Jay H. Dick

Jay Dick is the Senior Director of Equitable Advocacy and Partnerships at Americans for the Arts where he works to educate and inform elected officials about the value of the arts and culture. As a 25-year veteran of K Street, Capitol Hill, the private sector and federal, state and local campaigns, Jay possesses a tremendous body of knowledge in the fields of arts policy, government, the legislative process and grassroots advocacy. He is regularly interviewed by the media and testifies in front of legislative bodies as a subject matter expert on these topics and on Americans for the Arts’ legislative positions, including appropriations, arts education, tax policy and health care.

With the mandate to positively affect the policies that promote state and local funding and expansion of the arts, Jay works closely with the Americans for the Arts’ State Arts Advocacy Captains, Local Arts Groups, the State Arts Action Network and the State Arts Agencies. Further, he oversees Americans for the Arts’ Public Partnerships and works closely with the members and staffs of the Western Governors Association (WGA), the National Lt. Governors Association (NLGA), the National Conference of State Legislators, NACo, The United State Conference of Mayors, the National League of Cities and ICMA, the city/county managers association. He currently oversees several joint projects with these partners including the State Military & Veterans Arts & Humanities Initiative with (NLGA), the Creative Counties Placemaking Challenge (NACo), and the Arts and Rural Development Initiative (WGA).

Jay recently completed a five-year term as a Gubernatorial appointed Commissioner for the Virginia Commission for the Arts, and he has served on the boards of Arts for LA (Los Angeles, Calif.) and ArtsFAIRFAX (Fairfax, Va.) where he chaired their advocacy committee.

Jay received his B.A. in Political Science with a concentration in American History from Grinnell College in Grinnell, Iowa in 1993.

Advocacy for the arts is his job but also his passion.