Anita Lauricella

Lecturer

Anita M. Lauricella (AR 804- Advanced Management and Consulting) has been committed throughout her professional career to applying strategic thinking, operational assessments, and financial analysis to serve community nonprofit and public-focused organizations. Since 2001 she has worked as an independent consultant, providing financial management, coalition-building, facility development, and strategic planning consulting to organizations involved in the arts, community service, and education. Recent projects have focused on place management, arts-based placemaking, cultural facilities, and cultural economic development.

Since 2013 Anita has had various positions at the Downtown Boston Business Improvement District. Initially hired as a senior planner/project manager, Anita has also been the interim CFO, the interim co-executive director, and most recently the Director of Planning and Research. Anita’s work included ensuring that the BID’s 34 blocks of public realm meet the needs of members, residents, and visitors and is welcoming to everyone. At the BID, Anita was responsible for cultural placemaking, urban planning/urban design, and design and management of the BID’s research program.

As president of the Fort Point Cultural Coalition from 2002-2010, Anita built a reputation for effectively bringing together disparate constituencies — artists, arts organizations, real estate interests, funders, and public sector officials — to preserve this vital arts community in Boston. She was instrumental in developing a one-quarter million square foot mixed-use space in the Fort Point neighborhood and establishing a cultural community development corporation to advance an arts district and preserve the artists’ neighborhood. Additionally, she has consulted commercial developers and government entities on cultural planning and community partnerships.

Previously, she was the director of business development and planning for the New England Foundation for the Arts. She is currently the treasurer of the Boston Dance Alliance and has served on the Boards of Friends of Fort Point Channel, the Arts & Business Council of Greater Boston, and as the Women-Express/Teen Voices Board Chair. Anita has taught Financial Management for Performing Arts Organizations at Emerson College, been a guest lecturer at Simmons College, and developed financial literacy training for boards, senior staff, and grant review panels. Since its inception, she has been a site adviser to the MCC’s Cultural District program and a grant adviser to the Cultural Facilities Fund.

Anita is on the faculty of Boston University’s graduate arts administration program, where she teaches Advanced Management and Consulting for Arts Organizations. She holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Clark University and an M.B.A. from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.