A Decade Plus One: Tenderloin Museum’s 11th Annual Gala

Dear Friends,

Eleven years ago, the Tenderloin Museum opened its doors in one of San Francisco's most misunderstood neighborhoods with a simple but radical idea: that the Tenderloin's stories deserved to be told with dignity, depth, and pride. Over the last decade, the museum has grown into a living, breathing cultural institution that is reshaping how this city sees itself.

Last year, we marked our 10th anniversary by breaking ground on a $3.7 million expansion project that will triple our physical space over the next two years, and by launching a new staging of the critically acclaimed immersive show The Compton’s Cafeteria Riot. More than 6,400 people have entered our theatrical venue on Larkin Street and left changed. In its first year, the production paid 31 trans and LGBTQ+ cast and crew members across more than 100 performances, generating $222,432 in wages for queer artists, and we distributed more than 300 free and sliding-scale tickets to low-income Tenderloin residents, because we believe culture is not a luxury. It is a right.

Year 11 is about building on that foundation. We are bringing to life exhibitions on the boxing legacy of Newman’s Gym, the Vietnamese diaspora of Little Saigon, the 4,000 young people who call the Tenderloin home, and over 60 years of art-driven activism rooted in this neighborhood. At a moment when state and federal arts funding continues to suffer drastic cuts and cultural institutions across the country are contracting, the Tenderloin Museum is doing the opposite.

That is where you come in. Your support as a gala attendee isn’t to simply support one evening. You fund the exhibitions, productions, and bold community programs that make this museum essential, and ensures that the Tenderloin's story continues to be told by the people who lived it, on their own terms, in their own neighborhood.

We would be honored to have you with us on Wednesday, September 23, at The Green Room at San Francisco War Memorial as we celebrate everything we have built and everything still to come.

With gratitude and excitement,

Katie Conry
Executive Director, Tenderloin Museum
kconry@tenderloinmuseum.org

Interested in becoming a gala sponsor?

SPONSORSHIP INFORMATION

Tenderloin Museum (Uptown Tenderloin, Inc.) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Donations are tax-deductible to the extent of the law.

Join us for an evening that is equal parts celebration and commitment. Tenderloin Museum’s 11th Annual Gala brings together our most devoted supporters for a night of live entertainment, community voices, and distinctive food and drink, set against one of San Francisco’s most stunning architectural backdrops.

This year, we are taking the party to The Green Room at San Francisco War Memorial, a grand and intimate venue steps from City Hall that has hosted luminaries, performers, and civic gatherings for over a century. It is a fitting setting for a museum that has spent 11 years proving the Tenderloin belongs in San Francisco’s cultural and civic conversations. We may be scrappy by nature, but we clean up beautifully. Cocktail attire suggested.

The Tenderloin is one of San Francisco's most storied and misrepresented neighborhoods. For over a century, it has been home to immigrants and refugees, activists and artists, LGBTQ+ pioneers and working-class families who built their lives in the heart of the city. The Tenderloin Museum exists to tell those stories with the dignity and depth they deserve.

Founded in 2015, the museum has grown from a single gallery and permanent exhibit into a multifaceted cultural institution offering exhibitions, live productions, resident-led walking tours, and community programs that draw visitors from across the Bay Area and beyond. We are rooted in the neighborhood, staffed by people who know it, and guided by the communities whose histories we hold.

Now, we are growing again. A $3.7 million expansion currently underway will add more than 6,800 square feet to our existing space, tripling our footprint and opening the door to exhibitions, performances, and programs of an entirely new scale. The expanded museum will include San Francisco's first neon sign gallery, a flexible live performance venue, and new galleries devoted to the South Asian hotelier history of the Tenderloin and the stories of the approximately 4,000 young people who call the neighborhood home – more than any other neighborhood in the city.

At its core, the Tenderloin Museum is a place where history and the present moment meet. The stories we tell are not only about the past. They are about who this neighborhood is today and who it is becoming.

What We Accomplished in Year 10

Our milestone decade was our most ambitious year yet. We broke ground on a $3.7 million expansion project that will triple our physical space by 2028, secured two new storefronts including a 6,850-square-foot historic property adjacent to our current location, and launched the most celebrated production in our history.

On April 11, 2025, we opened a new staging of The Compton’s Cafeteria Riot, an original immersive production written by trans elders and artists reviving one of the first acts of queer resistance in American history. A dedicated venue was built at 835 Larkin Street, in the Tenderloin, recreating a 1960s diner experience. The show, now in its second season, has run for more than 100 performances, drawn over 6,400 attendees from across the Bay Area and beyond, and generated $222,432 in wages for 31 trans and LGBTQ+ cast and crew members. More than 300 free and sliding-scale tickets were distributed to low-income Tenderloin residents.

Our expansion was covered on KTVU (see video), KRON4, NBC News Bay Area, and the front page of the San Francisco Chronicle, among others. The Compton’s Cafeteria Riot received widespread critical acclaim, with the SF Chronicle Datebook calling it one of 2025’s must-see theatrical productions.

We also continued our extraordinary range of public programs reflecting the full depth and diversity of the neighborhood’s history and community: rare film screenings at the Roxie Theater, including the 1966 cult phenomenon Drugs in the Tenderloin, and Susan Stryker and Victor Silverman’s 2005 documentary Screaming Queens: The Riot at Compton’s Cafeteria; and concerts at the storied Great American Music Hall, including a celebration of the neighborhood’s iconic Club 181 with Veronica Klaus; the launch of the monthly “Valley of the Queens” LGBTQIA+ history walking tour series with Unspeakable Vice; and live music on the streets through 2nd Thursdays at Dodge Alley, activations in Myrtle Alley, and Concerts at the Cadillac. We celebrated the 10th anniversary edition of founder Randy Shaw’s landmark neighborhood history, The Tenderloin: Sex, Crime, and Resistance in the Heart of San Francisco, mounted art exhibitions featuring Tenderloin artists Lord Frederick and Lady Harriet Sebastian, and partnered with the San Francisco Arts Commission’s Shaping Legacy project to examine monuments, memory, and civic identity.

From drag brunches and crochet jams to documentary screenings, architectural walking tours, and even a congratulatory video message from actor Michael Douglas, our programs drew together hundreds of residents, artists, historians, and visitors in shared exploration of a neighborhood that continues to surprise, inspire, and resist.

The expanded Tenderloin Museum will be a fundamentally different institution, one capable of telling bigger, deeper, and more ambitious stories without losing the scrappy charm and community character we have built over more than a decade. Here is a preview of what is coming:

• RINGSIDE at Newman's: A Site-Specific Revival of the Tenderloin's Fighting Spirit will explore the largely uncollected history of Newman’s Boxing Gym, once home to local legends and international icons including Muhammad Ali and George Foreman, drawing from rare photographs, ephemera, and oral histories. Opening February 2027.

• Meng’s Little Saigon: by artist Michelle “Meng” Nguyen will feature large-scale works inspired by her upbringing in Little Saigon, transforming the gallery into an immersive exploration of the Tenderloin’s Vietnamese diaspora through art, storytelling, and community workshops. Opening October 2027.

• Youth in the Tenderloin will center the experiences of the approximately 4,000 young people who call the neighborhood home (more than any other neighborhood in the city), pairing archival materials with new oral histories and tracing the history of youth-serving organizations across the neighborhood.

• Art and Activism in the Tenderloin, developed in partnership with Hospitality House’s Community Arts Program, will celebrate over 60 years of art-driven activism in the Tenderloin, featuring archival materials, community artists, and the stories of a radical creative movement rooted in the neighborhood.