She’s finding room for all her passions at TVAA

When Ashley Finkelstein stepped into the role of executive director at the Tennessee Valley Art Association earlier this year, she said it felt less like a career move and a little more like fate. That’s likely because the position combines her love for the arts with her passion for community.

“I love non-profit work,” Finkelstein said. “I love fundraising; I love grant writing; and I love everything about non-profits. The fact that this has to with the arts and musical theater — it’s kind of like right up my alley.”

Before she stepped into the role for TVAA in February, Finkelstein had some experience in non-profit work through her service on the boards of the Shoals Symphony Orchestra and United Way of Northwest Alabama. She first got a taste for grant writing; however, as a band director in her home state of California.

“I had no courses in grant writing or anything like that,” she said. “I was always involved in fundraising through high school with my own band program, but my first grant writing experience came up when I needed instruments for a school program where I was teaching. I learned by doing.”

Finkelstein got her start as a teacher at Huntington Beach High School near Anaheim, California. She and her husband decided to move to the Shoals in 2018 after attending a family member’s graduation from the University of North Alabama. They fell in love with the area.

After the move to Alabama, Finkelstein initially landed a teaching role at Richland Elementary School in Giles County, Tennessee, but currently, she’s teaching music part-time at Riverhill Elementary School in her new hometown.

The mother of three juggles teaching and her new role at TVAA with her business, Finks Music, an instrument and string shop that also offers lessons and classes to musicians of all skill levels. Finkelstein opened Finks Music in 2021.

As if her schedule weren’t busy enough, Finkelstein is also in the midst of earning her PhD from Auburn University. It’s a venture she began before she found out about the open position with Tennessee Valley Arts.

Her aim in getting her doctorate, she said, was to eventually teach at a university.

“But I really love it here, and I don’t know that I would ever want to leave,” she added. “I think I can still use my degrees as executive director here, and you know, mentor interns. I think I’ll also be able to help children who are involved in our programs in a different way. It’s kind of like the perfect blend of being able to help the community through non-profit work and then also working the business side, which I’m very familiar with.”

Despite her full plate, Finkelstein said she also has no plans of giving up teaching at Riverhill School. Still, she said, the schedule works out perfectly. She was already teaching only on Mondays, the days of the week when the TVAA offices are closed.

“It’s still a lot,” she admits with a laugh. “But I have a really supportive board, and I have family here. That makes a big difference.”

The role which has her overseeing events at the Tennessee Valley Art Museum in Tuscumbia, and at the Ritz Theatre in Sheffield, is also broadening her horizons to the visual arts outside of the realm of music.

“I love that I get to work in a whole new side of the arts,” she said. “I also love that no two days look the same. Some days I’m meeting with community members and businesses. Other days, I’m knee-deep in paperwork, grant writing or planning events. It’s a little bit of everything.”

When asked about her hopes for TVAA after stepping into the role, she said her biggest goal is in making the arts more engaging for families and young visitors from the community. One of the ways she hopes to accomplish that is by creating and launching a performing arts school as a supplement to students who see arts programs being cut at their schools.

It’s a program Finkelstein said she hopes to launch this fall.

“I hope to include more family friendly exhibits and events to try to bring the younger generations up,” she added. “We want the arts to be more accessible, and we hope to begin fostering an appreciation for the arts in children at a young age. They grow up, and you know, they’re our next generation of patrons, but they’re also our next generation of artists and musicians.”