staff bios
Mitch Menchaca
Director of Local Arts Advancement
Mitch Menchaca is the director of local arts advancement at Americans for the Arts. He leads a team who cultivates local arts development in communities across the country by developing and implementing programs and services that strengthen and validate local arts agencies and the many other individuals and organizations that advance arts, culture, and artists at the local level including professional and leadership development, convenings, on-line resources, and peer networking opportunities.
Menchaca came to Americans for the Arts from the Arizona Commission on the Arts as the Senior Director of Programs, where he provided oversight for the agency's grantmaking and program development. He managed a portfolio of grantees from all artistic disciplines to local arts agencies with budgets ranging from $1,000 to more than $10 million. Prior to his tenure at the arts commission, Mitch held leadership and programmatic positions with the Casa Grande Valley Historical Society, Central Arizona College, the Pinal County Fine Arts Council, and the Arizona Humanities Council.
Nationally, Mitch serves on the board of directors of the Robert E. Gard Foundation, serves as vice-chair of The Association of American Cultures (TAAC), and served as a grant panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts' American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) program.
In Arizona, he served as president-elect of the state museum association and as chair of his local arts and humanities commission. In DC, he is on the board of directors of Artisphere, the new DC region cultural center and serves as a season panelist for the Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Classics in Conversation discussion series
Mitch studied theater at Central Arizona College, earned a B.L.S. with concentrations in arts and public administration at Arizona State University, and he completed a festival and event management certificate at the University of Minnesota Tourism Center. He is a 2009 fellow and current faculty coach for the Center for Progressive Leadership, a national political training institute that develops diverse leaders who can effectively advance progressive political and policy change.
E-mail Mitch.