Alum Artist Truong Tran Hates What Silicon Valley is Doing to San Francisco

FUSION -- The boom of Silicon Valley and influx of tech workers has made it hard for artists to afford housing and to find gallery space or studio space to create their work, he says. And when the artists go, so does the culture. Tran posed the question: “What happens to a city when the people who really grew up, and work, and give back to the city can’t afford to live there anymore?” Tran, a native of the South Bay, moved to SF during grad school at San Francisco State. “I didn’t move here to be an artist,” says Tran. Instead, he says that as a homosexual man of color, he moved to San Francisco 25 years ago looking for something he believes the majority of tech workers aren’t looking for: “I came here to find community.” And his art has served as a way to both, give back and engage with this community.