Fillmore native named to lead San Francisco’s AAACC

At 762 Fulton Street, the African American Art & Culture Complex has long stood as a cultural anchor in the Fillmore and Western Addition. Now the Fillmore native chosen to lead it, Dr. Murrell D. Green, inherits an institution under financial scrutiny, leadership turnover and a seismic retrofit that will force the center offline for at least 18 months.

The board picked Green after a six-month search that drew more than 300 applicants, according to the center. He is expected to begin July 6, and his arrival comes as AAACC tries to move past the resignation of co-executive directors Melonie and Melorra Green, who stepped down on Aug. 21, 2025 after eight years at the helm. Niquole Esters has served as interim executive director since then.

The stakes are bigger than a personnel change. San Francisco formally lists AAACC as one of its Cultural Centers, a category meant to preserve and strengthen cultural communities while providing low-cost arts, performance and exhibition space. AAACC also houses the Queer Cultural Center, making the building one of the city’s most visible Black and queer arts spaces. With public trust already strained by an audit into the organization’s finances, Green is walking into a role that demands both accountability and continuity.

His first test will be practical: keeping programming alive while the building is closed for mandatory seismic work slated to begin in January 2027. City contracting records put the AAACC and Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts seismic package at $35,026,344, with AAACC’s direct construction cost estimated at about $12.5 million. The progressive design-build schedule runs 790 consecutive calendar days, which means Green will have to secure temporary venues, preserve public events and protect the center’s donor and city relationships long before the work is done.

Green brings civic and education experience to the job. AAACC describes him as an educator, cultural leader and community advocate with more than 20 years of experience. He currently serves as dean of Counseling and Wellness Services within the California Community College system and previously served as an elected trustee of City College of San Francisco after being appointed by then-Mayor London Breed.

He takes over at a moment when City Hall is trying to stabilize other Black cultural spaces in the neighborhood, including the Fillmore Heritage Center and Ella Hill Hutch Community Center. On May 28, the city announced new investments and programs tied to Fillmore cultural anchors and small businesses. In a neighborhood shaped by displacement and repeated promises of renewal, residents will judge Green by whether AAACC can keep its doors open in spirit even while its building closes, its books stay clean and its programming remains a living part of the Fillmore.