Assistant Director of the Office of Economic Development and Cultural Affairs 

As the Director of Cultural Affairs for the City of San Jose since 2008, Kerry Adams Hapner leads the Office of Cultural Affairs (OCA), and serves as Assistant Director of the Office of Economic Development and Cultural Affairs. San Jose is the 10 th largest U.S. city, largest city in Northern California, and one of the most diverse cities on the planet with as a minority majority city with no one demographic group representing a majority of the population. In 2021, she championed the rebranding of the Office of Economic Development to the Office of Economic Development and Cultural Affairs in recognition of the critical importance of the arts and culture sector in our community and economic recovery from the COVID19 pandemic; this was in recognition of not only the arts’ economic benefits but for its benefits in recovering from social isolation and cross-cultural understanding as our country reckons with a history of racial inequality. Cultural equity is central to her team’s work, contributing to their policy and strategies. Her portfolio includes public art, creative placemaking, special events, cultural funding, creative entrepreneurship, convention and cultural facility operations and maintenance, conventions and visitor bureau, and the creative economy. Her office promotes and supports all aspects of the creative community: nonprofit art organizations, artists, event organizers, creative entrepreneurs, for profit arts-based businesses, and collectives. She leads significant cultural policy and programs including: Cultural Connection: San Jose’s Cultural Plan; cultural development goals for the Envision San Jose 2040 general plan; and Playa to Paseo, a partnership with Burning Man Project.

Prior to her entering working for the City of San Jose, Kerry held multiple positions in the visual and cultural arts while based in Los Angeles County. She served as Cultural Affairs Manager for the City of Ventura for over eight years. Prior to her public art agency career, she worked at a Beverly Hills art gallery, an ethnographic art appraisal firm, the Getty Trust, and owned an art appraisal practice.

Kerry regularly writes and speaks internationally on a range of topics from placemaking to art and technology to fashion. She is frequently quoted in local, national, international and industry publications. From 2013-2016, she served as the Chair of the United States Urban Arts Federation and has served on its executive committee since 2010. She serves on the boards of Californians for the Arts and California Arts Advocates. Since 2020, she has served on Americans for the Arts Getting Creative Workers Working Coalition. She is the former Chair of the Public Art Coalition of Southern California. She is a member of ArtTable. She regularly serves as an art juror and grant panelist for all levels of government including the National Endowment for the Arts’ Our Town Program. In 2022, Kerry is the inaugural Face of the Bay Honoree, an award presented by News Up Now that honors “the greatest minds in education and the arts in the Bay Area.” In 2014 and 2015, Kerry was named one of the most powerful and influential leaders in the United States’ nonprofit arts sector in Barry’s Blog, published by the Western States Arts Federation.

She earned a master in liberal arts degree from Stanford University. A case study on the power of public art, her thesis is titled “Plumed Serpent: Politics of Place, Art, and Cultural Inclusion.” Kerry earned her bachelor of art degree in art history with a specialization in business administration at the University of California at Los Angeles. She has a certificate in Fine Art Appraisal Studies from the University of California at Irvine.