Alabama Street, it was envisioned as a community, a physical space where artists could live and work alongside each other, creating opportunities for ongoing interactions, inspiration, and collaboration.
In the beginning, each resident was responsible for converting their section of open floor into living quarters, installing walls and plumbing for kitchens and bathrooms. According to Treasurer John Sullivan, the colony presently houses 65 live/workspaces with leases that cost from $650 to $2,400 a month, depending on size, well below average City rents, which exceed $3,300. The building also has five commercial spaces with fees that range from $2,300 to $14,000 monthly.
For sculptor Brian Goggin, who has lived at Project Artaud with his wife, Florenica, since 1994, the low rent has been life-changing, allowing him to be an artist in one of the most expensive cities in the U.S. In 2011, Goggin expanded his footprint at Artaud, negotiating one of the commercial non-member leases for a space he named Studio 123. He vends a loft above the studio to short term tenants.
“Just as Joe Goode [a performance artist next door to Goggin] rents out his space for various uses, we charge for the loft space to help afford the studio where we create art.”
Goggin’s commercial lease allows short-term rentals, as long as guests stay for more than 30 days, but less than six months. However, some collective members aren’t happy with the arrangement, asserting that Goggin has violated municipal laws and Project Artaud rules. A largely anonymous campaign to stop the practice has included stickers posted throughout Mission Creek and Potrero Hill that demand “No Short Term Rentals in Project Artaud.”
A national backlash against short-term rentals has intensified over the last several years, with those opposed to the practice arguing that it contributes to a decline in hotel revenues, accelerates housing shortages and degrades community. New York City’s Local Law 18, adopted in 2022, is one of the strictest in the world, requiring municipal registration and prohibiting rentals of less than 30 days, even if the host lives in or owns the building. San Francisco, where Airbnb was born, also requires registration and limits entire home rentals to an annual total of 90 days.
Goggin believes he’s being singled out—the stickers feature a QR code that links to a page featuring Studio 123—not because of the loft rental, but because of issues connected to decisions the board made, some while he was president, such as not granting a request to relocate to another space in the complex.
Susan Sullivan, the current head of Project Artaud’s board, confirmed that short term rentals are legal as part of commercial leases, stressing that the collective’s attorney has fully vetted uses and rules affecting business spaces. As further proof, she cited a recent San Francisco Planning Department investigation into an anonymously filed charge of illegal practices under the City’s platform-based rental laws that was dismissed due to lack of merit.
In addition to the stickers and Planning Department complaints, a user calling themselves “Radially Laced” launched a Change.org petition demanding numerous revisions to Project Artaud policies, including cessation of short term rentals. “These practices,” the petition claims, “dilute the intended purpose of the community and risk undermining its role as a haven for active, practicing artists.”
“To have [board member’s] names tossed out as specifically allowing misfeasance in the governing of our building is really sickening,” said Sullivan.
Attempts to reach “Radially Laced” were unanswered.
None of this has dimmed Goggin’s view of Project Artaud’s benefits. The spaces he occupies have enabled him to create significant works, such as two sculptures, Soulement and Murmuration, for the One Mission Street complex.
“Without the tall ceilings and the space,” Goggin said, “I never would have made either of those pieces.”
Other projects he’s worked on since 2011 include restoring Language of the Birds, at the corner of Broadway and Columbus; The Fine Balance Project, unveiled last summer in Petaluma; and his current work in process, The Last Ice Project.
“We strive to balance our use of the space with the needs of the community while sustaining our art practice,” said Goggin. “We believe that our use of Studio 123 aligns with Project Artaud’s mission to provide workspace for artists and promote the appreciation of the arts in the broader community.”
Jessica Zimmer 
Alina Ferguson