SAN FRANCISCO—San Francisco’s Roselyne “Cissie” Swig, 86, was honored with the National Arts Award on Monday, October 17, for her philanthropic contributions to the arts community. She received the award in New York City, amongst a number of other notable recipients like, Tony Bennet, Esperanza Spalding and Ted Arison.
Swig has been a well-known name in the arts community for 50 years. In 1966, Swig was invited to be part of a group known then as “the Women’s Board” at the San Francisco Art Institute. She continued to support many artists and organizations and soon founded her own company, Roselyne C. Swig Artsource, “for the purpose of bringing artists and collectors together,” the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
She worked to bridge the gap between clients and artists by hosting “brown bag lunches” at an office space in the Financial District on Belden Street. Swig wanted to be an advocate for artists by presenting them as being “human,” while also helping clients to discover new art as a facilitator.
Swig told the San Francisco Chronicle during an in-home interview, “I’m very focused on encouraging individuals to recognize that the arts play a role in their business life and their personal life. I feel very strongly about it.”
While her company—Artsource—is still of high interest of her, she has since sold the company to her assistants upon being named director of Art in the Embassies Program in 1992 by President Bill Clinton.
Swig continues to work with the Bayview Alliance to improve different quadrants in the city through education – in 2013, she studied at Harvard University with the ambition of partnering with Bayview Alliance and collaborating with other faculty members to put the Alliance back in action.
She currently resides in her art filled home overlooking the San Francisco Bay.
