After announcing plans to shutter earlier this month, SF Camerawork, the nonprofit gallery that has supported the work of experimental photographers for more than 50 years, is snapping back to life.
On Aug. 10, Camerawork’s then-board of directors announced plans to shut down the 52-year-old institution. Within days, Hal Fischer drafted a plan to save it.
Fischer, 75, a renowned San Francisco photographer-turned art world professional, said he has twice rescued Camerawork before — helping it achieve nonprofit status in 1977 and stepping in as interim director in 2010.
Following the announcement earlier this month, Fischer sent a proposal to the board offering to “secure funding for three months” and provide “an honorable exit ramp to board members who don’t want to continue on.”
It appears to have worked: Fischer is now the nonprofit’s board president, with an all-new board. The gallery is set to reopen on Sept. 9.
Fischer maintains that the closure announcement was unnecessary, and a premature response to a salvageable, if precarious, position. “Based on the community response — which was shock and dismay — one could glean that the Camerawork board became disengaged from its longstanding stakeholder community,” Fischer said today.
His predecessor, Stephanie Cochinos, on Aug. 13 attributed the need to close shop to “rising costs and a shifting funding landscape” in an email to Mission Local.
In a statement offered after publication, Cochinos said that “the response from our community has been nothing short of extraordinary,” and that SF Camerawork is “working hand-in-hand with our outgoing members to ensure a seamless transition.”
The board has completely turned over. Fischer joins six other new board members, including photographer Alex Ramos and City College of San Francisco photography department chair Erika Gentry.
“Our goal is to stabilize it and to get it up again,” said Gentry, who, like many others on Camerawork’s incoming board, has served on its board in the past. She added that the board will continue to look for additional members.
Previous board member and gallerist Monique Deschaines has come on as interim executive director, taking over a position that was previously vacant.
Fischer said he and his new board colleagues plan to “stabilize” the organization through fundraising — a task that the right board can accomplish, he said.
Camerawork is not in debt, Fischer added, which would have made it more difficult to recover.
Over the years, Camerawork has occupied some half-dozen locations. Fischer said the nonprofit will maintain its lease at Fort Mason Center for Arts and Culture, where it has been since 2022.
