Renowned Bay Area writer Dave Eggers is opening a huge new art and education space, Art + Water, this fall at Pier 29 — aimed at keeping artists in SF. The space will also include galleries and a sprawling cafe with an Old World, art salon aesthetic, meant to spark revolutionary ideas.

Art + Water, a new 100,000-square-foot arts space planned for Pier 29 by beloved local writer Dave Eggers and esteemed Bay Area artist and educator JD Beltran, is built around a tuition-free apprenticeship model aimed at keeping artists in San Francisco. As the New York Times reports, Eggers wants to make art accessible again.

“Economically accessible, demystifying, and welcoming — like, ‘Here, this is how we do this. You can do it, too,’” he said.

In a recent McSweeney’s post, Eggers said Art + Water is designed as a working studio-school hybrid, with free studio access, daily instruction from practicing artists, and shared workspaces that encourage mentorship.

The program will host 30 local artists at a time, including 10 established artists and 20 emerging artists selected through an application process. All participants will receive free studio space for a year, with the established artists mentoring the newer cohort in a hands-on, atelier-style setup that emphasizes technique and day-to-day collaboration.

The Times reports that plans for the building also include a large exhibition hall curated by René de Guzman, with the first show centered on filmmaker and musician Boots Riley, along with regular talks, classes, family programming, and retail pop-ups.

Organizers say the space is intended to double as a gallery hub for artists and groups priced out of traditional venues, with participating artists including Paul Madonna and Taraneh Hemani.

As Eater reported in October, Art + Water will include a sprawling cafe, overseen by local Yemeni coffee pioneer Mokhtar Alkhanshali. The cafe, which will reportedly take up a large portion of Art + Water’s space, will also host events and exhibitions. Alkhanshali said he’s envisioning an 18th or 19th century aesthetic, reminiscent of salon-style cafes in cities like Sana’a, Cairo, or old Boston, where cafes were hubs for revolution.

“[Eggers] noticed there was no coffee in that entire area,” Alkhanshali said. “He could have had 1,000 people open a cafe there. But what he wants to build, it’s going to be its own world.”

The cafe will also be home to Alkhanshali's new luxury coffee brand, which he said will be the first of its kind. Food will also be included on the cafe’s menu, along with drink pairings reminiscent of high tea or omakase-style service, per Eater.

“This was like Willy Wonka showing you the plans to the factory before you built it,” Alhanshali said.

Eggers said he first noticed the vacant Pier 29 warehouse while biking along the Embarcadero in 2022. Originally built around 1915, the structure was damaged in a 2012 fire and rebuilt the following year for the America’s Cup, but has largely sat underused since, serving mostly as a parking garage, according to the Times.

The project comes as San Francisco’s traditional art school pipeline continues to shrink with San Francisco Art Institute closing in 2022, and California College of the Arts set to shut down next year, its campus slated to be taken over by Vanderbilt University.

In his McSweeney's post, Eggers points to skyrocketing tuition — often exceeding $100,000 a year — along with programs focused more on theory than hands-on skills. He says this has priced out many aspiring artists and left graduates with heavy debt while offering limited practical training.

Drawing on his own experience as a painter, Eggers designed Art + Water to prioritize direct, hands-on learning with basic tools and shared studio space, aiming to make art education “accessible on every level.”

Art + Water is leasing Pier 29 through Community Arts Stabilization Trust, which develops and manages affordable space for artists and has backed similar projects, including the Warfield Commons on SF’s Mid-Market. While final terms are still being worked out, the nonprofit expects to pay roughly 10 cents per square foot — far below the typical industrial rate of about $2 — with the building split between Art + Water’s programming and CAST’s own cultural uses, per the Times.

The project will also rely on donations and has reportedly not yet secured the full seven-figure funding needed to build out and run the space, though organizers say commitments are in place. Some revenue is expected through on-site programming and retail-style components, similar to one of Eggers's other projects, including 826 Valencia.

According to the Times, the two-year lease was arranged with the Port of San Francisco, which connected the groups as part of its broader push to activate underused waterfront space. Officials say the project aligns with the city’s current focus on revitalization efforts backed by Mayor Daniel Lurie with the aim of “bringing new activity and energy to our historic piers.”

Related: Mid-Market Arts and Media Hub Warfield Commons Officially Opens Its Doors

Image: Art + Water/Instagram