Z Space

Z Space is dedicated to creating, developing, and presenting new performances, often in collaboration with artists, ensembles, and organizations. Z Space presents and coproduces works of theater, dance, and storytelling. It also promotes youth self-expression and literacy through arts education programs that bring works of fiction to the stage verbatim. In a typical year, Z Space provides dozens of diverse ensembles and organizations with subsidized access to its two San Francisco theater spaces and serves more than 20,000 people. This grant to Z Space advances the Performing Arts Program’s Communities strategy.

Z Space Studio provides a hub for artists and audiences to revel in the creation, development, and production of outstanding new work for the stage. In 2009, the organization took over the management and operations of Theater Artaud, a popular 286-seat performing arts venue in the Mission District of San Francisco. Reaching over 18,000 audience members per year, Z Space produces 24 weeks of programming each year, including a co-production, with the remaining weeks available for rehearsals and rentals by organizations and artists offering programming in a variety of art forms. After months of negotiations, the organization has signed a long-term lease for an additional 88-seat theater in its current building. Hewlett support will cover the aging assets and capital improvements of the space.

Z Space Studio provides a hub for artists and audiences to revel in the creation, development, and production of outstanding new work for the stage. In 2009, the organization took over management and operations of Theater Artaud, a popular 286-seat performing arts venue in San Francisco’s Mission District. Reaching more than 18,000 audience members per year, Z Space produces twenty-four weeks of programming annually, including a co-production with a variety of partners, with the remaining weeks available for rehearsals and rentals by organizations and artists offering programming in a variety of art forms. Word for Word, an in-house theater company, takes stories verbatim and adapts them for the stage. The Youth Arts program teaches the Word for Word method in schools, using workshops and residencies to promote literacy to hundreds of students each year. With renewed support, Z Space would continue to build its staff infrastructure, make upgrades to the theater, and launch a New Works Fund campaign.