Contributor

Robert L. Lynch

President and CEO, Americans for the Arts

Robert Lynch is the president and CEO of Americans for the Arts, the national organization dedicated to advancing the arts and arts education in people's lives, schools, and communities. He was Executive Director of the National Assembly of Local Arts Agencies for 12 years, and managed the successful merger of that organization with the American Council for the Arts to form Americans for the Arts in 1996. Mr. Lynch subsequently oversaw the mergers of the Arts and Business Council, Inc. and the Business Committee for the Arts into Americans for the Arts. He also created the Americans for the Arts Action Fund and its connected political action to establish arts-friendly public policy through engaging citizens to advocate for the arts and arts education. Under his 30 years of leadership, the services and membership of Americans for the Arts has grown to more than 50 times its original size in 1985. Mr. Lynch has personally reached audiences in over 2,000 locations spanning all 50 states, more than a dozen nations, and ranging from Native American tribal gatherings to the U.S. Armed Forces in Europe to the President of the United States. He earned a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, and plays the piano, mandolin, and guitar. He lives in Washington, DC.