Causes

Arts & culture Community & economic development LGBTQ+

Posted by

Katie C.

Executive Director

Our mission

The Tenderloin Museum celebrates the rich history of one of San Francisco's most overlooked neighborhoods. Through history exhibitions, resident-led walking tours, community programs, and the presentation of original artwork, the Tenderloin Museum invites all comers to reclaim our city's past and future. The Tenderloin Museum highlights the pioneering activism and fierce resistance woven deeply into the story of our 31-square blocks. All are welcome to join us in telling its story. The mission of Uptown Tenderloin, dba Tenderloin Museum, is to offer educational, artistic, and charitable activities that support the neighborhood's current vibrancy, future potential, and enhanced economic development.

What we do

As a museum aiming to explore and amplify the untold stories of a long-marginalized neighborhood, the strong engagement of the Tenderloin community has been core to TLM's vision and practice. One of the few affordable places left in the city, the Tenderloin is home to one of San Francisco's highest populations of low- and moderate-income people, a large LGBTQ population, and an incredibly diverse racial/ethnic population - more than 30% of the area's residents are foreign-born and the majority are non-white. TLM aims to make visible the stories of these residents and their predecessors, and it has found success in engaging many of the neighborhood's communities.

TLM offers an average of one arts program each week that illuminates the Tenderloin's fascinating history and involves its vibrant community in exploring and interpreting its roots. These programs, which take shape at the intersection of art, history, and community, not only show off our neighborhood - they also bring thousands of visitors to the area, who support local businesses, and spread the word about our thriving corner of San Francisco. We are proud to anchor a cultural corridor that grows bigger and more diverse each year.

Located within a dense and robust network of activists, artists, social service workers, and clients, TLM actively creates opportunities of solidarity through which Tenderloin residents can become involved, individually and institutionally. Most frequently, TLM features its neighbors as performers, visual artists, authors or speakers. TLM also places value on the expertises of neighboring partner organizations and consistently fosters collaborative relationships that result in shared programming and enhanced outreach efforts. TLM is a multi-faceted museum and repository of cultural memory that respects, welcomes, and cultivates diversity in all its forms.