Our History
1965 - 2023
1965
“Intersection” was founded in the Tenderloin by an interfaith coalition of three churches in a former bar at 150 Ellis Street.
“Intersection” began as a merger of several faith-based experiments using art to reach underserved youth. Three church groups, sponsored by the Glide Foundation, organized artists who were conscientious objectors to the Vietnam War to teach art to youth in the Tenderloin. The organization quickly became an epicenter of new music, theater, comedy, and other arts in the Bay Area in the 1960s.
1966
We moved into our first home: the old church at 756 Union Street in North Beach.
Robert Johnson, Intersection Director, 1966-69:
“Intersection had just taken over St. John’s Methodist Church at 756 Union in North Beach. It had been an active church, but the attendance was so bad they closed it. The Methodist Church said Intersection could have it for a dollar a year. I took the pews out and got seats from the old Surf Theater. We turned the lower-level social hall into a coffeehouse. We had art exhibits there. We built a light-projection booth for Canyon Cinema. In the sanctuary, they showed experimental films—short, personal films by artists like Bruce Conner. There were poetry readings: Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Michael McClure, Kenneth Rexroth, and Josephine Miles. We had wonderful plays like “Slow Dance on the Killing Ground.” There were so many programs going on simultaneously.”
Our Poetry Series
Intersection’s poetry series began in 1966 and was the longest continual reading series in California outside academic institutions. The longevity of the series attracted several high-profile writers. Still, it remained dedicated to regularly showcasing the work of emerging and local writers in the San Francisco Bay Area. The series featured poets like Gregory Corso, William S. Burroughs, Gary Snyder, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Ishmael Reed, Margaret Atwood, and Audre Lorde.
1967
Ntozake Shange, playwright and poet:
“I read there a lot in the late 70s. We had something called the Bay Area Poets Coalition, and we had a symbiotic relationship with Intersection. One weekend, we had 24 hours of poetry all over the city—in Laundromats, grocery stores, on cable cars, and street corners. It culminated with a reading at Intersection Sunday night. The weekend was wonderful, an enormous amount of fun, and it reflected what we believed in—that poetry should be an active part of people’s lives.” Photo Description: Photo of poet Ntozake Shange by Barnard College; digitally restored by Chris Woodrich.
1977
Ishmael Reed, poet:
“In the late 70s, a lot of talent emerged at Intersection that later became part of the establishment. Intersection was on the cutting edge. They were open to people from different backgrounds. Merging multicultural alliances were forming. Things were really jumping.”
1978
Assassinations of Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk
Intersection became a refuge for a generation of artists grappling with these local tragedies as well as the horrors of the Vietnam War.
1985
We moved into the old mortuary at 766 Valencia Street in the Mission.
Campo Santo Theatre Company, Joe Goode, Erika Chong Shuch, Marcus Shelby, Denis Johnson and Dave Eggers performed here. A notable visual art exhibition held at this space was “Hero Sandwiches” by Lynne Hershman.
1989
We moved into the old Mancuso furniture store at 446 Valencia Street in the Mission.
1994
Deborah Cullinan, Executive Director, 1996-2013:
“In 1994, Intersection had had a near-death experience. But funders bailed it out. It was in chaos, so it was lovely to reinvent from scratch. I was so behind the curve, and it was great to get on my feet at the same time as the organization. I didn’t know any better, so I just held out my arms to the artistic community and said, ‘Come! Help me create something that can belong to this group.’ This company belongs to all our artists—and our audience.”
1997
Campo Santo forms!
Intersection for the Art’s resident theater company Campo Santo is an award-winning multicultural ensemble dedicated to creating new performances that reflect our world. Since 1996 we have premiered more than 50 new performance pieces working with renowned playwrights, poets, novelists, screenwriters, musicians, and choreographers.
1998
Marcus Shelby joins Intersection
Renowned jazz bassist, composer and orchestra leader, becomes our musician-in-residence.
1999
Jazz at Intersection
Intersection launched “Jazz at Intersection,” a series that exposed audiences to more than 60 concerts with almost 200 musicians worldwide.
Erika Shuch, choreographer and artistic director of the ESP Project, joined Intersection.
The Erika Shuch Performance Project (ESP) became Intersection’s resident dance company. “Through metaphor and theatrical alchemy, the work is a mirror, a lens, an opportunity for reflection, a brainstorm, a meeting place, a prayer, a conversation, and a confession.”
2011
We move into the San Francisco Chronicle Building
In 2011, we moved to the 5M space in the San Francisco Chronicle Building on Mission Street in SoMa. This space becomes coworking for organizations and projects working in arts and culture.
2014
We shift our business model to focus on fiscal sponsorship
Intersection was one of the early adopters of fiscal sponsorship for the arts. When Frances Phillips was the Executive Director in the 1980s, she and a cohort of other folks worked on developing and articulating the models for fiscal sponsorship and establishing best practices. But even before that, the organization worked to help artists have sustainable careers. At one point, Intersection hosted a radio show about opportunities in the Bay Area and professional development workshops on topics like developing contracts and copywriting your work. Because it wasn’t lively and outward-facing like the visual and performing arts, artist resources were a behind-the-scenes project we did to build the capacity of individual artists and small to mid-sized organizations. When the organization’s financial circumstances called for a change in 2014, we entirely pivoted to artist resources and services to rebuild Intersection as a sustainable, community-oriented organization.
2018
WE MOVE OUR ARCHIVE TO THE BANCROFT LIBRARY
“Because of the amount of time Intersection has been around, its history is a complicated story to tell. It’s always going to be seen through the lens of how you experienced it and when, so there is a certain amount of refraction that takes place during each of our reflections. A poet reading in front of a packed audience in an old church in North Beach in the sixties would see it from a much different perspective than a visual artist whose work was installed in one of the spaces in the Mission in the eighties. Given that time bends and sometimes warps memory, a historical record will never be precise, and something is bound to be left out. What is presented here is drawn from the archives, which, although they contain such minutiae as old phone messages and reservation sheets, is by necessity a broad stroke approach to telling the history of this enduring and complicated organization.” — Randy Rollison, Executive Director of Intersection for the Arts, 2014-2021 (In reference to the Intersection’s archives, which were donated to the Bancroft Library at UC Berkeley in 2018)
2019
We moved to 1446 Market Street…
…with all of our coworking members in tow. This is Intersection for the Arts’ current home. We are thrilled to have a gorgeous, sunlit space with comfortable and spacious desks, meeting rooms, and more. We offer low-cost coworking and rental options for the arts community, and we can’t wait to welcome you in!
2021
Intersection adopts a shared leadership model.
Intersection for the Arts moved to a shared leadership model that distributes vision, responsibility, trust, and decision-making across a diverse staff led by Executive Co-Directors Allison Snopek and Scott Nielsen. Learn more about our talented team and board members here.
