Tionenji Aiken

Vice President, Communications & Community Engagement + Rafala Green Fellowship Program Director
tio.aiken@artspace.org
Tio speaking on a panel for Artspace's Breaking Ground Conference (2016), on the gentrification of Lowertown

Tionenji Aiken (Tio Aiken) is the Vice President of Communications for Artspace Projects Inc. Recruited to Artspace in 2016 as the Communications Manager, Aiken has slowly shifted the Artspace brand to focus on multi-format storytelling with a deep desire to highlight the intersectionality of Artspace's diverse residential communities and partnerships nationwide. In 2017, Aiken became the Director of Communications. She also became the Program Director for the Rafala Green Fellowship program, a two-year fellowship that promotes equity and inclusion in non-profit real-estate by training the next generation of POCI emerging leaders working at the intersection of arts, real-estate, and community development, funded by the Ford Foundation.

Outside of her formal roles at Artspace, Aiken is a practicing poet and a champion of anyone using their creative expression to make space in the world for positive change. She currently sits on the advisory boards of Made Here MN and Giant Steps MN, and the Board of Directors for the Twin Cities Jazzfest.

She is a graduate of the University of Minnesota Twin Cities, and holds a BA., in Cultural Studies, Comparative Literature, and Media Studies.