Chief Government Affairs Officer

Chief Government Affairs Officer

Americans for the Arts

The Opportunity

Position: Chief Government Affairs Officer

Reporting Relationship: Chief Executive Officer

Location: Washington, DC

Website: https://www.americansforthearts.org/

About the Organization

Americans for the Arts (“AFTA”) builds recognition and support for the extraordinary and dynamic value of the arts by leading, serving, and advancing networks of organizations and individuals who cultivate the arts across the nation. By connecting ideas and leaders from regionally diverse communities, Americans for the Arts ensures that every American has access to the transformative power of the arts.

Since its founding in 1960, AFTA has never been defined by a single purpose. Instead, AFTA represents a varied portfolio of organizations advocating for the economic, cultural, and social power of the arts. Today, Americans for the Arts blends expertise in research, advocacy, convening, and communication to bridge local and national efforts. At this pivotal moment, AFTA is also investing in new approaches to movement-building, digital engagement, and modernized advocacy practices, creating significant organizational opportunity for emerging capabilities and strategic renewal across systems, structures, and practices.

Working across all 50 states, Washington, DC, and the five U.S. Territories, AFTA supports a nationwide ecosystem of advocates, educators, artists, funders, policymakers, and cultural leaders who advance arts access, education, economic development, and community vitality.

AFTA reflects the full spectrum of stakeholders within the arts and culture ecosystem. This includes individuals, nonprofit arts and culture organizations, local arts agencies, advocates, artists, arts administrators, and businesses. This breadth of partnership allows AFTA to draw on a wide array of perspectives and expertise, strengthening its ability to mobilize an informed and effective national arts advocacy network.

As the nation navigates a shifting policy environment, AFTA is actively engaging to protect and strengthen the creative sector. Under new leadership, the organization is aligning its mission with renewed urgency and responsiveness to ensure that arts and culture remain central to America’s economic, social, and democratic future.

Across more than six decades, AFTA’s commitment remains unwavering: transforming America’s collective creativity into a powerful engine that drives innovation, protects democracy, and expands opportunities for artists, arts and culture organizations, and the communities they serve.

Research & Tools

AFTA stands at the forefront of arts research and tool development, offering invaluable resources that empower arts leaders, policymakers, and advocates to shape policies that enhance the arts’ role in community development. AFTA’s flagship study, Arts & Economic Prosperity, now in its sixth iteration, is the most comprehensive analysis of the nonprofit arts and culture industry’s economic impact, encompassing data from hundreds of communities nationwide. AFTA’s Arts Impact Explorer links the arts to key social outcomes, providing advocates with a powerful resource to demonstrate the arts’ role in community well-being. The Arts Impact Explorer represents one of many practical tools AFTA has developed to equip and strengthen the broader arts community.

Convening & Programs

As economic, cultural, social, and technological transformations continue to impact us all, AFTA sees change as an immense opportunity to radically reimagine how to gather, learn, and grow together. Embracing this change, AFTA’s history of dynamic convenings sets the stage for an exciting future.

Further, AFTA’s commitment to innovation, equity, and impactful engagement positions the arts community for exponential growth. By continuously evolving its events and programs, AFTA ensures it meets the needs of its diverse and dynamic community, driving forward a future where the arts play a central role in society.

Key convenings and programs include:

• Legislative Fly-Ins: During Covid-19, AFTA pivoted from its large Arts Advocacy Day Conference to Federal Legislative Fly-Ins, held three times a year. These targeted events bring advocates from key districts to engage with influential Members of Congress. Reimagined as a year-long advocacy program, it now includes webinar trainings, D.C.-based Legislative Fly-Ins, and nationwide advocacy training Fly-Outs, enhancing our ability to lobby and provide robust advocacy training throughout the year.
• Annual Convention (AFTACON): After shifting to a virtual format during the pandemic, AFTA paused its Annual Convention to reassess and reimagine its offerings. AFTACON returned as an in-person gathering in 2025 in Cincinnati. In 2026, AFTACON will be hosted in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and guided by the work of selected pathway committees addressing a broad range of content areas, including advocacy. The convening will serve as a dynamic forum for the national arts community to engage, frame critical issues, shape the future and organize for action.
• Nancy Hanks Lecture on Arts & Public Policy: This lecture series is the leading national forum for arts policy intended to stimulate dialogue on policy and social issues affecting the arts. The event brings together influential voices from the arts, government, and civic life to elevate national dialogue on arts advocacy and the arts’ essential role in public policy. In 2024, the lecture featured actor and cultural advocate Jeffrey Wright alongside Congressman James Clyburn (D-SC), recipient of the 2024 Congressional Arts Leadership Award, underscoring the ongoing relevance, reach, and impact of arts and cultural policy at the highest levels of public discourse.

