Celebrating the
Art of Performance
Museum of Performance + Design
Mission Statement
Our Mission is to keep the unfolding history of the performing arts in the San Francisco Bay Area alive.
Through collecting, preserving, and providing access to performance and theater design materials, we celebrate artists' legacies, supporting learning and creativity. Together with our community, we foster mutual support, promoting the arts and nurturing our vibrant cultural ecosystem.
Come visit MP+D for our Open House!
See our new boutique exhibition Preserving More Bay Area Dance Legacies and talk to our Archivist.
The Open House is free and open to the public, Saturday, November 2 from 1-5.
New Onsite and Online Exhibition: Preserving More Bay Area Dance Legacies (2024)
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Exhibitions & Tours
Our temporary museum is located between Potrero Hill and Bernal Heights. Onsite, we have a small exhibit showcasing a highlight of our 75 years of collecting.
Reservations for onsite visits strongly recommended. To make a reservation or to schedule an appointment for research, please email or call.
MP+D’s online resources which include 4,300 photographs, audiovisual recordings, and printed memorabilia from our collection remain available 24/7.
To access these resources, click here.
Onsite
Preserving More Bay Area Dance Legacies (2024)
Group tours of the archive
On-going Starting at $7.50/per person, 5 persons min.
Exhibitions for loan
In Character: Actors Acting Maestro!
Photographic Portraits by Tom Zimberoff
Stars of the Early San Francisco Stage
News and Events
Support
MP + D
Donations help sustain the ongoing programs of the Museum of Performance + Design. Founded in 1947, the Museum preserves and makes available some of our nation's most important historical and original materials on the performing arts. It maintains a research archive and public exhibitions and programs onsite and online. This important work is only possible through the continued support of generous donors like you.
“This museum is a repository — the heart, soul, and record of San Francisco’s performing arts community... It inspires an important understanding of what takes place onstage, what takes place in the hearts and intentions of the audience. And they take something away from those performances, imagining something even more wonderful.”
Michael Tilson Thomas,
2019 San Francisco Arts Medallion Honoree
Founded in
1947
Founded in 1947 by Russell Hartley (1926 - 1983), a dancer and designer with San Francisco Ballet, the Museum of Performance + Design was incorporated and established as a charitable organization in 1976.
Seventy-five years of collecting has made MP+D a prominent living record of the history of the performing arts in the Bay Area and beyond. It aims to share artistic and humanistic values through a dynamic stewardship of its 3.5M-item collection and an innovative approach to public humanities.