Who we are
The mission of the Museum of Performance + Design is to keep the unfolding history of the performing arts in the San Francisco Bay Area alive.
Mission Statement
We collect, preserve, and make accessible materials on performance and theater design to support learning, appreciation, and creativity within a world-wide community of artists, researchers, and the general public.
For over 75 years, Museum of Performance + Design has been diligently collecting and preserving the history of the performing arts in the San Francisco Bay Area. With a vast collection of over 3.5 million items, we serve as a prominent living record that spans from the era of the Gold Rush to the present day, capturing the rich tapestry of the performing arts of San Francisco and beyond.
The performing arts, as reflected in MP+D’s holdings, mirror, critique and interpret our country’s diverse social and cultural history. Since the Gold Rush era, actors, dancers, musicians and international stars have come from far and wide to satisfy our region’s legendary need to see and hear the finest performing arts. Through their excellence and innovation, local performing artists have brought fame to themselves and to the Bay Area. It is this rich history, the dynamic present and the exciting future that MP+D preserves and promotes.
Our History
The Museum of Performance + Design was founded in 1947 by a gentleman named Russell Hartley who was a dancer and designer with the San Francisco Ballet. During it’s early years, the collection was housed in Mr. Hartley’s home and called the San Francisco Dance Archives. In 1975, the city librarian of San Francisco brought the collection to the Presidio Branch of the public library.
In 1983, shortly before Hartley’s passing, the collection moved to a space in the War Memorial Opera House. Having outgrown the opera house space, in 1989 the collection moved to the corner of Grove and Gough and became known as the San Francisco Performing Arts Library and Museum (SFPALM). In 1999, SFPALM relocated to the 4th floor of the Veteran’s Building and took on its current name.
Today MP+D maintains a 3.5 million item collection containing performing arts treasures from the Gold Rush to the present day. The collection contains historic photographs, press clippings, playbills, set and costume designs, archives and personal papers, fine art, costumes, artifacts, rare books, manuscripts, and audiovisual recordings.
Our People
Board of Trustees
Pattie Lawton, President
admin@mpdsf.org
William S. Eddelman, Vice President / Treasurer
Mark Oliver, Secretary
Jamie Calderon
Naomi Calderon
William Gaines
Rick Turley
Trustee Emeriti
Elyse Eng, Nancy Adler Montgomery, Marie Louise Pratt, Judith Renard, Bruce Walker
Artists Advisory Council
Alonzo King, Margaret Jenkins, Michael Tilson Thomas, Helgi Tomasson, Frederica von Stade
Staff
Kirsten Tanaka, Director of Collections ktanaka@mpdsf.org
Supriya Wronkiewicz, San Francisco Ballet Archivist/Project Archivist supriyaw@mpdsf.org
Artists Affiliates
The Collected Works, Kara Davis/Project Agora, Latifa Medjdoub, Yula Paluy, Derek Philips, Giulia Vittori, Alessio Silvestrin, warren-crow+warren-crow
Community Partners
Brava! for Women in the Arts
Business Partners
Corovan
Iron Mountain
Thunderfoot
Funders
The Museum of Performance + Design is supported in part by
Anonymous, The Mervyn L. Brenner Foundation Inc., Cisco, The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, Delia F. Ehrlich Administrative Trust, Ann & Gordon Getty Foundation, John & Marcia Goldman Philanthropic Fund, Lisa & Douglas Goldman Fund, Grants For The Arts/Hotel Tax Fund, Landis/Dowdall Fund, Voluntary Tax Contribution Funds, National Endowment for the Arts, Gilmore Stone Charitable Trust, Zellerbach Family Foundation
and
Russell Hartley Society
Mr. and Mrs. Joachim Bechtle, William Eddelman, Elyse Eng, Mr. and Mrs. William Fisher, Mr. and Mrs. Robert J. Fisher. Mr. and Mrs. Frederick Gans, Stanlee Gatti. Mr. and Ms. John Goldman, Ambassador James C. Hormel, Lucy Jewett, Mr. Herbert B. Kennedy, Pattie Lawton, Mary Lester, Mr. and Mrs. Michael Mauze, Mr. and Mrs. Robert Newman, Mark Oliver, Joyce Reitman and Joe Drummond, Mr. Barrett Shaver, Roselyne Swig, Mr. & Mrs. Yosh Tanaka, Stephanie Tanaka & Jay Plano, Helgi Tomasson and Marlene Tomasson, Mr. and Mrs. Bruce Walker, Diane B. Wilsey