Jay Dick is the Senior Director of State and Local Government Affairs at Americans for the Arts where he works to educate and inform elected officials about the value of the arts and culture.  As an twenty-five 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 a nationally recognized speaker on these topics having designed and overseen many initiatives.  Jay is regularly interviewed by the media and testifies in front of legislative bodies as a subject matter expert on these topics and and on Americans for the Arts’ legislative positions which includes 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 to accomplish these goals.  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 (NCSL), the National Association of Counties (NACo), The United State Conference of Mayors (USCM), the National League of Cities (NLC) and ICMA, the city/county managers association.  He currently oversees several joint projects with these partners including the State Military & Veterans Arts & Humanities Initiative (NLGA), the Creative Counties Placemaking Challenge (NACo), and the Arts and Rural Development Initiative (WGA).

Jay began working at Americans for the Arts in 2004.  Prior, he worked for Capitol Advantage, a high tech advocacy company; the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM); and the Society of Plastics Industry (SPI).  Jay spent the 1996 campaign cycle working as the Field Director for a congressional campaign in Iowa’s 3rd District and began his career with the United States Senate where he served on the personal staff of Tom Harkin (IA) and then Frank Lautenberg (NJ).

Jay recently completed a five year term as a Gubernatorial appointed Commissioner for the Virginia Commission for the Arts and he also has served on the boards of Arts for LA (Los Angeles, CA) 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.