SLOMA is raising funds for an audacious expansion

The San Luis Obispo Museum of Art (SLOMA) is poised for a major expansion that will occupy new gallery space on Higuera Street, right in the heart of downtown. It’s an audacious and ambitious project meant to enrich the arts scene and help revitalize the downtown area, and it marks an essential next step in a long journey.

What began in 1952 as the San Luis Obispo Art Association—a handful of local artists fostering interest in the visual arts—evolved into the SLO Art Center that in 1967 moved to the city-owned Otto Building at 1010 Broad St.

SLOMA leases the Otto Building for just $1 a year, and for decades, plans have been in the works to build a new, larger facility at that location, but it never happened. The nonprofit organization reinvented itself in 2011, taking the name SLOMA to better reflect its museum-quality exhibitions.

“It has a long origin story,” SLOMA Executive Director Leann Standish recently explained from a sitting area in the museum with Chief Curator and Director of Education Emma Saperstein. “The previous administration had a building plan that was intended for this space. We sort of walked away from that whole project. When Emma and I took on the museum, our program changed so significantly that [the planned] building was no longer going to make sense.”

In 2023, Standish and Saperstein commissioned a study funded by the Harold J. Miossi Charitable Trust and began working with museum planners Lord Cultural Resources. 

“I’ve worked with them at several different museums, and they’re the preeminent museum planners,” Standish continued.

They spent six months studying what a new museum should be and what it would take to operate it.

“They came back with a very detailed final report in the beginning of 2024, and primarily it said two things: This is the model that you’ll need to operate the building that you want, here’s every staff position, and here’s how the business runs,” Standish explained. “The other part was a cost estimate of building [a new building], and that came in north of $50 million. We were like, uh, not happening.”

It was a real heartbreaker. So many people have worked hard over many years to guide SLOMA to the next level, and it looked like the dream was dead.

The phoenix rises 

“I kind of considered it shelved,” Standish admitted. “I thought, ‘Well, I’m not going to be the director who gets a new museum.’ I’ve told this story a million times, but I really must give credit to [local developer] Rob Rossi [of RRM Design Group], who called me up and said, ‘You cannot shelve this right now, Leann. The people who care deeply and are prepared to invest philanthropically are aging out, and they’re making legacy decisions. And if you don’t move now, you’ll miss the moment.’ Which was very astute. He was right.”

It was time to get creative, so SLOMA board of directors co-chair Ermina Karim tapped Clint Pearce as task force chair and recruited Beth Marino, Howard Carroll, Tim Tillman, and Eric Justesen to find a solution. They began looking at existing properties in the downtown area.

Nick Tompkins, a developer at NKT Commercial, eventually brought the task force the opportunity to purchase three spaces in The Network Mall at 778, 782, and 768 Higuera, two of which were unoccupied.

“I used to really want the Ross Building,” Standish said, “but I think where we’ve ended up is a thousand times better, but they looked at all of it. They really gave serious consideration to what it would take to get to the place that we needed, which is effectively 25,000 square feet at a certain ceiling height and all of that.”

“When I was running the gallery at Cuesta, we did a summer residency program that focused on performance art and student-made pieces, and we borrowed the basement of The Network, so it already had good, creative energy for me,” Saperstein added.

The buildings are owned by the Davis family of Firebaugh, California.

“They actually own from The Network all the way around to Luna Red,” Standish said. “They’ve been so patient with us because we were just kind of exploring. We weren’t serious at all yet.”

SLOMA took the time the Davis family provided them to do a complete feasibility study—early architectural plans, tenant improvement budgets, a planned capital campaign. Now SLOMA is serious, and the push is on to raise the money to make the dream come true.

Calling all philanthropists

SLOMA will retain the use of its current building, which will mostly be used for classroom spaces for adults and kids’ programming. When all goes to plan, SLOMA will own its new space.

“This is amazing,” Standish gushed. “Had we built our building here [on Broad Street], we would never own the building because it’s on city land. This is our project, and the goal is to raise $20 million. The first half is tenant improvements. It gets us in and operating and running an art museum. The second half is the money we need to purchase the building and what we’re calling a starter endowment. But we will own the building, which is a really big deal.”

While $20 million seems like a lot, it’s less than half the projected $50 million-plus for new construction, and SLOMA’s well into the fundraising process. It currently has about $8 million, and for every dollar up to $2 million donated before Dec. 31, 2025, the Forbes family will match it.

“Our donors and our board have been so intentional about how they funded this project,” Standish noted. “Our lead gift is from Ty and Trudie Safreno, and they made the largest portion of their gift to the second half [of the project] to ensure that we weren’t making tenant improvements to somebody else’s building and that we were most assured of buying it.”

Self-sustaining

The new location will also provide new revenue streams for SLOMA. Yes, admission will remain free, but a new museum retail gift shop, a café, and rentable event spaces will generate income.

“It’ll give us a real level of stability that we don’t, frankly, have right now because we’re so reliant on donations,” Standish explained. “Currently, we run just under a million dollars a year as our operating budget, and we raise all of that ourselves, with the exception of the city contract, which is $100,000. Our operating budget will go closer to $2 million, but we’ll have earned-revenue opportunities that we don’t have presently.”

The 3,000-square-foot red brick patio overlooking San Luis Creek and Mission Plaza is an absolute gem and could be rented for outdoor gatherings. The museum will also continue fee-based art classes. It plans to scale the café so it doesn’t compete with existing restaurants nearby.

