Intersection for the Arts

Intersection for the Arts
Name	Intersection for the Arts
Formation	1965
Type	Nonprofit
Headquarters	San Francisco, California
Leader title	Executive Director

Intersection for the Arts is a longstanding nonprofit arts organization based in San Francisco, California, founded in 1965. It has operated as a multidisciplinary presenter, incubator, and venue supporting theatre, visual art, author readings, and performance art across the Bay Area. Intersection has collaborated with numerous artists, institutions, and civic entities to produce exhibitions, festivals, residencies, and community-focused programs.

History

Intersection for the Arts was established during the mid-1960s alongside contemporaries such as San Francisco Mime Troupe, Asian American Theater Company, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, and California College of the Arts. Early decades saw partnerships with groups like Poets & Writers and figures connected to movements represented by Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, and institutions such as City Lights Bookstore. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s Intersection engaged with emerging organizations including The Lab, A Traveling Jewish Theatre, Third Rail Projects, and American Conservatory Theater. In the 1990s and 2000s, Intersection navigated San Francisco cultural shifts alongside SFMOMA, SF Jazz, Dance Mission Theater, and Asian Art Museum. Recent decades included collaborations with National Endowment for the Arts, Creative Capital, MAP Fund, and regional entities like San Francisco Arts Commission and Commonwealth Club of California.

Mission and Programs

Intersection's mission aligns with peer organizations such as NEA National Heritage Fellowships, CalArts, Steppenwolf Theatre Company, and The Public Theater in supporting artist development, community access, and innovative presentation. Programs have included artist residencies akin to MacDowell, fellowship initiatives reminiscent of Guggenheim Fellowship support, and commission programs parallel to New Dramatists or La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club. Intersection has presented readings and book launches comparable to events at Penguin Random House, Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, and collaborations with literary institutions like Poetry Foundation and Graywolf Press.

Venue and Facilities

Intersection's venue arrangements have shifted across San Francisco neighborhoods and negotiated space with entities such as San Francisco Arts Commission and property owners connected to Mission District, SoMa, North Beach, and nearby cultural hubs like Cowell Theater and Fort Mason Center. The organization has configured gallery space for exhibit programs similar to Whitechapel Gallery or Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego pop-ups, and black box theaters comparable to AUA Theater and Magic Theatre. Technical facilities accommodate multimedia work of the sort produced for festivals like Fringe Festival, Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, and presentations resembling those at Great American Music Hall.

Notable Artists and Productions

Intersection has presented or incubated work by artists with connections to institutions and names such as Philip Glass, Merce Cunningham, Ruth Asawa, Wesley Willis, Dorothy Tholen, John Baldessari, Chris Burden, Nan Goldin, Toni Morrison, Alice Walker, Junot Díaz, Tayari Jones, Sandra Cisneros, Jhumpa Lahiri, David Henry Hwang, Anna Deavere Smith, Tony Kushner, Sarah Jones, Luis Valdez, Horton Foote, August Wilson, Suzan-Lori Parks, Philip Kan Gotanda, Octavio Solis, Carole King, Elliott Smith, Jon Brion, Karen Finley, Annie Sprinkle, Marina Abramović, Laurie Anderson, Kehinde Wiley, Theaster Gates, Ai Weiwei, JR (artist), Kiki Smith, Yayoi Kusama, Marina Carr, Caryl Churchill, Bertolt Brecht, Samuel Beckett, Pina Bausch, Robert Wilson, Maya Angelou, Allen Toussaint, Ravi Shankar, Yo-Yo Ma, Miranda July, Chris Ware, Eileen Myles, Tracy K. Smith, Louise Erdrich, Michael Ondaatje, Patti Smith, Ira Glass, Garrison Keillor, and David Sedaris. Productions have ranged from premieres and staged readings to interdisciplinary showcases that later toured to festivals like Edinburgh Festival Fringe and venues such as Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall.

Community Engagement and Education

Intersection has engaged neighborhoods and partners similar to SFUSD, Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts, Bayview Opera House, Jewish Community Center of San Francisco, GLSEN, SF LGBT Center, Asian Pacific Islander Cultural Center, La Raza Community Resource Center, and Civic Center organizers. Educational initiatives have paralleled programs at City College of San Francisco, San Francisco State University, University of California, Berkeley, and youth arts curricula used by Americans for the Arts and Young Audiences Arts for Learning. Workshops, youth residencies, and community dialogues have involved collaborators such as SEIU Local 1021 advocacy events and neighborhood groups including Precita Eyes and Mission Cultural Center.

Funding and Governance

Intersection's fiscal model has included foundation support from organizations resembling The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, The Ford Foundation, Gavin Foundation, James Irvine Foundation, William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, Sandler Foundation, Walter and Elise Haas Fund, and government grants from National Endowment for the Arts and California Arts Council. Corporate partnerships have mirrored relationships with entities like Bank of America, Wells Fargo, AT&T, Google Arts & Culture, and KQED. Governance has typically involved a board of directors with expertise similar to trustees from San Francisco Foundation, Kaiser Permanente, PG&E Corporation, and rotating advisory councils drawn from local universities Stanford University, University of California, San Francisco, and University of San Francisco.

Reception and Impact

Critical response to Intersection’s programs has appeared in outlets comparable to The New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, The Guardian, Los Angeles Times, Artforum, Art in America, The Paris Review, The Atlantic, New Yorker, and NPR. Impact assessments align with cultural development reports like those from Americans for the Arts and regional analyses by San Francisco Planning Department and Mayor's Office of Cultural Affairs. Intersection’s legacy is cited in discussions of cultural ecosystems alongside Mission District revitalization, SoMa arts planning, and the broader history of Bay Area art movements represented by Beat Generation and Counterculture figures.

Category:Arts organizations based in San Francisco Category:Nonprofit organizations based in California