Intersection for the Arts
Encyclopedia
Intersection for the Arts, established in 1965, is the oldest alternative non-profit
art space in San Francisco, California
. Intersection's reading series is the longest continuous reading series outside of an academic institution in the state of California
.
Intersection produces and presents new and experimental work in the fields of literature
, theater, music
, and the visual arts
. Intersection's artists regularly provide classes and workshops to the local community. Intersection also maintains an incubation program for emerging literary, visual and performing arts groups.
Intersection is located in the Mission District of San Francisco, on 446 Valencia Street between 15th and 16th streets. Its space includes a small theater and gallery.
. Over the years, Intersection has evolved into a more diverse organization with a more prominent profile, but maintains strong ties with the local community.
Intersection has worked with a range of artists including Whoopi Goldberg
, Michael Ondaatje
, David Henry Hwang
, Carolyn Forché
, and Ishmael Reed
. Recently, it has developed and presented work with Jessica Hagedorn
, 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.
A five-part full history of Intersection for the Arts was composed by the San Francisco Chronicle
for Intersection's 40th Anniversary.http://www.theintersection.org/about_history.php.
Festival, the Jackson Award, and the Phelan Award.
Intersection for the Arts's resident artists include the theater company Campo Santo (Margo Hall, Sean San Jose, Luis Saguar, Michael Torres
- Founders. Denis Johnson
- Resident Playwright) , Erika Chong Shuch
and her dance-theater company the Erika Shuch Performance (ESP) Project, the jazz musician Howard Wiley, Marc Bamuthi Joseph and Youth Speak's theater program The Living Word Project, and photographer Scott Chernis.
In recent years, Intersection has complemented their literary series with the Independent Press Spotlight series, hosting talks with members of San Francisco independent publishers and literary magazines scene while authors perform readings from recent issues. Participants in this series include AK Press
,
The Believer
,
City Lights Publishers,
ColorLines Magazine
,
Fourteen Hills
,
Heyday Books
,
LiP Magazine
,
Manic D Press
,
McSweeney’s,
Mercury House
,
New American Writing
,
Switchback,
Tachyon Publications
,
University of California Press
,
Zoetrope: All-Story
,
and ZYZZYVA
as well as newer magazines, journals, and publishers.
Currently the Intersection Incubator provides support to more than 120 art projects and organizations in the San Francisco Bay Area across numerous disciplines and levels of experience. Several organizations that have been in the incubation program have gone on to have lasting impact in the San Francisco Bay Area, including Youth Speaks, Flyaway Productions, The Traveling Jewish Theater, and Galeria de la Raza
.
Non-profit organization
Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...
art space in San Francisco, California
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
. Intersection's reading series is the longest continuous reading series outside of an academic institution in the state of California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
.
Intersection produces and presents new and experimental work in the fields of literature
Literature
Literature is the art of written works, and is not bound to published sources...
, theater, music
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
, and the visual arts
Visual arts
The visual arts are art forms that create works which are primarily visual in nature, such as ceramics, drawing, painting, sculpture, printmaking, design, crafts, and often modern visual arts and architecture...
. Intersection's artists regularly provide classes and workshops to the local community. Intersection also maintains an incubation program for emerging literary, visual and performing arts groups.
Intersection is located in the Mission District of San Francisco, on 446 Valencia Street between 15th and 16th streets. Its space includes a small theater and gallery.
History
Intersection for the Arts was founded in the early 1960 and incorporated in 1965. The organization 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 WarVietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
. Over the years, Intersection has evolved into a more diverse organization with a more prominent profile, but maintains strong ties with the local community.
Intersection has worked with a range of artists including Whoopi Goldberg
Whoopi Goldberg
Whoopi Goldberg is an American comedian, actress, singer-songwriter, political activist, author and talk show host.Goldberg made her film debut in The Color Purple playing Celie, a mistreated black woman in the Deep South. She received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress and won...
, Michael Ondaatje
Michael Ondaatje
Philip Michael Ondaatje , OC, is a Sri Lankan-born Canadian novelist and poet of Burgher origin. He is perhaps best known for his Booker Prize-winning novel, The English Patient, which was adapted into an Academy-Award-winning film.-Life and work:...
, David Henry Hwang
David Henry Hwang
David Henry Hwang is an American playwright who has risen to prominence as the preeminent Asian American dramatist in the U.S.He was born in Los Angeles, California and was educated at the Yale School of Drama and Stanford University...
, Carolyn Forché
Carolyn Forché
Carolyn Forché is an American poet, editor, translator, and human rights advocate.-Life:Forché was born in Detroit, Michigan, on April 28, 1950, to Michael Joseph and Louise Nada Blackford Sidlosky. Forché earned a B.A...
