ArtRise Projects provided the Board of Trustees and Executive Team at Fort Mason with strategic counsel regarding campus master planning and arts program implementation. ArtRise began working with the Fort Mason leadership team in an effort to inform the selection of an architect for Fort Mason Center’s 2012 Design Competition. Principal Marnie Burke de Guzman conducted research on a range of organizations leading the cultural field in efforts to animate and revitalize historic sites — many of them former military or industrial installations — with innovative arts and community programs. Fort Mason was in the vanguard of these types of initiatives when it was founded in 1977 as an arts and culture–focused hub of the first urban national park, the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.

To provide creative and practical design concepts to further enliven and integrate the site, Fort Mason selected the team lead by West 8, an award-winning international office for urban design and landscape architecture. West 8’s design called for seven key strategies to bolster and preserve Fort Mason’s legacy and naval military identity while activating the water’s edge, improving pedestrian access and parking, and enlivening spaces for expanded public programming and arts. The design would enable Fort Mason Center — renamed Fort Mason Center for Arts and Culture as part of a rebranding effort in 2015 — to realize its full potential, both as a vital and stimulating location for arts and culture, and as an attractive destination for enjoyment of the site. Later that year, ArtRise produced the first proof of concept art installation to launch the renovated Gallery 308, Janet Cardiff’s The Forty Part Motet.

Following the great success of that exhibition in 2017, ArtRise worked with the staff and board to develop a Strategic Arts Program and Audience Engagement Plan. Burke de Guzman continued to provide counsel on position descriptions and recruiting as Fort Mason built a multi-talented arts programming staff.

ArtRise’s office has been on the Fort Mason campus since 2013. As a long-timer supporter and tenant, Burke de Guzman continues to advise the executive and project teams regarding organizational strategy and the development of artistic programming in support of the larger campus master planning process.