Cora Cahan
CORA CAHAN President, The New 42nd Street. After a distinguished career as a dancer, Cora Cahan metamorphosed into an effective arts administrator, co-founding and serving as Executive Director of the Feld Ballet, developing the Lawrence A. Wien Center for Dance and Theater familiarly called 890 Broadway, and acquiring and transforming the Elgin Cinema into the award-winning Joyce Theater, New York's pre-eminent theater for dance. In 1990, Cora Cahan was recruited to become President of The New 42nd Street, a non-profit organization established by New York State and New York City charged with restoring and finding appropriate uses for seven neglected historic theaters on the blighted block between Broadway and Eighth Avenue. The renewal of 42nd Street began in December 1995 with the rehabilitation and restoration of The New Victory Theater, New York's first theater totally devoted to children and families. Over the course of the following ten years, The New 42nd Street initiated and supervised the transformation of the remaining theaters and designed, built and operates the New 42nd Street Studios, a $34.7 million facility which houses rehearsal studios, offices, and a 199-seat black box theater, The Duke on 42nd Street; thus creating a permanent work place for performing artists and the creative process on 42nd Street. Ms. Cahan serves on the Boards of The Park Avenue Armory; The Times Square Alliance; and is Founder and Trustee Emeritus of both the Joyce Theater and Eliot Feld's Ballet Tech. She has served as a panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York State Council on the Arts. She has been a member of the Governor's Commission Honoring the Achievements of Women in New York State, and the Advisory Commission to the High School of the Performing Arts, and served on the Board of Directors of the Greenwich Village Historic Preservation Society, NYC & Company and The Center for Architecture Foundation (NY AIA). She has been the recipient of a number of awards for public service, including the 2001 New York State Governor's Arts Award. Ms. Cahan is married to Bernard Gersten, Executive Producer of Lincoln Center Theater, and Jenny and Jilian are their two grown daughters. Bio as of August, 2010. American Theatre Wing programs, interviews and/or credits include: Downstage Center (audio) Cora Cahan - September, 2010 - Listen Now. Website: www.new42.org