Executive Director, Southern Exposure

Courtney Fink, Executive Director of Southern Exposure (SoEx) since 2003, has 16 years of experience developing the capacity of visual artists and the systems that support them. Ms. Fink is responsible for guiding SoEx’s vision and the organization’s commitment to support artists and youth in a dynamic environment, in which they are encouraged to develop and present new work and ideas. She has led the organization through tremendous transitions over the past three years including several relocations and has developed major new program initiatives. Prior to joining Southern Exposure, Ms. Fink held positions at California College of the Arts and Capp Street Project in San Francisco, as well as Franklin Furnace in New York.

In her SoEx leadership role, Ms. Fink recently developed with SoEx’s Curatorial Committee, SoEx Off-Site, a major yearlong series of public art projects, and the acclaimed exhibition Practice Makes Perfect: Bay Area Conceptual Craft. She curated The Way We Work, which was selected by Artforum as one of the best exhibitions in 2004 and developed SoEx’s grant program Alternative Exposure. Ms. Fink is currently involved in several national arts field-building projects, in an effort to develop new networks connecting visual arts organizations locally and nationally, in partnership with the National Alliance of Media Arts and Culture, and the Warhol Foundation.

Ms. Fink has served as a juror for Creative Capital, Headlands Center for the Arts, San Francisco Arts Commission, and the San Francisco International Film Festival among many others institutions nationwide, and has lectured locally and nationally, including Portland State University, Stanford University, Capital City Arts Initiative in Nevada, the 2007 NAMAC conference in Austin, Texas, and InFest, an international convening of artist-run culture in Vancouver, Canada. Ms. Fink also publishes books under the small press she founded, Art Workers Press. Originally from Los Angeles, California, she holds a B.A. in art history and fine arts from Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, NY. Courtney also serves on the Board of Directors of the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.