A Community Update

Dear CounterPulse community—artists, partners, and friends,

For 35 years, CounterPulse has been a home for experimentation, care, and bold creative work. That legacy exists because of you—because of the artists who have trusted us with their work, the partners who have collaborated with us, and the supporters who have believed in this space and its mission. As we look toward what comes next, we wanted to share a candid update about where things stand and how we’re preparing for the future.

Following last year’s layoffs, we heard from many of you—at town halls, through conversations, and in a letter signed by over 100 community members—sharing concerns, questions, criticism, empathy and solidarity. We are deeply grateful for the broad community engagement and care for CounterPulse. Rebuilding trust and shared understanding is essential to any path forward. We hope this letter is one step in that process.

A Thoughtful Pause, Not a Closing

You may have noticed that things have been quieter than usual. We want to be very clear and reassuring: CounterPulse is not closing. We are however pausing on hosting performances and public events for (at least) four months, from early March until the end of June. This deliberate, intentional pause is rooted in care for the organization and the community it serves.

Together, the board and community are using this period to protect CounterPulse’s 35-year legacy. By focusing on necessary facility Maintenence and stabilizing our operational foundation now, we are ensuring that when programming returns to full scale, it does so within a sustainable framework that truly honors the vital work our artists bring into the world.

Moving Forward Sustainably

We’re also taking a careful, values-aligned approach to our programming commitments:

• We continue to support our House Artists, and our February co-production with SF Youth Theatre is moving forward as planned.
• All of our other Spring 2026 co-productions and performance events have found other venues, which is a primary factor enabling CounterPulse to pause presenting and producing performance for a few months. 
• The ARC Performing Diaspora (ARCPD) and Combustible residencies are currently under active review. We do not want to move forward with these key programs until we are confident that we can provide these artists with consistent support and resources. We are exploring a timeline that would push the ARCPD timeline towards the summer with productions in the Fall. The artists who recently applied for 2026 ARCPD residencies will be prioritized when we resume. 
• The weekly TenderArts sidewalk drumming circle at The Healing Well is also continuing.  
• We are moving forward with the recruitment of an Interim Managing Director to provide dedicated leadership and operational oversight during this transition.
• We remain committed to our union bargaining obligation and are working towards identifying a bargaining representative. In the meantime, we have engaged with consultants from Beyond Neutrality who specialize in labor-management relations to help us develop a framework for a productive and collaborative future with our staff as part of our commitment to the bargaining process. These efforts, supported by insights from our community thought partners and stakeholders, will be a primary focus during this pause in public programming. We also intend to hold a town hall in March to facilitate a conversation open to all stakeholders.
• Across the board, we’re looking at our capacity with a long view—choosing sustainability and care over overextension.

This work isn’t always visible, but it’s essential. We’re doing it now so CounterPulse can remain a functional, resilient, and inspiring home for experimental performance well into the future.

Thank you for your patience, your trust, and your continued belief in this space. We can’t wait to welcome you back into a revitalized CounterPulse—and into the next chapter of this shared story. If you have questions in the meantime, please reach out to us: leadership@counterpulse.org. 

With gratitude,
CounterPulse Board of Directors 

Victor Cordon, Abra Allan, Keith Hennessey, Lisa Beyer, Diana Murphy, Carlo Abruzzese, Seth Meisler