Founded in the early 1960's and incorporated in 1965, Intersection for the Arts began as a merger of several faith-based experiments that were using art to reach disenfranchised neighborhood youth while also providing artists who were conscientious objectors with an alternative to serving in the Vietnam war. It has consistently been rooted in a commitment to utilize art to provide alternative solutions to immediate community and larger world concerns. Over the years, Intersection has stayed true to this original mission while also evolving to respond to the changing needs around it. Widely considered to be one of the most vital and important cultural centers in the Bay Area, Intersection is well-known for its commitment to emphasizing the process of art-making and creating space and time for artists and audience members to come together to imagine and create new cultural experiments that aim to transform our world.

Read the San Francisco Chronicle's series on Intersection written in celebration of our 40th Anniversary:

PART I

PART II

PART III

PART IV

PART V

Over the past four decades, this venerable institution has provided the Bay Area with an almost incomprehensible array of groundbreaking multi-disciplinary cultural programming and has worked with a remarkable range of artists including Whoopi Goldberg, Jessica Hagedorn, Michael Ondaatje, David Henry Hwang, Carolyn Forch�, and Ishmael Reed. Recently, we have worked with Alice Walker, bell hooks, John Trudell, Denis Johnson, Lebbeus Woods, Mike Davis, Dave Eggers, Jimmy Santiago Baca, Stefon Harris, Naomi Iizuka, Claudia Bernardi, Joe Goode, and Gary Snyder as well as thousands of emerging artists.

On Intersection's annual budget of approximately $630,000, we incubate more than 120 emerging arts organizations and artists each year � many of which go on to have lasting impact including Youth Speaks, Flyaway Productions, and Galeria de la Raza. We produce, present, and collaborate on thousands of multidisciplinary public events and programs year-round including original site specific gallery installations and exhibitions, World Premiere plays, and hundreds of concerts, performances, readings, workshops and community forums. And, through our Resident Artists Programs, we house and support more than 20 local artists including Sean San Jose, Margo Hall, Luis Saguar & Michael Torres of Campo Santo Theatre Company; Claudia Bernardi; Marcus Shelby, Wayne Wallace & Scott Amendola through Jazz at Intersection; Dan Wolf & Tommy Shepherd of Felonious: OneLoveHipHop; and Erika Shuch & the ESP Project. We emphasize the process of art-making and we are committed to providing as many opportunities as we can to share our work with our community.