Cora Cahan

After a distinguished career as a dancer, Cora Cahan metamorphosed into an arts administrator. She was co-founder and Executive Director of the Feld Ballet and its school, Ballet Tech, developed the Lawrence A. Wien Center for Dance and Theater, and oversaw, as co-founder, the creation and establishment of the Joyce Theater, the city’s only theater dedicated year-round to dance.

Cahan was recruited by New York Gov. Mario Cuomo and New York City Mayor David Dinkins in 1990 to become the President and CEO of The New 42nd Street, a nonprofit charged with restoring and finding appropriate uses for seven of the famous street’s historic theaters. Under her leadership, beginning with the rehabilitation and restoration of The New Victory Theater in 1995, the city’s first and only theater for kids, The New 42nd Street initiated and supervised the transformation of the remaining six theaters and designed and built the New 42nd Street Studios with its 14 state-of-the-art rehearsal studios and 299-seat theater, The Duke on 42nd Street, thus creating a permanent workplace for performing artists and the creative process on 42nd Street.

In 2019, Cahan became President & CEO of Baryshnikov Arts Center and served in the position through October 2022. She recently served as President and CEO of the Millbrook Community Partnership, helping to develop plans for a community arts center in a former 1895 schoolhouse, and as the Chief Operating Officer of Tin Drum, a NYC-based mixed-reality production company.

Cahan has served on numerous boards and committees. She is an ex officio member of the Joyce Theater board and serves on the boards of The Park Avenue Armory, Dancers’ Advisory Council of the Entertainment Community Fund, and ArtYard. She has received numerous awards for public service.

Photo courtesy of Brigitte Lacombe