Founding executive of Community Arts Stabilization Trust steps down

CAST in San Francisco, which has been stabilizing arts organizations throughout the Bay Area with its creative real estate fundraising model, is looking for a new CEO. This is the first time since nearly a decade that they have done so.

Moy Eng, CAST's founding CEO and executive director from 2014 to 2020 Moy Eng announced her resignation this week. She will step down on May 31. The Board of Directors of the group has appointed Owen Levin as director of finance and operations and Carolyn Choy as director of real estate & partnerships to serve in an interim capacity.

CAST (Community Arts Stabilization Trust) uses real estate finance tools to help arts organisations stay in their original neighborhood by securing leases or ownership for long periods of time and resisting the forces that have driven out organizations throughout the Bay Area.

CAST is perhaps best known for its collaboration with the performing arts non profit CounterPulse. CAST bought the non-profit’s three-story headquarters on Turk Street in 2013, and provided a low-cost lease to allow CounterPulse time to raise money and ultimately purchase the building at a price below market value.

Shelley Trott, CAST Board president said in a statement that Moy had exceeded expectations by turning a complex idea into a transformational solution. "Through her visionary and profound knowledge of the local art ecosystem, CAST has stewarded valuable resources with great success."

Brady Forrest, a board member, will be leading the search for the new CEO in the United States beginning this month.

Choy stated in a press release that "this transition requires us to do our best work: to be creative and flexible in the face change and to apply lessons learned from the past to the future." We will continue to listen as we create a new paradigm for real estate, one that allows artists and cultural workers to stay where they work.

Moy, who will be moving to the East Coast in order to be nearer to her family after May 31, will support the next CAST leader as an advisor. Moy plans to continue to pursue her talents as an aspiring poet, singer and songwriter. She will also consult on new projects.

Moy joined CAST in 2014, a year after its founding. CAST, which has grown to 12 employees and raised $50 million for more than 20 arts and community groups in the Bay Area during her tenure, has also increased from two to twelve employees.

Six projects are currently underway in San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose. These six projects represent more than 80,000 sq. ft. of affordable space.

CAST has made its latest investment in the School of Arts and Culture in Mexican Heritage Plaza, San Jose. The group has also been involved in two projects with the non-profit Black Cultural Zone in Oakland: a three floor retail and cultural development in Eastmont Mall, Liberation Park Market Hall, and Cultural Hub.