, and Ishmael Reed
Ishmael Reed
Ishmael Scott Reed is an American poet, essayist, and novelist. A prominent African-American literary figure, Reed is known for his satirical works challenging American political culture, and highlighting political and cultural oppression.Reed has been described as one of the most controversial...
. Recently, it has developed and presented work with Jessica Hagedorn
Jessica Hagedorn
Jessica Tarahata Hagedorn is a Filipino-American playwright, writer, poet, storyteller, musician, and multimedia performance artist.-Biography:...
, Alice Walker
Alice Walker
Alice Malsenior Walker is an American author, poet, and activist. She has written both fiction and essays about race and gender...
, bell hooks
Bell hooks
Gloria Jean Watkins , better known by her pen name bell hooks, is an American author, feminist, and social activist....
, John Trudell
John Trudell
John Trudell is a Native American-Mexican author, poet, actor, musician, and former political activist. He was the spokesperson for the United Indians of All Tribes' takeover of Alcatraz beginning in 1969, broadcasting as Radio Free Alcatraz...
, Denis Johnson
Denis Johnson
Denis Hale Johnson is an American author who is known for his short-story collection Jesus' Son and his novel Tree of Smoke , which won the National Book Award. He also writes plays, poetry and non-fiction.- Biography :...
, Lebbeus Woods
Lebbeus Woods
Lebbeus Woods is an American architect and artist.-Career:Woods studied architecture at the University of Illinois and engineering at Purdue University and first worked in the offices of Eero Saarinen, but in 1976 turned exclusively to theory and experimental projects. He has designed buildings in...
, Mike Davis, Dave Eggers
Dave Eggers
Dave Eggers is an American writer, editor, and publisher. He is known for the best-selling memoir A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius and for his more recent work as a screenwriter. He is also the co-founder of the literacy project 826 Valencia.-Life:Eggers was born in Boston, Massachusetts,...
, Jimmy Santiago Baca
Jimmy Santiago Baca
Jimmy Santiago Baca of Apache and Chicano descent is an American poet and writer.- Life and career :...
, Stefon Harris
Stefon Harris
Stefon Harris is an American jazz vibraphonist. In 1999, the Los Angeles Times called him "one of the most important young artists in jazz" who is "at the forefront of new New York music" and "much in demand as a star sideman"...
, Naomi Iizuka
Naomi Iizuka
Naomi Iizuka is a playwright. Iizuka's works often have a non-linear storyline and are influenced by her multicultural background.Iizuka's mother is an American Latina and her father is a Japanese banker. Born in Tokyo, Iizuka grew up in Japan, Indonesia, Holland, and Washington, D.C., United...
, Claudia Bernardi, Joe Goode
Joe Goode
Joe Goode was born in Oklahoma City, OK in 1937. In 1959 he moved to Los Angeles, CA where he attended the Chouinard Art Institute until 1961.First recognized for his Pop Art milk bottle paintings and cloud imagery, Goode's work was included along with Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol, Jim Dine,...
, and Gary Snyder
Gary Snyder
Gary Snyder is an American poet , as well as an essayist, lecturer, and environmental activist . Snyder is a winner of a Pulitzer Prize for Poetry...
, as well as thousands of emerging artists.
A five-part full history of Intersection for the Arts was composed by the San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Chronicle
thumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...
for Intersection's 40th Anniversary.http://www.theintersection.org/about_history.php.
Intersection today
Intersection for the Arts produces anywhere from 6-11 theatrical and dance productions, 10-12 literary readings, 12-16 concerts, and 4-6 art exhibits or installations in a given year, as well as workshops in each discipline taught by the resident artists. Intersection's building also hosts a variety of community, social, and artistic events for other San Francisco artistic organizations throughout the year, including the LitquakeLitquake
Litquake is San Francisco's annual literary festival. Originally starting out as Litstock for a single day on July 16, 1999, it ran for two years under the same name before going dark in 2001 after 9/11...
Festival, the Jackson Award, and the Phelan Award.
Intersection for the Arts's resident artists include the theater company Campo Santo (Margo Hall, Sean San Jose, Luis Saguar, Michael Torres
Michael Torres
Michael 'Sweet T' Torres is a three time New Jersey Golden Gloves and Northeastern Amateur Boxing Champion in the Junior Welterweight category now campaigning as a professional boxer in the Junior Welterweight division.-Amateur career:Torres compiled an impressive amateur record of 78-10, winning...
- Founders. Denis Johnson
Denis Johnson
Denis Hale Johnson is an American author who is known for his short-story collection Jesus' Son and his novel Tree of Smoke , which won the National Book Award. He also writes plays, poetry and non-fiction.- Biography :...
