The Founders: Patience and John Yi
In conversation series at Code and Canvas by Jean-Philippe Defaut

“Things are moving at Code and Canvas [CC]. After a great start in 2014, a slower period appeared during 2017 causing a rethink. As well as balancing work, family and other commitments, Patience Yi [PY] and John Yi [JY]make an interesting tag team when it comes to running a shared community arts space in The Mission District of San Francisco. A strong vision to bridge the creative/art communities with the tech industry, it’s a tall order in an environment where the friction between the two is still an issue. As someone who has been part of many creative communities from London to Paris, NYC to San Francisco, I’ve noticed a pattern of issues that are always present in such creative environments. This one however is different. It’s not run by a greedy landlord. Sure there is a property owner with vested interests in the building’s future, even if they’re reluctant to invest in developing basic facilities for their tenants. But the paint factory [landlord owned] that used to occupy most of the red brick industrial structure situated on the corner of 15th and Potrero has now been relegated to the rear of the building, leasing out part of the main space to CC [who initially stepped in to save a long standing creative community] and the rest of the building, more than half, has been vacant for some time. Unthinkable in San Francisco 2018! With renewed vision, energy and a steady growing team, PY is at the helm of this project, skippering as if hers and the lives of many others depends on it’s success. Once you’re on board, you need to hang on and pay attention, this ship is sailing fast through unchartered waters, windward facing to get it to destination.” Jean-Philippe Defaut

Patience Yi: “I started an artist in residency program at CC in 2015, but my previous job took up too much time and I had to shelve it for a while. It felt like a big fail. After talking with JY, it was clear that I had to give something up. I then had 14 life changing events happen all at once: from illness, family issues, complex professional situations to kids going to hospital. You name it, it happened! So I took some time out. Slowly I got active again, devoted myself to civic engagements and started to get active politically. I wanted to keep home separate and needed a community so I started working from CC. While I was here, I noticed little things that needed improving to make the whole experience more enjoyable so I began making improvements: Started a Happy Hour, painted the kitchen, refreshed bathrooms, accessorized all the common areas even converted to a non profit. As my investment grew, things really started to come alive: the community started to come forward to help. And then it hit me: I could revisit the Artist residency. I’d forgotten about the things that I’d started. Then it really snowballed. I created more events for the community. That led to talking to external organizations to advise on how to get funding for a greater project that would utilize all the on site available space.

Blending art and technology We have such great resources here in SF. It’s not the engineers that hold us back, it’s the system. We are trying to get people to come together and heal our city and re-village our community. People are afraid to critique art as they don’t want to upset the community. In tech, it’s ok to fail, start over, fail again and start over… In the art world, there’s not that freedom. It’s hard enough to survive as an artist anywhere, but to survive as an artist here in SF and to push your limits?! Art is a community that has bonded around struggle. I want the tech world to come in and get involved whilst benefitting itself. Both communities have their own issues: one has all the resources but no community, the other has community and less financial resources. How can we bridge this gap? We have the space here to make it happen. We want to bring in different arts organizations and we are open to many creative options from a restaurant or cafe to theatre / auditorium, film and photo production studio, art gallery etc… Since we are an anchor tenant, we have the backing of our landlord. Partnerships are on the horizon, namely with the city and a few selected art organizations with the aim to converting the building to historic status. That said, the community exists now, we have a solid plan and all the right people. So we are not just dependent on the building. Recently we have also broken even again and a lot of the programs we are about to launch will bring in money. Even though I can’t pay anybody yet, we are not far off being sustainable. We are still limited with the events we can host, so we have to be creative with what we can do to generate revenue. It’s important to note that the building improvement investment is a separate fund raising effort, that will be generated through fund raising. All that depends on the negotiations with the landlord and partners based on either acquisition or signing a long lease.
“It would be so easy for me to go back and get a job with a secure salary.” PY

Culture It’s rare that people get to work in a space and see the impact they have on a community every day. Watching people’s joy is hugely rewarding. It’s the light at the end of the tunnel that pushes me forwards. It’s really hard work and there are a lot of moving parts. It would be so easy for me to go back and get a job with a secure salary. Sometimes when I think about that, I remember how it was and think: No way! Being here, in the space, with these creative people has made me realize I have a creative streak too and not many people get this opportunity. It happened accidentally when JY started CC, then I got involved. But the opportunity is here, it’s now and it would feel like such a miss to not follow it through until I’ve exhausted all my options to make it work. We have everything to make it work, I can’t think of another situation where the dots don’t align this good. Running it from the side of our desk as we were for a while had too many limitations. I know what I don’t like, I’m not interested in the day to day running of the place, it’s not my strength, but I have to know what’s required to run this place. We had no processes in place when I got here. I had so much to figure out what it takes for this type of space to function. On top of which you have the personalities to deal with so it was a steep learning curve. There are so many things that could be done better and I’m doing most of them at 5%, but the community is slowly taking on tasks and committing to the project.
I’ve always enjoyed creating something new and solving problems. With this type of project, this is more meaningful, there’s more longevity to this type of work. We’ve all lost our villages. I’m trying to focus on re-villaging for people that have no support system. Nutrition, exercise, sleep and community. They’re all as important as each other. I’m trying to find different ways to develop the community. We all need it. You need the resources to pay for the community you don’t have, that’s why money doesn’t always equal happiness. Working to pay someone to look after your kids all the time is not a healthy way to live.” Patience Yi
After spending many months at Code and Canvas, one thing that has gently emerged, is the influence on the community: The fact that every time you walk in, you don’t know what you’ll find, who you’re going to meet and what people are up to is inspiring. Additionally I share a space at CC with someone who comes irregularly and makes a point of reminding me that she prefers when people [myself included]are here because it’s a shared space in more ways than one. Put two or more people under one roof and creativity can become infectious. Watch this space.
Words and images by Jean-Philippe Defaut, Storyteller and Creative Director.
“In Conversation at Code and Canvas” is a weekly profile series focussing on the growing community that celebrates the essence of creativity and technology. hello@codeandcanvas.org
