Gray Area’s Cultural Incubator program supports creative individuals and teams– from a wide array of disciplines– to develop, make and showcase projects within a rich social environment. We offer opportunities for participation through memberships, research labs, and fiscal sponsorship.

I participated in Gray Area’s six month incubator program to incubate codeartproject.com. This multifunctional Theater space in the Mission District applies art and technology – it a true gem tackling the intersection of two things that seemingly have a growing divide in San Francisco. Here I will highlight some of my experiences in the program and detail Gray Area’s offerings.

Gray Area offers:

1. peer to peer support
2. shared workspace at the historic Grand Theater
3. free/discounted admission to events and workshops
4. opportunities for public presentations

Peer to Peer Support

This was one of the highlights for me. Working on an artistic project with a group of people created a supportive environment and helped keep me motivated and positive. Everybody was artistic, technical and empathetic. Your peers in a lot of ways make the program.

Shared Workspace

I didn’t utilize this very much. Half of my project was painting which I did at my art studio a few blocks away. The space is modest – large desks with chairs. Some brought in monitors and external keyboards/mouse.  There is a tool shed that members have access to but no one in my group used it.

Free/Discounted Admission to Events/Workshops

I wish I had taken more advantage of this. There is a lot of cool classes and some of the courses are very pricey and unique. 

Presentations

The program offers two public presentations. A presentation after 3 months where each member gives a  3- 5 minute presentation and then an informal question and answer with the audience, about fifty people attended. The second is a showcase of the final projects, roughly two hundred attended.

The highlights of the program were the people and the forcing function to move a large project forward and on time. I am happy I attended the program.

If you want to get into the Gray Area Incubator program I recommend two things:

1. Submit a clear vision with a spec
2. Stay on Gray Area’s mission

My Cohort

3 Month Presentation and Q/A

Final Exhibition/Showcase

If you have any questions about the program I would be happy to answer them – just leave a comment in the comment section below 🙂

Resources:

https://medium.com/@GrayAreaorg/announcing-gray-areas-fall-2016-cohort-4d8269c0c28d

http://grayarea.org/community-entry/katharine/