Announcing Barr's New Senior Program Officer for the Arts

We are delighted to announce the appointment of San San Wong as Senior Program Officer in the Arts, effective August 13, 2012. San San brings rich experience in arts administration, innovative program development, and philanthropy to Barr. Currently, she is at the San Francisco Art Commission, where she has served as Director of Grants and Program Director, Cultural Equity Grants Program. At the Commission, she has worked to strengthen the arts community through expanded knowledge-building activities, convenings and funder collaborations, and launched initiatives such as Arts & Communities: Innovative Partnerships, and the Creative Capacity Fund.

San San’s prior experience includes project management and design for such institutions as the Ford Foundation, the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, and the New England Foundation for the Arts. She has served as interim director for Theater Artaud and ODC Theater, and as Executive Director of the National Performance Network. Her experience as a member of funding allocation panels includes the Rasmuson Foundation, the East Bay Community Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, and the Silicon Valley Arts Council.

San San has a BS from Smith College and an MS in community psychology from New York University. While she has lived and worked in San Francisco and New York, San San grew up in Roxbury and has family ties here. For our first program officer to be focused full-time on the arts, we were seeking a candidate with experience in arts management and philanthropy. We also hoped to find someone who has actively promoted civic arts policy and the engagement of new donors and whose enthusiasm spans the disciplines. San San brings all this to the table and more. We hope that our Boston colleagues will join us in welcoming her back to the Hub and to the shared work of strengthening our cultural sector.

During the search, Barr’s arts grantmaking has been ably handled by Cuong Hoang of Mott Philanthropic. Cuong’s thoughtful management and knowledge of the cultural community has been a huge asset for us during this transition, and we want to express our appreciation to him, his associates at Mott, and to Manikka Bowman, a Proteus Foundation Diversity Fellow for their work on our Mid-Sized and Youth Arts Mastery funding initiatives. Until San San arrives, please contact Cuong at cphoang[at]mottphilanthropic.com for questions on Barr’s current arts grants.

Melinda Marble, Deputy Director Patricia H. Brandes, Executive Director