Courtney Fink (she/her) works in the expanded field of nonprofit leadership as a steadfast champion of visual artists and the organizations that center and support them. Her hybrid practice merges creative process with strategic implementation and is informed by responsive open source frameworks as models for exchange, connection, collaboration, and shared experience. Fink’s mission is to establish equitable access to ideas and projects in which artists and experimental platforms are positioned to manifest social change.
For 30 years Courtney has employed a spirit of openness and generosity to draw national attention to and build capacity in the visual arts, passionately advocating for the role of creative expression in broader cultural contexts.
In 2022, Courtney co-founded Open Fung, an organization that builds collective resources for advancing fungi technology, materials and the arts. In her current role as Director of Artist Programs and Deputy Director she is working to develop fungal utilities through the arts, science and a distributed global network. Open Fung believes that creative collaboration and engagement with scientific research will build understanding, create meaning and connect a broad constituency of people interested in the future of the planet. Open Fung connects her lifelong efforts supporting artists with the work of building a sustainable future.
As co-founder and executive director of Common Field she fostered a national network of independent visual arts organizations and organizers that connected, supported, and advocated for the artist-centered field. During her tenure, Common Field built a movement involving more than 1,000 organizations and organizers. They incorporated as a 501c3, created a core structure, and secured long-term funding. Collectively they organized convenings in Miami, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and Houston and created a responsive, resource-based program model.
During her thirteen years as executive director of Southern Exposure, a nonprofit in San Francisco founded in 1974 dedicated to supporting visual artists, she transformed the organization into a nationally recognized model, developed a Mission District building to serve as its stable home, and realized its first ever comprehensive capital campaign. By implementing adventurous curatorial and public programming strategies, she supported the development of more than 500 projects, events, and exhibitions and established SoEx Off-Site, the organization's public art initiative.
Courtney has also worked in the philanthropy sector to positively impact artists and arts organizations. In her leadership role at Southern Exposure, she founded the Alternative Exposure Grant Program in partnership with the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, laying the groundwork for the Foundation’s national Regional Regranting Program, now established with partners in 35 cities across the US and granting $2 million annually. She also served on the Warhol Foundation’s Board of Directors for eight years. She served on the founding Board of Directors of the Seed Fund, and was a consulting advisor to the Kenneth Rainin Foundation in Oakland to establish and pilot the Open Spaces grant program as well as the Exploring Public Art Practices Symposium.
Courtney has held vital positions at California College of the Arts and Capp Street Project in San Francisco. Openly sharing her experiences with diverse audiences, she lectures nationally and internationally and juries a myriad of grant and program opportunities including Creative Capital, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Harpo Foundation, and the San Francisco Arts Commission; serves as a regular nominator for artist funding programs including The Dorothea and Leo Rabkin Foundation and Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation; and consults with organizations that provide support to artists.
Originally from Los Angeles, CA, Courtney holds a BA in art history and fine arts from Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, NY. She lived in the San Francisco Bay Area for 21 years and returned to Los Angeles in 2016.
RECENT ACTIVITY
*October 19, 2021: Participant and co-facilitator in conversation organized by Living Room Light Exchange and Aggregate Space Gallery featuring Tempestt Hazel (Sixty Inches from Center) and Tracy Drake (Blackivists) on how artist-run organizations use their archives in their programming and how that type of content can help organizations in terms of growth.
*October 19, 2021: Participant and *co-facilitator in conversation organized by Living Room Light Exchange and Aggregate Space Gallery featuring Tempestt Hazel (Sixty Inches from Center) and Tracy Drake (Blackivists) on how artist-run organizations use their archives in their programming and how that type of content can help organizations in terms of growth.
*My portrit was*My portrait was included in So Close Right Now, an online exhibition of new work by Los Angeles-based artist Ian Byers-Gamber featuring more than 100 portrait photographs created by the artist throughout the first six months of the COVID-19 pandemic. July 29 - October 23, 2021. Organized by The University Art Gallery at California State University, Dominguez Hills.
included in So C
*Publication, Where the Future Came From, Edited by Meg Duguid and Published by Soberscove Press, May 2020. Transcription of Keynote Conversation between Courtney Fink and Lynne Warren. Where the Future Came From focuses on the role of feminist artist-run activities in Chicago from the late 19th century to the present.