“It’s really meant to be an amenity for visitors, and we have this amazing advisory group,” Standish noted. “We’re not trying to be another restaurant. [Novo and Luna Red proprietor] Robin Covey is on our advisory group, so we don’t want to be in competition because these amazing restaurants are right outside our door. But if you want to stick around and have a cup of coffee and sit on that gorgeous patio, we want that to happen. Or have a glass of wine on a Concerts in the Plaza night where it’s a little less congested, that’s part of our plan.”

One restaurant that is being displaced by the project is Ebony SLO, which serves organic, vegan, authentic Ethiopian cuisine located at 778 Higuera. Proprietors Helen and Martha Abraha are actively looking for a new location, and a GoFundMe page was set up to help defray the costs. The business is an unfortunate victim of this move.

“We love Ebony,” Saperstein said. “We know the work they do is so incredibly important to the community, and we’re supporting their efforts to find another great home downtown—that’s our dream. We’ve been resharing their info and trying to connect them to folks who can help them find another great space.”

“It’s so hard to find a new location,” Standish lamented, “but what’s clear is how beloved they are and how energized our community is to help them find their next home.” 

What the move means for SLO

There’s no shortage of downtown SLO haters. People complain about parking, overpriced rents, empty storefronts, homelessness—you name it. Yet, the downtown has always ebbed and flowed. Anyone remember the hole where Downtown Centre now stands? 

There’s no guarantee that SLOMA moving to Higuera will instantly revitalize downtown, but according to the SLO County Arts’ report “Economic Impact of the Arts & Culture Sector in San Luis Obispo County,” the arts pay off. In 2024, SLO Town counted 1.1 million arts and culture-related visitors spending $99 million. The arts also added $6.7 million in transient occupancy tax and $1.5 million in local sales tax.

“There’s been some tension about our downtown,” Standish admitted, “you know, that unfortunate SFGate piece [titled ‘Heartbreaking: Once thriving Calif. downtown is on the brink,’ Oct. 11]. I get that all the change has been hard, but I find our downtown to be delightful. It’s the first place I bring every visitor that comes to visit here.”

Renaissance afoot

Since Standish and Saperstein took over SLOMA, its programing has expanded by leaps and bounds. Its partnership with the city on its public art program is evident everywhere. SLOMA has long been an important part of the fabric of the SLO community, and the future looks even brighter.

“The city’s been an amazing partner,” Standish said. “They really have been incredibly supportive and really, we plug into so many of their major city goals about community and gathering spaces.”

SLOMA is but one element of a cultural renaissance that seems afoot in SLO County, which Saperstein has witnessed firsthand: “I moved to SLO in 2016, and I just feel like what’s happening culturally is so different, like A Satellite of Love, Ebony’s programming, R.A.C.E. Matters, there’s lots of interesting spaces—SLO REP, Festival Mozaic, the Cuesta Miossi Gallery, the Cal Poly Gallery, Left Field, Cruise Control—the list goes on and on. There’re so many community spaces that are contributing such important things, and I just think it’s exciting that we get to be one of those.”

Even though the expansion will triple the size of SLOMA, it will remain a relatively small museum. 

“We’ve always felt like a very small museum,” Saperstein admitted. “And that’s what I’ve always said to artists who I’m so thrilled decided to work with us because our footprint is so small. I think the expansion puts us in conversation with other midsized, small museums, like the Aldrich in Connecticut, the Craft Contemporary in LA—museums that still have an accessibility about them where you can spend an hour and see everything. You’re not overwhelmed.

“We can organize exhibitions that can travel, we can do more community programming, and, of course, this space becoming a community-centered education center will enable more engagement with our K-12 students and allow us to be in dialogue with them more intentionally,” Sapperstein continued.

The new space is scheduled to open in early 2027, and as envisioned by RRM Design Group, it promises to be a community jewel.

“RRM is such a great team,” Standish said. “They donated so much work to us at the beginning before we even knew if we were going to say yes. As a staff, they’ve volunteered and jumped into different parts of the project. It’s really fun how much they love it.”

Lasting legacy 

If you’ve got the big bucks, SLOMA is offering naming opportunities for its new galleries.

“We are making this once-in-a-generation project,” Standish explained. “They’re making generational gifts, so it lines up. Hundreds of years into the future, this will be our community’s art museum. Lots of people can make a difference for us.”

Even if you only have small bucks, every dollar adds up and will be doubled with the Forbes family matching fund.

“We’ve got a big push. It’s gonna get weird when we’re out there with the Salvation Army just getting the last bit of it,” Standish joked. “There’s urgency around this campaign, and there’s some real good things about being urgent. We don’t have the sort of misfortune of having the cost change over decades like SLO REP or the PAC experienced. Because we’re moving so fast, there’s not that kind of shift in our project costs. People are super excited about it, and we’re just running.”

“The museum has such a fabulous base of supporters who have been eager for us to grow,” Saperstein added. “That’s been a goal for such a long time that we have this opportunity. It’s a rare opportunity. We have the right leadership in place to make it happen. I feel like it’s motivating. 

“It’s been a goal for such a long time, and it’s finally coming to fruition.” ∆

Contact Arts Editor Glen Starkey at gstarkey@newtimesslo.com.

This article appears in Dec 18-25, 2025.

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