The 2026 Left Coast Annual Exhibition is coming back to San Francisco, and before we get into the details, let's ask the question nobody in City Hall seems to want to answer: how much public money is going into this?

Look, we're not anti-art. Far from it. San Francisco's cultural scene is one of the genuinely great things about living here, and events like the Left Coast Annual Exhibition can bring real energy — and real dollars — to local businesses that desperately need foot traffic. A thriving arts scene is part of what makes a city worth living in.

But San Francisco has a well-documented habit of throwing public funds at events and cultural programming with zero accountability for outcomes. We've seen it with countless festivals and civic initiatives that promise economic impact and community enrichment, then quietly deliver neither — while the invoices pile up in some department's filing cabinet.

So here's what we'd like to know: What's the budget? How much comes from private sponsors versus taxpayer dollars? What's the expected attendance, and how does the city measure whether the investment was worth it? These aren't hostile questions. They're the bare minimum any fiscally literate person should be asking.

The broader issue is that San Francisco treats cultural spending as beyond scrutiny — as if questioning the price tag means you're against creativity itself. That's nonsense. You can love art and also love transparency. You can support exhibitions and also demand that the city stop writing blank checks.

If the Left Coast Annual Exhibition is largely privately funded and brings genuine value to the community, fantastic. We'll be the first to celebrate it. But if it's another line item buried in a bloated city budget with no clear ROI, then it's fair game for criticism — just like everything else.

We'll be watching. Enjoy the art.