*Delegate at For Freedoms Congress, February 27 - March 1, 2020, Los Angeles, CA.
*Conversation on Cries of San Francisco and Bay Area Social Practice at Reading Ours, November 9, 2019, 1:00 PM. Landfill—Selections from the Social Practice Archive, 2011–2014, an exhibition of items remaining from ephemeral social practice art projects.
*Views from Here: Los Angeles. A panel discussion about being based in LA. December 15, 2018, 2:00 - 4:00 PM at Human Resources LA. Moderated by Michelle Grabner with Jennifer Bolande, Neha Choksi, Courtney Fink, Shana Lutker, Forrest Olivo, Paul Pescador, and Paul Mpagi Sepuya. Organized by X-TRA.
*Keynote Conversation, Where the Future Came From Symposium, November 1-2, 2018, Columbia College Chicago. In conversation with Lynne Warren, Adjunct Curator, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. Organized and curated by Meg Duguid, Director of Exhibitions for Columbia College Chicago’s Department of Exhibitions, Performance, and Student Spaces (DEPS).
*Juror, The Velocity Fund (Round 1) Temple Contemporary - Tyler School of Art, Philadelphia, PA. Summer 2018. The Velocity Fund directly supports artists to organize collaborative projects throughout the city of Philadelphia by awarding grants up to $5000.
*The Artist as Culture Producer: Sharon Louden in conversation with Alison Wong, Faina Lerman, Graem Whyte and Courtney Fink. Tuesday, April 3, 2018, 5:30 - 9:00 pm. Eastern Michigan University, School of Art and Design.
*The Feminist Art Project (TFAP), FEMINISM AND THE STATE: ART, POLITICS, AND RESISTANCE at the College Art Association (CAA) Conference, @ MOCA, Saturday, February 24, 2018. Participant in Roundtable Discussion: Curatorial and Artistic Strategies around Activism, Representation, and Collective Space with with Courtney Fink, Kate Johnston, Young Joon Kwak, Cauleen Smith, and Sarah Williams. Curated by Jamillah James and Lanka Tattersall with keynote address by Martha Rosler.
*The #MeToo Age: Power & Gender Equity in the Art World at Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions (LACE), Wednesday, February 21, 2018, 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm. A town hall forum conversation with Hrag Vartanian, Yasmeen Siddiqui, Alpesh Kantilal Patel, PhD, Zoe Charlton, Tim Doud and Courtney Fink. Moderated by Sharon Louden.
PRESS
View from Here | Datebook, latimes.com, Carolina A. Miranda, 12/13/2018
What Does It Mean to Be an LA Artist Today?, Hyperallergic.com, Matt Stromberg, 12/12/2018
Glass Curtain Gallery Presents “Where the Future Came From”, Hyperallergic.com
The History and Future of Feminist Resistance in Art, Hyperallergic.com, Matt Stromberg
The Art World, #MeToo, and What Remains to be Done, Hyperallergic.com, Matt Stromberg
On the Road: Courtney Fink, SF Chronicle, Charles Desmarais
Arts Shake Up: Longtime Executive Director Leaves Southern Exposure, KQED.org, Leah Rose
Episode 45, Congratulations Pine Tree Podcast, hosts Kate Rhoades and Maysoun Wazwaz
Southern Exposure in the Weekly News, sfgate.com, Jesse Hamlin
Priced Out: New Tech Wealth & SF’s Receding Art Scene, KQED.org, Christian L. Frock
Artists, Galleries Displaced Amid Tech Boom, Forum on KQED, host Dave Iverson
Alternative Exposure grants assist S.F. experimental artists, SF Chronicle, Christian L. Frock
Southern Machine Exposure Project, KQED.org, Sarah Hotchkiss
Southern Machine Exposure Project, Art Practical, multiple contributors
The Cultural Mafia, SF Magazine, Gretchen Schrafft
Temporary Review Southern Exposure Profile, Temporary Review
Home galleries picking up where museums leave off, SF Chronicle, Sam Whiting
The Business of Making Space, NYFA Source, Emily Warner, 6/13/2009
Best of 2004 - Top Ten, Artforum Magazine, Pamela Lee, December 2004