Communications

AFTA maintains an expansive communications platform designed to advance and strengthen the country’s arts and creative sector. Through a mix of digital tools -- social media, webinars, newsletters, and a website -- AFTA disseminates timely information to a wide audience across arts, policy, and civic landscapes. Strategic partnerships with organizations, policymakers, and cultural institutions further amplify AFTA’s messaging, enhancing its policy impact. Collectively, this platform engages hundreds of thousands of followers across social media channels, a large newsletter subscriber base, and frequent website visitors.

Advocacy

AFTA, a Section 501(c)(3) organization, is uniquely positioned to unite people across political affiliations and sectors. The organization maintains strong, long-standing relationships with Members of Congress, federal agencies, and policy leaders, enabling it to effectively advance arts-related priorities at the federal level. This influence is further strengthened through its affiliated 501(c)(4) organization, the AFTA Action Fund. Together, these complementary entities advance policy, mobilize grassroots support, and elevate the arts as a national priority.

Americans for the Arts Action Fund (AAF) is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit advocacy membership organization that engages in direct and grassroots lobbying, as well as permissible electoral and political activities to advance arts policy at the federal level. As an affiliate of Americans for the Arts, the Action Fund works to mobilize a nationwide network of individual arts advocates—currently exceeding 400,000 members—to influence policymakers and strengthen bipartisan support for the arts. Americans for the Arts provides an annual grant of to the Action Fund to support nonpolitical grassroots organizing, public education, and membership development efforts. The Arts Action Fund operates independently, has its own Board of Directors, and maintains its own website at www.ArtsActionFund.org. The Arts Action Fund also has a connected federal political action committee, the Americans for the Arts Action Fund PAC.

Role Overview & Responsibilities

Reporting to the CEO, the Chief Government Affairs Officer (CGAO) is a senior executive leader at AFTA and is responsible for developing and advancing the organization’s federal, state, and local advocacy, public policy, and movement-building strategy. The CGAO will also be responsible for shaping and articulating a clear, unifying national arts policy agenda that provides coherence and direction across advocacy efforts.

The CGAO provides overall strategic leadership for Americans for the Arts’ advocacy platform, working within the limitations on lobbying and political activities imposed by Section 501(c)(3), and coordinates appropriately with the independently governed Americans for the Arts Action Fund to promote alignment, information-sharing, and legal compliance between the two entities, particularly where the Action Fund conducts permissible 501(c)(4) lobbying and political activity.

Based in Washington, DC, the CGAO builds and sustains high-level relationships with Members of Congress, federal agencies, and national advocacy partners. The CGAO serves as the lead strategist for government affairs and oversees all activities, including nonpartisan policy development, public education, research dissemination, coalition building, and grassroots engagement.

The CGAO translates strategy into execution by setting priorities, strengthening internal systems, and aligning staff and resources around shared advocacy goals. This leader fosters a culture of accountability, data-informed decision-making, and cross-functional collaboration, ensuring policy initiatives respond effectively to the political environment and the needs of the national arts community.

Key Responsibilities Include:

Government Affairs Strategy

• Lead the development of a cohesive government affairs strategy and national arts policy agenda for Americans for the Arts, establishing clear policy pillars, priorities, and appropriate operational distinctions.
• Serve as the senior strategist for advancing federal policy priorities while modernizing advocacy and influence approaches across affiliated entities.
• Where appropriate, provide strategic leadership and oversight in partnership with the Arts Action Fund, ensuring alignment across advocacy and strategy while maintaining clear governance and compliance boundaries.
• Partner closely with the CEO on political judgment, positioning, and high-level external engagement.
• Advise organizational leadership, Boards, funders, and partners on strategy, advocacy priorities, and risk management in a dynamic and evolving policy environment.

Federal Advocacy & Bipartisan Engagement

• Build, maintain, and strengthen high-trust, bipartisan relationships with Members of Congress, key committee leadership, senior congressional staff, and federal agencies.
• Shape and execute legislative strategies that advance core federal funding priorities while identifying and responding to emerging policy opportunities.
• Ensure advocacy efforts are aligned with diverse constituencies and stakeholders.