- Resident Playwright) , Erika Chong Shuch
Erika Chong Shuch
Erika Chong Shuch is an American performance artist and educator based in San Francisco, California. She received the 2003 Goldie Award for artistic achievement in dance from the San Francisco Bay Guardian, which called her “among the leaders in the field", and her show "One Window" was cited by...
and her dance-theater company the Erika Shuch Performance (ESP) Project, the jazz musician Howard Wiley, Marc Bamuthi Joseph and Youth Speak's theater program The Living Word Project, and photographer Scott Chernis.
Literary series
Outside of academic institutions, Intersection for the Arts' literary series is the longest, continual reading series in the state of California. The longevity of the series has attracted an increasing number of high profile writers, but the series continues to regularly showcase the work of emerging, local writers in the San Francisco Bay Area.In recent years, Intersection has complemented their literary series with the Independent Press Spotlight series, hosting talks with members of San Francisco independent publishers and literary magazines scene while authors perform readings from recent issues. Participants in this series include AK Press
AK Press
AK Press is a worker-managed independent publisher and book distributor that specialises in radical left and anarchist literature. It is collectively owned and operated.-History:...
,
The Believer
The Believer (magazine)
The Believer is a United States literary magazine that also covers other arts and general culture. Founded and designed in 2003 by the writer and publisher Dave Eggers, it is edited by Vendela Vida, Heidi Julavits and Ed Park...
,
City Lights Publishers,
ColorLines Magazine
ColorLines Magazine
ColorLines, founded in 1998, is an American magazine that covers race and politics in society.Articles are primarily composed of essays, investigative reports, think pieces, opinion columns, cultural criticism, fiction, and humor pieces....
,
Fourteen Hills
Fourteen Hills
Fourteen Hills is the San Francisco State University MFA program literary magazine. Founded in 1994, it publishes poetry, fiction, short plays, and literary nonfiction...
,
Heyday Books
Heyday Books
Heyday Books is an independent nonprofit publisher based in Berkeley, California.Heyday was founded by Malcolm Margolin in 1974 when he wrote, typeset, designed, and distributed The East Bay Out, a guide to the natural history of the hills and bayshore around Berkeley and Oakland...
,
LiP Magazine
LiP magazine
LiP: Informed Revolt was an award-winning alternative magazine that took on various incarnations after its founding in 1996 by former Britannica.com Books editor Brian Awehali...
,
Manic D Press
Manic D Press
Manic D Press is an American literary press based in San Francisco, California publishing fiction , poetry, cultural studies, art, narrative-oriented comix, and alternative travel trade paperbacks...
,
McSweeney’s,
Mercury House
Mercury House
Mercury House may refer to:* Mercury House , a book publishing company based in San Francisco* Mercury House , a building in London, headquarters of Cable and Wireless....
,
New American Writing
New American Writing
New American Writing is a once-a-year American literary magazine emphasizing contemporary American poetry, including a range of innovative contemporary writing. The magazine is published in association with San Francisco State University. New American Writing is published by OINK! Press, a...
,
Switchback,
Tachyon Publications
Tachyon Publications
Tachyon Publications is an independent press specializing in science fiction and fantasy books. Founded in San Francisco in 1995 by Jacob Weisman, Tachyon books have tended toward high-end literary works, short story collections, and anthologies....
,
University of California Press
University of California Press
University of California Press, also known as UC Press, is a publishing house associated with the University of California that engages in academic publishing. It was founded in 1893 to publish books and papers for the faculty of the University of California, established 25 years earlier in 1868...
,
Zoetrope: All-Story
Zoetrope: All-Story
Zoetrope: All-Story is an American literary magazine that was launched in 1997 by Francis Ford Coppola. Blooming from Francis Coppola's "Crazy Idea Department," All-Story is devoted to showcasing the most promising voices in short-fiction...
,
and ZYZZYVA
Zyzzyva
Zyzzyva is a genus of tropical American weevil often found in association with palms. It is a snouted beetle. "Zyzzyva" is the last word in many English-language dictionaries....
as well as newer magazines, journals, and publishers.
Intersection Incubator
In addition to producing its own work, Intersection for the Arts provides members of its incubation program assistance in funding, developing, and promoting their artists' work. Through fiscal sponsorship, the program has encouraged funding agencies and contributors to take risks in funding new projects and emerging artists by ensuring that the funds will be well managed and spent according to the funder's guidelines.Currently the Intersection Incubator provides support to more than 120 art projects and organizations in the San Francisco Bay Area across numerous disciplines and levels of experience. Several organizations that have been in the incubation program have gone on to have lasting impact in the San Francisco Bay Area, including Youth Speaks, Flyaway Productions, The Traveling Jewish Theater, and Galeria de la Raza
Galería de la Raza
Galería de la Raza is a non-profit art gallery and artist collective that serves the heavily-Latino population of San Francisco's Mission District. GDLR mounts exhibitions, hosts poetry readings, workshops, and celebrations, sells works of art, and sponsors youth and artist-in-residence programs...
.