Intersection for the Arts becomes partner in innovation and community development with social entrepreneurs and tech start-ups at 5M.

Intersection for the Arts and Forest City Development have forged a unique partnership rooted in a shared belief that art and creativity realized through meaningful, inclusive, and collaborative places fuels vibrancy and facilitates positive change. Together, we are working on a four-acre multi-phase, mixed-use development project called 5M.

Located at the intersection of several beautifully distinct neighborhoods in the middle of downtown San Francisco, 5m is a prototype for the next generation of urban development that embraces diversity of thought, life experience and culture as essential to positive economic and social change in our neighborhoods. We have brought together makers, artists, entrepreneurs, social change agents, and technology innovators to collaboratively develop a new kind of place that unlocks resources, connection, and creativity across silos and disciplines.  5M’s tenant community – already representing more than 1000 organizations and networks – offers a unique opportunity to build a large scale, diverse ecology that is artfully woven into the fabric of the surrounding neighborhood.

With 5M, we propose that art – creative collaboration, placemaking, and problem solving – builds understanding and community, celebrates and mobilizes neighborhood assets, and drives inclusive change.  Over the next several years, Intersection, Forest City, and our partners at 5M will lead programming that will drive local economic and community development and innovative change - through on-the-street public art, arts-based community engagement, artist residencies, cultural entrepreneurship fellowships, job-training, incubation and resource- matching.

Established in 1965, Intersection for the Arts is widely considered to be one of the most vital and important cultural centers on the West Coast. In its 46th year of operation, Intersection’s role with the 5M Project provides unprecedented opportunity for the organization to build upon its rich legacy and suggest powerful new collaborative models that position the arts as essential to healthy civic life.