ABOUT THE FOUNDER AND DIRECTOR
Richard (Rick) Fisher is the Founder and Director of culturevore.com, a digital platform expanding public loyalty to the Stewardship Field, thus fortifying fiscal stability for the full spectrum of culture, nature, and well-being resources throughout the United States.
To date, more than 400 institutions, that include the Smithsonian, Metropolitan Opera, Museum of Latin American Art, Habitat for Humanity International, Museum of the African Diaspora, and the Boston Public Library are having "culturevores" recognize the direct link between their degrees of engagement (stake-holding) in Stewardship's unique amenity-based assets and the Field's ability to fulfill their goals for growth and improvement. "People don't buy what you do, they buy why you do it." [Simon Sinek]. The interplay generated from the Stewardship Field's undeniable challenges and Rick Fisher's "front line" commitment, guided by his belief that philanthropy is both advocacy and activism, inspired this ambitious venture: developed to programmatically and financially "secure" the greater good for hundreds of venues and their missions.
Rick’s career spans five decades of leadership across museums, universities, nonprofit organizations, and cultural boards. He has served with the United Nations Environment Programme, helping spotlight the arts as a lens on climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution. He was a panelist for the Olympic Cultural Olympiad, a global arts program tied to the Olympic Games. He was an advisor for purchases made to the Federal Reserve Board's Fine Arts Collection Program and the U.S. General Services Administration Art-in-Architecture Program, advancing access to public art. Institutionally, Rick has directed programs at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, South Carolina Arts Commission (South Arts) in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts, and the third largest arts organization in the nation, Atlanta’s Woodruff Arts Center. There he originated the first class offerings in Art Therapy. At South Arts, he directed fellowship programs, implemented nationwide visual arts discourse support, facilitated funding and placements of traveling exhibitions, and developed an international partnership with France's National School of Photography in Arles. While at the SC Arts Commission, he managed the State Art Collection, which includes works by Jasper Johns and Sam Doyle. Under his directorship, the collection had its first international exposure at the National Museum of the Palazzo Venezia, Rome, Italy.
In 1998, Rick founded the Institute for Venture Philanthropy, an initiative that has supported museums and universities nationwide—including the University of Southern California's Fisher Museum of Art, City University of New York's Godwin-Ternbach Museum, the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth Art Gallery, the University of Minnesota's Weisman Art Museum, and the Houston Museum of Natural Science, among multiple others. He has facilitated a broad range of legacy projects for institutions that include the New York Times Agency, the Arts Council of Switzerland, and the Committee of 100 for Tibet in collaboration with the Dalai Lama. His projects have been recognized by leading scholars and covered in publications such as The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Weekly, Philadelphia Enquirer, and Art & Antiques Magazine. He has had the privilege of having collaborative associations with cultural luminaries that include Victor D'Amico, pioneer of modern art education and the founding director of Education at the Museum of Modern Art; Bridgett Dobson, groundbreaking television writer and producer; philanthropist and collector Lucinda Bunnen; and Edward Lucie-Smith, acclaimed as the world's most legendary and prolific art critic.
Rick’s service extends to education and community-based organizations such as Georgia Tech’s Museum of Papermaking, Brooklyn’s Nurture Art, Virginia Tech's Community Design Assistance Center, San Juan Islands Museum of Art, Historic Crab Orchard Museum & Pioneer Park, and re:loom, an Atlanta nonprofit empowering individuals through creative employment.
Rick Fisher’s career affirms the essential role of audacity in achieving institutional advancement by availing oneself of an enterprise management ethos. To that end, the Culturevore Program schedules consultations for those wanting financial well-being for their stewardships. Please inquire here.
In addition to benefitting from Mr. Fisher's professional advisement, thought leadership comes from Culturevore's collaborators: a University of Virginia regional history museum curator; a Duke educated, 4x Pulitzer Prize nominated journalist; a design and communications strategist; and a former U.S. Government Senior Advisor with a decade of analytical expertise, among others.