Rachel L. Fink began her tenure as Executive Director at Lookingglass Theatre Company in February 2018. Prior to Lookingglass, Rachel was the Managing Director of Theatre Bay Area, one of the largest regional performing arts service organizations in the nation, serving more than 300 theatre companies and 2,000 individual artists across the region. As managing director, she was responsible for Theatre Bay Area’s business life including finance, revenue generation, human resources, operations, marketing, communications and fundraising. As the primary collaborator and thought partner with the Executive Director, she devised organizational strategy and future initiatives, as well as managed relationships with key stakeholders including the Board of Directors, member theatre leaders, donors, and organizational staff.
Prior to her time at Theatre Bay Area, Rachel Fink spent 16 years at Berkeley Repertory Theatre where she founded and grew the School of Theatre into a nationally-recognized learning hub which incubated programs exploring global citizenry, active advocacy, professional development, arts skill-building, leadership training, and community engagement – all using the lens of theatre. These programs served over 23,000 students (ages 5-adult) annually throughout Northern California and included tuition-based arts training; Teen Council, a nationally-recognized engagement initiative; “claimyourARTS,” a teen-driven arts advocacy campaign; a highly-competitive fellowship training program; and on-going staff development and audience engagement programs.
A strong advocate of arts leadership development and cultural policy, Ms. Fink was recently one of four steering committee members of the inaugural Berkshire Leadership Summit, a national convening of arts leaders designed to address the lack of gender parity in executive level theatre positions. She was chosen to be the first U.S. delegate for the British Council’s Cultural Leadership International Programme and was selected for the inaugural class of the American Express/Aspen Institute Fellowship for Emerging Nonprofit Leaders. She is a member of the 2016 artEquity cohort and has served on the board of Theatre Bay Area, chaired its Theatre Services Committee, and planned numerous professional development convenings for emerging arts leaders.
She has spoken on conference panels for Theatre Communications Group (TCG) and TBA, and served on grant review panels for the National Endowment for the Arts and TCG. She was also recognized for her regional work as a 2013 “Face of Theatre Bay Area.”
Prior to moving to the Bay Area, Ms. Fink was the managing director of the Yale Cabaret and had worked at theatres across the United States including the Yale Repertory Theatre, International Festival of Arts & Ideas, Long Wharf Theatre, and the Cleveland Play House.
Ms. Fink has taught at Berkeley Rep, Case Western Reserve University, and the Cain Park School of the Arts. Ms. Fink received her BA in Theatre Arts from Case Western Reserve University and her MFA in Theater Management from the Yale School of Drama.