Movement-Building, Organizing & Influence

• Design and help implement a national advocacy infrastructure that serves as the backbone of a growing movement, building upon existing programs and partnerships to connect and align engagement across regions, states, and local communities.
• Apply organizing principles to build, mobilize, and activate advocates, coalitions, and partners nationwide, expanding the movement’s base and converting supporters into coordinated constituencies for action.
• Strengthen and expand influence strategies that integrate grassroots advocacy, digital engagement, online organizing programs, and political accountability tools, giving the movement a diverse set of levers for impact.
• Collaborate with the Action Fund to activate and grow its national membership base in meaningful, strategic ways that fuel long-term movement power and drive sustained policy change.
• Cultivate a shared movement identity and narrative that unites advocates, organizations, artists, and partners around common goals and values, amplifying the sector’s collective voice.

Innovation & Organizational Leadership

• Lead, inspire, manage, and grow a talented government affairs team, fostering a culture of collaboration, accountability, and innovation.
• Maintain a visible, hands-on leadership approach, supporting staff across a wide range of experience levels and contributing directly to priority initiatives as needed.
• Conduct regular assessments of the government affairs function, including structure and workflows to ensure effectiveness and create additional efficiencies, where possible.
• Oversee and manage advocacy-related budgets, resources, and external consultants in support of organizational priorities.

Cross-Organizational Collaboration

• Partner with research, communications, and program teams to translate data, tools, and narratives into compelling advocacy, which is effectively amplified for critical stakeholders and constituencies, while also collaborating across teams on joint initiatives that advance organizational strategies.
• Coordinate with and manage external advisors to advance strategic priorities and organizational change.
• Partner with state and local arts organizations and advocacy groups to support the development of model legislation, policy frameworks, and adaptable advocacy pathways.
• Strategically incorporate expert awareness of state and local advocacy dynamics to support local engagement in federal mobilization efforts.

Candidate Profile

The ideal candidate is a politically savvy, creative, and action-oriented government affairs leader who brings the mindset of a community organizer. They thrive at the intersection of policy, politics, and movement-building and are energized by the opportunity to reimagine how arts advocacy works at the national level.

This leader will bring fresh perspective, strong political instincts, and the ability to inspire teams and partners while maintaining the credibility and relationships necessary to operate effectively across diverse political environments and contexts.

The successful candidate will demonstrate:

Strategy & Organizing Expertise

• Significant experience developing and executing federal advocacy or political strategies, ideally with a track record of grassroots organizing, coalition-building, and/or movement-based influence. Experience overseeing or integrating state-level advocacy is valued but not required.
• A sophisticated and nuanced understanding of how power, influence, and policy change operate within Congress, the Administration, and national/state/local advocacy ecosystems.
• Experience working across or alongside both 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4) organizations, with demonstrated comfort navigating compliance boundaries while advancing strategic impact.
• Experience overseeing large-scale national campaigns including programs and high-visibility stakeholder engagement.
• Direct arts policy experience is valued but not required; candidates from other highly regulated or influential sectors with transferable advocacy expertise are encouraged.

Bipartisan Relationship-Building

• A proven ability to build, sustain, and leverage trust-based relationships across party lines, including with Members of Congress, senior staff, and allied organizations.
• Sound political judgment and discretion, with the ability to balance diverse expectations, interests, and perspectives.
• Experience engaging elected officials through a range of advocacy tools, including legislative outreach, grassroots mobilization, and political accountability strategies.

Innovative & Change-Oriented Leadership

• A strong leadership presence and experience leading senior government affairs professionals and managing complex advocacy teams; including responsibility for departmental budgets, multi-channel programs, and external consultants.
• Comfort leading organizational change, including strategy renewal and modernization of systems, structures, and practices.
• Experience leading and developing teams with a wide range of professional experience, including coaching and supporting early-career staff alongside senior leaders.

Board & Governance Engagement

• Demonstrated experience working closely with Boards of Directors as a senior government affairs or advocacy leader.
• Ability to advise, educate, and partner with board members on strategy, policy priorities, risk management, and compliance considerations.
• Experience supporting board level engagement in advocacy, stakeholder influence, and political activity while ensuring legal and regulatory compliance.

Mission Alignment & Values

• A deep appreciation and awareness of the role of the arts and creative sector in strengthening communities, democracy, and economic opportunity.
• A demonstrated commitment to equity, inclusion, and access as core principles of advocacy and leadership.

Education

Bachelor’s degree required. Master’s or other relevant advanced degree preferred.

Compensation & Benefits

The compensation range for this position is $220,000-$230,000 and will be commensurate with scale and scope of leadership experience. The compensation package includes medical, dental, and vision insurance, 403b employer contribution, and generous time-off package including parental leave as well as short- and long-term disability, life insurance, FSA, EAP, and access to funding for professional development opportunities.

Apply

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