Stanford University
The Arts at Stanford
Stanford Arts is a constellation of institutions, departments, programs, and people that aims to unleash the full potential of the arts on campus and in our communities. Through this active network, we leverage the distinctive strengths of one of the world’s leading research universities to provide meaningful arts experiences, integrate scholarship and making across disciplines, and apply the transformative power of art to the public good.
The division of the Vice Presidency for the Arts (VPA) was created in 2017 to raise the visibility and collective impact of the arts on campus. Three iconic arts organizations – Anderson Collection at Stanford University, Cantor Arts Center, and Stanford Live – offer exhibitions, performances, and programs to a broad audience drawn from the Stanford community as well as the greater San Francisco Bay Area. Two impactful interdisciplinary institutes – Institute for Diversity in the Arts and the Stanford Arts Institute – are centers of student-focused learning, research, and practice. The central VPA office creates pathways for arts engagement and impact through advocacy, coordination, ecosystem support, and interdisciplinary initiatives.
The School of Humanities and Sciences (H&S) is the center of a liberal arts education at Stanford and houses the academic arts departments: Art & Art History, Music, and Theater & Performance Studies as well as a Creative Writing program. The University’s Public Art Committee ensures that Stanford’s robust public art program continues to grow and thoughtfully integrate across the campus landscape, in the Arts District and beyond. There are also dozens of exhibition and performance spaces on campus used by more than 100 student art groups. The proximity and density of these arts programs and activities allows for dynamic interactions among them.
Across these programs and more, we cultivate the creative spark and cutting-edge work of interdisciplinary practitioners to demonstrate Stanford’s distinct “arts plus…” environment. Theater-makers plus astrophysicists. Sculptors plus infectious disease researchers. Together, we pursue ambitious ideas and collaborative projects to shift culture and policy, and demonstrate the consequential creativity possible only at Stanford.
a2ru Campus Contacts
Deborah Cullinan is one of the nation’s leading thinkers on the pivotal role artists and arts organizations can play in shaping our social and political landscape and has spent years mobilizing communities through arts and culture. She joined Stanford University in early 2022 as the first full-time vice president for the arts. Previously, she was CEO of Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (YBCA), where she launched several bold new programs, engagement strategies, and civic coalitions. Prior to joining YBCA in 2013, she was the executive director of San Francisco’s Intersection for the Arts. She is a co-founder of CultureBank, board member of the Community Arts Stabilization Trust and EPACENTER, and recently served as co-chair of the San Francisco Arts Alliance and vice chair of the Yerba Buena Gardens Conservancy. She was the inaugural National Field Leader in Residence at Arizona State University’s National Accelerator for Cultural Innovation and a former innovator-in-residence at the Kauffman Foundation. She served on Mayor London Breed’s San Francisco Economic Recovery Task Force and on Governor Gavin Newsom’s Task Force on Business and Jobs Recovery. Her passion for using art and creativity to shift culture and advance equity and justice has made her a sought-after speaker at events and conferences around the world.
Ellen is a creative producer, program catalyzer, and people curator. She has worked as an arts administrator for the last 25 years in organizations of varying shapes and sizes. She is currently finding innovative ways to demonstrate the power and impact of the arts in our world. In addition to her “employed” experience, Ellen is a Board Member for Root Division, has served on numerous public art juries, and is raising two creative daughters.
