YAX & Leap Are Joining Forces
Youth Art Exchange (YAX) and Leap Arts are excited to share that we are coming together as one organization, strengthening our collective ability to provide transformative arts education for young people and communities across the Bay Area.
As part of this integration, Youth Art Exchange will assume leadership of Leap Arts, bringing together our programs, teaching artists, staff, and community partnerships into a single, unified organization.Together, we’ll build on the unique strengths and histories of both organizations while honoring Leap’s longstanding mission and legacy.
For our Sandcastle sponsors, teams, and partners, this means even greater impact. Youth Art Exchange has a long-standing youth architecture program and is excited to join forces on this event. By combining resources, expertise, and relationships, we’ll be better positioned to support the creativity, collaboration, and community spirit that make Sandcastle so special. You’ll continue working with a dedicated team committed to delivering exceptional arts experiences while expanding opportunities for students across the region.
Raffaella Falchi Macias, Executive Director of Youth Art Exchange, will lead the combined organization, ensuring a thoughtful and seamless transition for schools, students, educators, funders, and community partners.
Thank you for being part of the Sandcastle and Leap community and for your continued partnership in inspiring the next generation of artists, leaders, and changemakers. Together, we’re building an even stronger foundation for the future.
About Leap Arts in Education:
Leap was established in 1979 in response to severe budget cuts in arts programs in California schools. These cuts continue to affect arts education in our schools today, and the need for high-quality arts programs is now greater than ever. Leap’s programs place professional teaching artists in classrooms to work with grades K-5. Every year, these educational programs—in music, dance, theatre, creative writing, visual arts, and architecture—serve over 8,000 students in more than 30 elementary schools throughout the Bay Area.
Learn more about Leap at www.leaparts.org
About Youth Art Exchange
Youth Art Exchange (YAX) is a San Francisco–based community arts organization and creative hub with two locations serving youth, artists, and neighbors across the city.
For more than 20 years, YAX has centered free, high-quality arts programming for public high school students, supporting youth as artists, leaders, and thinkers. Today, we have grown into a center-based organization — expanding access to the arts through shared creative spaces that welcome people of all ages while keeping youth leadership at the heart of everything we do.
We believe the arts are essential to personal expression, community connection, and collective well-being. At YAX, creativity is not a luxury — it is a public good.
Learn more about YAX at www.youthartexchange.org
Our goal is to raise $300,000 from this year’s Sandcastle Classic to help provide high-quality arts education programs.
Your participation will make a meaningful difference
in the lives of Bay Area students! Join us by becoming a Sandcastle Classic team or Event Sponsor today!
Through our extended arts residencies, children build skills that are conducive to success in 21st-century skills:
- Creativity, entrepreneurialism and inventiveness
- Critical thinking and cognitive skills
- Ability to set goals, experiment, solve problems and learn from mistakes
- Acceptance of diversity and differing viewpoints
- Ability to work collaboratively
About the Sandcastle Classic:
2026 marks the 44th annual Sandcastle Classic, the biggest sandcastle competition in Northern California.
Teams typically comprised of architects, engineers, contractors, designers, corporations, and local elementary school students work together to build giant sand sculptures. The funds raised by teams and sponsors make it possible for us to continue to provide arts programs to Bay Area students.
- Thousands of people come out to Ocean Beach for Leap’s annual Sandcastle Classic, which is free to the public to attend.
- The event is covered by regional print and online media, and celebrity judges evaluate the final sand sculptures.
- More than 25 local schools and 500 donating companies and advertisers participate.
- The highest grossing team in the event’s history raised $60,000.
- This year, we’re accepting a maximum of 30 teams. Sign up early to reserve your spot!
Past Sandcastle Classic Themes:
2025 – Level Up!
2024 – Out of this World
2023 – Halloween Haunts
2022 – Sandcastle: Remix
2021 – Onward and Upward!
2020– Rebuilding Together (Virtual)
2019– Let’s Play!
2018 – Building Bridges
2017 – Castles, Castles, Castles!
2016 – Makers & Movers
2015 – Sand Cinema
2014 – Food, Glorious Food
2013 – Masterpieces in Sand
2012 – Leap Year (Things That Jump!)
2011 – Sandblast
2010 – ‘Sand’ Francisco
2009 – Stories in the Sand: Classic Children’s Books
2008 – Freestyle
2007 – Nature Rocks
2006 – Leap Around the World
2005 – Comic Book Adventures
2004 – A Race to the Finish
2003 – Extreme Sandsculptures
2002 – Westward Ho!
2001 – A Sand Odyssey
2000 – Sandcastles from the 1st to the 21st Century
1999 – Animals
1998 – Bridges
1997 – Education
1984 – 1996 – Leap Sandcastle Classic
1983 – The FIRST Leap Sandcastle Classic!
Take a look at photos from past Sandcastle Classics here.
Leap Sandcastle Committee 2026:
Andy Pippin, LPA Design Studios
Andy is an Educational Facilities Planner with LPA Design Studios. She was first introduced to Leap and the Sandcastle Classic in 2015. By 2016, she co-founded the team led by LPA and Novo Construction now known as Jefferson Pirateship. Andy’s favorite aspect of the Sandcastle Classic is engaging with the students in the classroom before build-day and setting the foundation of the team castle. Andy was thrilled to have been invited to sit on the Sandcastle Classic Planning Committee. She looks forward to digging in deeper to all-things Sandcastle, and to help strengthen the event to ensure everyone has a great day at the beach and to continue to build support for Leap.
Christina Rosenberger, Rider Levett Bucknall
Jacqueline Haudek Marquez, Leap
Jacqueline Jimenez – Owner of Truly Loved Events
Julie Hagelshaw, IMEG Corp.
Kenta Kamei, Smithgroup
Natalie Raya, Garland Co.
Natalie Raya is a Bay Area native and San Francisco resident working as an Architectural Sales Manager for The Garland Company. Garland is a full service manufacturer, delivering high performance roofing and building envelope waterproofing solutions to our clients across the US, Canada and the UK. Natalie’s daughter was raised attending Bay Area public schools, and she realizes the positive impact that programs like Leap Arts In Education have on our children’s academic achievements. She is honored to be a member of the 2024 Leap Sandcastle committee.
Ryan Lee, Woods Bagot
Ryan’s first introduction to Leap came in 1997 as a 5th grader attending Claire Lilienthal Elementary in San Francisco and participating in Leap’s annual Sandcastle Classic, where his team constructed a giant brain linked to a computer – the theme being “Education!” He’s since participated multiple times in Sandcastles and considers the classroom workshops the highlight of the multifaceted event season. Ryan received his Bachelor of Architecture from California College of the Arts and is currently employed at Woods Bagot – a global design and consulting studio. As someone who was interested early on in design, Ryan’s path to his career in architecture not only included participation with Leap but with the Architectural Foundation of San Francisco as well, another local educational nonprofit serving students of multiple backgrounds. As a board member with both organizations, he relishes in the ability to come full circle and serve students in the same creative community that he was raised in, hoping to inspire others to pursue their passions.