Join Us at the Parsons Dance Gala 2026!

Tuesday, May 19 at 6:30pm

Sony Hall (235 W 46th St. NYC)

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 in partnership with American Ballet Theatre, and oversaw, as co-founder, the creation and establishment of The Joyce Theater, the city’s only theater dedicated year-round to dance. She was recruited by Governor Mario Cuomo and Mayor David Dinkins in 1990 to become the President and CEO of The New 42nd Street, a new 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. Ms. Cahan “stepped down” and joined the Baryshnikov Arts Center in 2019, serving as President and CEO for three years until October 2022.

She recently served as the 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 COO of Tin Drum, a NYC-based mixed-reality production company. Ms. Cahan has served on numerous boards and committees, is an ex officio member of The Joyce Theater Board, and currently serves on the Board of The Park Avenue Armory, ArtYard in Frenchtown, New Jersey, and the Dancers' Advisory Council of the Entertainment Community Fund. She has received numerous awards for public service.

We are delighted to honor Cora for her support of Parsons Dance.