The San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus performs in Union Square in San Francisco in 2025.
Smith Collection/Gado/Gado via Getty Images
As debates over LGBTQ rights, the suppression of queer culture and arts funding intensify nationwide, the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus is hiring a new leader to guide one of the country’s most visible LGBTQ arts institutions.
Lane Sugata will be the new CEO of the chorus and Chan National Queer Arts Center on Aug. 24, succeeding Christopher Verdugo, who has led the organization for the last decade.
“What excites me is that the chorus has never been only a chorus. It has long been a moral and cultural voice,” Sugata told the Chronicle.
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That legacy underscores the significance of the role. The appointment places Sugata at the helm of the nation’s oldest gay men’s chorus, an institution with a storied history dating back to its founding in 1978 and now headquartered at the Pansy L. Chan and Terrence D. Chan National Queer Arts Center, which opened in 2023. Famously, SFGMC’s first public performance came that year at a candlelight vigil on the steps of San Francisco City Hall following the assassinations of Supervisor Harvey Milk, the first openly gay elected official in California, and Mayor George Moscone.
In the wake of Club Q mass shooting in Colorado, the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus sings during a candlelight vigil at Harvey Milk Plaza in San Francisco, Calif., on Sunday, November 20, 2022.
Scott Strazzante/The Chronicle
“The San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus sits at the intersection of artistry, activism, and community in a way very few institutions do,” Sugata told the Chronicle. “At a moment of heightened censorship, escalating attacks on LGBTQ people, and increasing precarity across the arts, I was drawn to the opportunity to help strengthen our community’s collective voice and amplify our brightest narratives.
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“I was also looking for a site of transformation,” they continued. “The chorus and the Chan Center have extraordinary potential not only as artistic institutions, but as civic and cultural infrastructure for queer communities.”
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As CEO, Sugata will oversee fundraising, fiscal stability and other business operations for both entities during the two-year term.
Sugata is currently the senior program officer for the Ford Foundation in New York, after previously serving as director of Dance/NYC Sugata also studied at the San Francisco Ballet and graduated from UC Berkeley, making the role a kind of professional homecoming.
Lane Sugata has been announced as the new CEO of the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus.
Simon Luethi
SFGMC s partnered with San Francisco-based Arts Consulting Group for the North American search to fill the role.
“I am thrilled to introduce our community to the next leader who will meet this moment in our history and shepherd the mission of this institution to new and greater heights,” SFGMC Board Chair Tom Paulino said in a statement, noting that “Lane’s comprehensive, data-informed approach to problem solving coupled with their person-centered leadership style make for a potent combination.”
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LGBTQ scholars credit SFGMC with helping launch a worldwide choral movement. Its decision to embracethe word “gay” in its name was considered bold at a time when many LGBTQ people were still in the closet.
During the AIDS crisis of the 1980s and ’90s, the SFGMC served as a key source of both solace and celebration, even as the chorus lost more than 300 of its members.
Members of the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus practice during a rehearsal at the SFGMC offices and rehearsal hall on Monday, December 6, 2021, in San Francisco, Calif.
Constanza Hevia H./Special to The Chronicle
Over the decades, the chorus has partnered with artists including Tony Award-nominated composer Andrew Lippa on the world premieres of choral works including “I Am Harvey Milk” (2013), “Unbreakable” (2018) and “Songs of the Phoenix” (2022); “Wicked” and “Godspell” composer Stephen Schwartz, who collaborated with the chorus on “Testimony” in 2012; and Grammy-nominated singer and songwriter Justin Tranter, who has written songs for Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande, for last year’s Pride Concert at the Curran Theater..
Today, signature concerts like “Home for the Holidays” in December, its spring Crescendo gala and its participation in the annual Pride celebration in June have become longstanding traditions.
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The San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus performs as mourners pay their respects to Senator Dianne Feinstein during a day of lying in state at San Francisco City Hall, on Wednesday, October 4, 2023. Feinstein served as mayor San Francisco from 1978 to 1988, and as senator from 1992 to 2023 when she passed.
Carlos Avila Gonzalez/The Chronicle
The chorus’ 2026 Gay Pride concert, “Dolly! A Pride Show,” celebrating the music of Dolly Parton, returns to the Curran Theatre for two performances June 13.
Sugata called taking the role with the SFGMC “deeply meaningful and incredibly urgent” as the Trump administration continues to curtail diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and slash funding for arts and cultural programs.
“We’re living through a moment when LGBTQ people — especially trans people — are being politically targeted, while artists and cultural institutions are navigating enormous economic pressure,” said Sugata. “In that environment, organizations like the chorus matter not only artistically, but civically. They become beacons for free expression, public belonging, and collective resilience.”