It was primarily founded to keep the musicians of the San Francisco Symphony employed during Great Depression in the United States by funding low-cost concerts.

[2] They were early funders for local programs like the San Francisco Blues Festival and Precita Eyes Mural Center.

Intern John Kreidler, who would later head the philanthropic San Francisco Foundation, suggested using federal grants from the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act, or CETA.

[5] Its public art program is provided by the commission, with pieces of varying styles and mediums and is mostly funded with a portion of the construction costs for its terminals.

The main gallery, entitled "Capricorn Asunder", was founded in 1970 by visual arts director Elio Benvenuto at 155 Grove Street.

The Arts Enrichment Ordinance allocates two percent of those construction costs towards the acquisition of graphics, murals, and sculpture for public buildings and spaces.

[citation needed] The Board of Supervisors approved an ordinance requiring 30% of public artwork in the city depicting historical figures be women in October 2018, with a work honoring poet and civil rights activist Maya Angelou planned to be erected outside the San Francisco Public Library's main branch by the end of 2020.

[17][18] In October 2019, Supervisor Catherine Stefani, one of the project sponsors, called for the commission to restart the selection process with clearer criteria for a monument that aligned with her legislative intent, which preferred a more figurative representation.

In describing her justification for this decision, Stefani said, according to the San Francisco Examiner: “As I carried the legislation across the finish line to elevate women in monuments, I wanted to do it in the same way that men have been historically elevated in this city.”[17][15] Thomas contested Stefani's statement, claiming that a more figurative, traditional design did not align with the design brief applicants were given, in which the word "statue is crossed out and artwork is replaced."

She furthered critiqued the assertion for a "conservative, traditional statue in the manner of European figurative traditional monuments that confederate and colonial monuments are based on" in "San Francisco, that’s known for its progressive politics.”[19] She has also criticized the commission's transparency when they failed to answer her questions and information requests via the city's freedom of information laws.

The commissioners then voted to pause the second call for proposals prior to the announcement of the new finalists to engage "stakeholders in a meaningful way".