New Director for Adirondack Diversity Initiative

The Adirondack North Country Association (ANCA) has announced the hire of the new director of the Adirondack Diversity Initiative (ADI). Tiffany Rea-Fisher, who has extensive leadership experience in the arts, activism and community organizing, will be the second director of ADI, an ANCA program that aims to make the Adirondack region a more welcoming and inclusive place for residents and visitors.

Rea-Fisher currently serves as director of the Lake Placid School of Dance and executive artistic director of EMERGE125, a professional dance company that offers performance and education programs in Harlem and Lake Placid, N.Y. She resides in both Harlem and Saranac Lake, N.Y.

Rea-Fisher will begin her role as ADI Director on February 1, 2023 on a part-time basis and transition to full-time on March 6, 2023. She will be based in ANCA’s office in downtown Saranac Lake.

Rea-Fisher has xperience in the performing arts and organizational leadership, having earned a bachelor’s of fine arts at the SUNY Purchase Conservatory of Dance in 1999 and participated in professional development programs with the Association of Performing Arts Professionals and National Arts Strategies Chief Executive Program. She is a Creatives Rebuild New York awardee with John Brown Lives!, and has earned recognition for her role as a principal dancer, community organizer and direct action activist.

Rea-Fisher is the first woman of color to serve as director of the Lake Placid School of Dance, where she has helped increase class participation and faculty diversity since 2017. During this period, she also improved funding support, audience engagement and community impact of EMERGE125, a dance company focused on performance, education and social justice.

“I love this region and its people,” said Rea-Fisher. “The opportunity to make the Park a more welcoming environment for all is something I am committed to and look forward to doing with our partner organizations.”

ADI was established in 2015 as a volunteer-run group of nonprofit and community leaders dedicated to advancing strategies to create a more welcoming and inclusive Adirondack Park. The Initiative has achieved significant reach and growth since 2019, when funding in the New York State budget allowed ANCA to hire its inaugural director, Nicole Hylton-Patterson. Hylton-Patterson left ANCA in October 2022 for a position with a human services nonprofit in New York City, where she is close to family.

During the last three years, which were distinguished by the COVID-19 pandemic, economic crisis and racial justice movement, ADI has become well established and recognized in the region, having developed and implemented a number of successful initiatives including its Emerging Stewards Program, Community Policing Initiative, Cultural Consciousness Trainings and a Business Welcoming Microcredential pilot program. ADI has built partnerships with organizations and community leaders to grow diversity, equity and inclusion awareness in North Country communities and build a sense of welcoming and belonging for all who wish to live, work or travel here.

“We’re very lucky to have Tiffany lead this team,” said ADI co-founder and Core Team member Pete Nelson. “Her experience, vision and maturity left a powerful impression on us. Her warmth and passion will undoubtedly be embraced by our Adirondack communities. This is the right next step for ADI, and I think we all just want to roll up our sleeves and get going.”

ANCA is an independent, nonprofit corporation with a transformational approach to building prosperity across northern New York. Using innovative strategies for food systems, clean energy, small businesses, and equity and inclusion, ANCA delivers targeted interventions that create and sustain wealth and value in local communities.

The Adirondack Diversity Initiative (ADI) exists at the intersection of environmental and transformational justice, working to make the Adirondacks a more welcoming and inclusive place for both residents and visitors while ensuring a vital and sustainable Adirondack Park for future generations.