staff bios
Mitch Menchaca
Director of Local Arts Agency Services
Mitch Menchaca is the director of local arts agency services at Americans for the Arts. Recently, he served as the senior director of programs at the Arizona Commission on the Arts and provided oversight for agency grantmaking, program development, and managed grants and services for festivals, tribal museums, art service organizations, and local arts agencies. Prior to working at the Arts Commission, Mitch served as the director of the Casa Grande Valley Historical Society, manager for Central Arizona College Public Events, and program associate for the Arizona Humanities Council. He has held contract positions with the Historic Sahuaro Ranch Museum, Actors Theatre of Phoenix, the Pinal County Fine Arts Council, and the Phoenix Museum of History.
Mitch served on the boards of directors of the Museum Association of Arizona, the City of Casa Grande Arts and Humanities Commission, and as a past chair of the Americans for the Arts Emerging Leaders Council. Currently, he is on the board and co-chair for the biennial Open Dialogue symposium for The Association of American Cultures (TAAC).
Mitch studied theater at Central Arizona College, earned a B.L.S. with concentrations in arts, humanities, 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.