Watch CA for the Art's Arts Advocacy Strategy Session, where we give updates on Federal arts issues, review the Governor’s May budget, discuss strategies, and identify actions we can take to ensure that arts, culture & creativity are supported.

Speakers

Tooshar Swain, Director, Public Policy, Americans for the Arts

Before joining Americans for the Arts, Tooshar served as Director of Public Policy and Advocacy at the National Association for Music Education. There he oversaw federal and state policy initiatives while supporting music educators in their efforts to advocate for their music programs. During this time, he also served as a board member for both the Committee for Education Funding and the Title IV-A Coalition.

Tooshar began his career on Capitol Hill working on tax policy, judiciary, and healthcare issues in the United States Senate. Following his time on Capitol Hill, Tooshar joined the Biotechnology Innovation Organization where we worked on tax policy and financial service issues for emerging companies. Tooshar has also worked as both a policy and communications consultant for presidential and congressional campaigns.

As the husband of a teacher and the father of two daughters, Tooshar has seen firsthand the need for the arts in a child’s life. This drives his commitment to advocacy for the arts on all levels.

Julie Baker, Chief Executive Officer, CA for the Arts

Julie has been the CEO of California's statewide arts advocacy organizations since late 2018. During her tenure, she has increased the legislative influence and visibility of arts and culture communities by building coalitions across for-profit and non-profit sectors of California's creative industries. She has championed a month-long arts awareness and advocacy campaign every April and fought for resources and legislation to serve and protect artists and cultural workers. Julie has served in various leadership roles, including California State Captain to Americans for the Arts' National Arts Action Summit, co-chair of the creative economy working group at the CA Economic Summit, and co-chair of the Western Arts Advocacy network for Creative West, where she is also a member of the Board of Trustees.  In 2025, she was appointed to the CalNonprofits Board of Directors. She also serves as Board President of California Heritage: Indigenous Research Project.  Her past roles include serving on the Nevada County school board (2020-2024) and as an appointed member of the State of California's 2022 Entrepreneurship & Economic Mobility Task Force (EEMTF) and the Creative Economy Working Group (2024-25).  In 2021, Julie received the Americans for the Arts Alene Valkanas State Arts Advocacy Award, which honors an individual at the state level whose arts advocacy efforts have dramatically affected the political landscape.

Tracy Hudak, Director of Field Engagement & Advocacy, CA for the Arts

Tracy is an artist, advocate and consultant who has worked at the intersections of art and economic and community development for over twenty years. She is a painter and theatre artist who specializes in collaborative devised works. Her artistic practices have informed the numerous creative placemaking and civic imagining platforms she has produced. Some of her favorite projects include developing the Creative Community Thomas Fire Recovery Programs, producing and facilitating the Westside Community Innovation Exchange, serving as Arts Impact Director for Downtown Oxnard and directing WeSource, a youth-led devised theatre project. As a consultant, she has contributed to the success of creative businesses and cultural nonprofits through the design and management of programming, marketing, fundraising and organizational development systems. As a creative economy advocate, she has organized campaigns and forums, developed policy language for local land use and economic development plans, produced cross-sector collaborations, published reports and articles and has served as a keynote speaker in various venues.

Tracy has a Masters in Public and Policy and Administration from California Lutheran University and a BFA in Performance Art from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She was called from Chicago to Los Angeles to work as an intern at Highways Performance Space and never left. After 13 years in LA, she and her husband John moved to Ventura County in 2006 to raise their daughter Ruby in the wild. They currently call Santa Paula home.