Corgi Cafe is opening its second location at 2146 3rd St — and we're handing the interior to local artists. Up to a $1,000 stipend plus a $1,000 materials budget each. Your work featured in a 24-hour cafe, credited, for at least a year.
Applications close July 22 · Rolling acceptance & space tours before the 24th
Corgi Cafe started with a mural. Sam painted the street outside our first 24/7 cafe in the Financial District, and it changed what the space felt like — less like a company amenity, more like somewhere that belonged to the neighborhood. So for Dogpatch, we're going further: the whole interior gets shaped by local artists.
We believe a great cafe isn't decorated — it's made. Made by the people who work in it, hang out in it, and live around it. Walls, sculpture, textiles, lighting, prints, video, whatever you work in. We pick artists whose style we already love and let them run with it.
And we think artists deserve better than the usual deal. Not exposure — payment, materials, studio space, and a venue that doesn't take your work down after two weeks.
Paid work, covered materials, free studio space, and your name and portfolio QR code next to everything you make. If more cafes follow — and more are planned across SF — you're first in line.
The cafe runs 24 hours and hosts constant Corgi events. Your work sits in front of a real, continuous stream of people instead of a two-week show that disappears.
We want Dogpatch to walk in and feel that this place was built with care, by hands from the neighborhood. That's the whole point.
Five artists, selected for their style and given room to run. Here's what each artist gets:
Paid for your time and work during the residency week, based on the project and your experience.
Covered up front. Need more for a bigger idea? More is available by request — pitch it and we'll figure it out.
Free workspace at 680 Illinois, an empty space near the cafe that's yours to make things in during the residency.
Your work lives in the cafe with your name, contact info, and a QR code to your portfolio — seen around the clock.
The budget covers artwork — furniture and buildout are handled by the Corgi team. The loose creative direction is orange and/or corgi, building off the first cafe's mural. Past that, it's yours.
This is a sprint, on purpose. Apply, jam on ideas together over a weekend, then a week of making — capped with an open house that doubles as the gallery opening for the new cafe.
Tell us what you'd want to make and roughly what you'd need — time, materials, space. Deadline is July 22.
We review as applications come in and give accepted artists tours of the space so ideas can start forming early.
Meet the crew, introduction of goals, and a first look at the direction together.
Brainstorming, mood boards, teamwork, idea exploration. Figure out what the space wants to be.
By 3pm — proposals and materials budgets submitted.
By 6pm — presentations and final approvals. Then we order materials, fast.
Full access to the space and studio. Get materials, shop, iterate, solve weird challenges. We're around to help unblock whatever comes up.
Friday the 31st from 6pm until late, then all day Saturday. Install, finish, polish.
A big party and gallery showing for the new space — with the Corgi team, co-founders Nico & Emily, friends, and the neighborhood. Your work, unveiled.
2146 3rd St, Dogpatch. A two-story spot with a street-level entry room and display wall, plus a moody basement with a bar, lounge, and courtyard. Blank walls, display shelving, TVs, and lighting infrastructure already in place — a lot of surfaces waiting for work.
Your studio during the residency is 680 Illinois, a 3,000 sqft empty space nearby. It'll become a cafe eventually; for now, it's yours to work in.
Want to see it before you apply? We're happy to set up a walkthrough — just say so in your application.
The loose direction is orange and/or corgi, building off the mural at the first cafe. Trudy, the company dog, is a recurring muse. San Francisco appreciation art is welcome. Past that — walls, sculpture, textiles, animation, prints, lighting, video, airbrush, whatever you work in — it's yours.
Five spots. One week. A cafe that will carry your work for a year or more.