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1960: Jack Hume, president of the board of what was then called the San Francisco Museum of Art, proposes a contemporary art collecting society that “would draw a number of men into a specific interest in the museum and directly benefit the museum.”

1961: The Society for the Encouragement of Contemporary Art, with 75 male members, is formally founded. Its mission is to “seek out promising young artists, jury an exhibition and encourage members of the community to collect the work of emerging artists.”

1965: Women are admitted to membership in SECA.

1967: The first SECA Grant Award is presented to sculptor Mel Henderson.

1970: The first SECA Vernal Equinox Special Award to recognize conceptual and experimental projects is presented to Bonnie Ora Sherk and Howard Levine. The program is suspended after 1972.

1973: SECA Film as Art Awards, revived occasionally until 1998, begin.

1980: Special awards for photography, video, electronic media and design are instituted sporadically over the years until 2001.

1988: What had been (with only one exception) an annual award schedule becomes biennial.

1994: Controversial transfer of formal authority for SECA Award selections from SECA membership to SFMOMA curators.

2012: Final SECA award before five-year suspension during major construction.

2017: SECA Art Award reinstituted. Awardees are Liam Everett, Alicia McCarthy, Sean McFarland, K.R.M. Mooney and Lindsey White.