Ep. 109: Rachel Fine, Executive Director and CEO of The Wallis

Let's Talk Off The Podium

Ep. 109: Rachel Fine, Executive Director and CEO of the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts.

Let's Talk Off The Podium with Tigran Arakelyan.

Rachel Fine is Executive Director & CEO of the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts. Prior to joining The Wallis team in 2015, she worked as Senior Consultant for the DeVos Institute of Arts Management.

Drawing upon a 22-year career in the arts as a versatile administrator, educator and fundraiser, as well as a professional classical pianist, Fine has served as Executive Director of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra (LACO) and Los Angeles Children’s Chorus (LACC), where she helped found the Young Men’s Ensemble, a rare choral group for young men with changing voices. She has also held leadership positions for The Juilliard School’s Department of Vocal Arts, Santa Fe Opera, the Aspen Music Festival and the renowned San Francisco-based period ensemble Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra.

Fine completed a Fellowship in 2001-02 at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts under the guidance of then-President Michael M. Kaiser. Fine was also selected to participate in the 2012 Leadership L.A. program (SCLN), the Los Angeles County Arts Commission’s 2008-09 Arts Leadership Initiative and the 2007-08 Wells Fargo New Executive Directors Institute of Southern California’s Executive Service Corps. She is founding Mentor of the Los Angeles Emerging Arts Leaders’ mentorship program, former Board member of the Association of California Symphony Orchestra and USC’s Thornton School of Music, and current Advisory Board member of the Pasadena Conservatory of Music.

An accomplished pianist, Fine studied at the Eastman School of Music and the University of California,Irvine, where she graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a degree in music. She also attended graduate school in musicology at Yale University. In 2014, Fine taught Arts Leadership in the graduate school of USC Thornton School of Music.

She and her husband, Christopher Hawthorne, the Chief Design Officer for the City of Los Angeles, have two children who love the arts.

In this podcast we talk about Rachel Fine's journey from a young accomplished pianist to a leading CEO/Executive Director. She talks about the unique work that the Wallis does in Los Angeles, her passion for arts leadership, hobbies and much more!

For more information about Rachel Fine and The Wallis please visit: https://thewallis.org

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