The Bay Area Glass Institute (BAGI) was founded in 1996 to fulfill three main goals: 

• To educate the public about glass art.
• To provide an affordable studio for emerging and established glass artists to pursue their artistic endeavors.
• To provide events that bring the public and artists in contact to encourage the exchange of ideas and the collecting of original artwork.

We educate the public by hosting glass art exhibits, teaching classes and inviting the public to an operational glass studio. All of these activities are designed to generate excitement about glass art, provide an opportunity for us to describe glass-forming techniques and answer questions, and to allow the public to meet glass artists. 

We offer studio rental time, giving artists a place to practice their craft. We also help emerging artists by providing them assistance in showing their work at BAGI, being a part of BAGI's public demonstrations such as the Third Thursday program, and by inviting them to participate in BAGI’s large-scale exhibitions such as the Great Glass Pumpkin Patch®, the Great Glass Auction and the Winter Wonderland.