Deborah Cullinan

Deborah Cullinan has been the Executive Director of Intersection for the Arts since 1996. In that time, Intersection has received numerous awards including the prestigious 2000 Cyril Award for Non-Profit Excellence from the San Francisco Business Arts Council/Chamber of Commerce, The Will Glickman Award, The Dean Goodman Choice Awards, The Bay Guardian’s GOLDIE Award, and the 2011 Philanthropedia Award for Highest Impact Arts Non-Profit in San Francisco. She is a 2011 Gerbode Fellow and has recently given presentations at the National Endowment for the Arts’ National Advisory Council meeting, the 2011 Andy Warhol Foundation Initiative Conference, and “From Scarcity to Abundance” at the New Play Institute. She is a member of the Board of the Diabetic Youth Foundation and the California Arts Advocates. She serves as an advisor to the New Play Institute at Arena Stage and is an editor of HowlRound. She has also participated in a number of Leadership Programs including the Shannon Institute for Leadership Renewal, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation’s 2007 Communications Leadership Institute and the DeVos Arts Management Program at the Kennedy Center. She is a co-founder and co-coordinator of Arts Forum SF focusing on forward-thinking arts policies in the city of San Francisco. Previous to Intersection, Cullinan served as Interim Executive Director and Development Director for Dolores Street Community Services in San Francisco. She has also worked in Development at Twin Cities Public Television Corporation in Saint Paul, MN, and at the University of Chicago in Illinois. She has a Bachelors degree from Lawrence University and has more than 20 years of non-profit management, fundraising, and organizing experience.