CORNERED: CLAUDIA FIKS

Claudia Fiks has spent over two decades working in the arts and culture non-profit sector, acquiring invaluable entrepreneurial, management, fundraising and partnership development expertise that she’s put to good use as the founder of Arts Administration Association New England (AAANE). During the pandemic, the organization has given arts administrators the chance to network and share ideas on how to navigate the landscape of a region where each state has different guidelines and benchmarks to reopen– and close – in a field where lower occupancy numbers, ticketed and timed visits, and quarantined requirements for out-of-staters was exactly the opposite of their usual goal of working towards attracting as many visitors, customers and collectors as possible. Every Thursday at 4 p.m., since May, Fiks and co-host Alicia Chick, the development director at the Eliot School of Fine and Applied Arts, have anchored AAANE Sip & Chats where they moderate discussions with three New England Arts administrators. Fiks became the Director of Development and Institutional Advancement at the Fuller Craft Museum on July 1. Brian Goslow, Artscope Magazine’s managing editor, exchanged questions with Fiks prior to AAANE’S Sip & Chat on August 20.

HOW AND WHEN DID ARTS ADMINISTRATION ASSOCIATION NEW ENGLAND START?

The inaugural event was in June 2019. The AAANE was a response to my desire to connect arts administrators and promote knowledge exchange…