Draft:Jackson Cooper

Jackson Cooper (May 5, 1994) is an arts leader, executive, film programmer, and writer based in Seattle, WA. He is currently the Executive Director of the American Genre Film Archive and was appointed to the Washington State Arts Commission by Governor Jay Inslee in 2024. He was named one of the Top 30 Professionals of the Year by Musical America magazine in 2023 and hold adjunct faculty positions at both UNC-Greensboro and Seattle University.

Background
Cooper grew up in Wake Forest, North Carolina, attending Franklin Academy. In high school, he interned for North Carolina Theatre, Carolina Ballet, Hot Summer Nights at the Kennedy, and other North Carolina institutions. He is the recipient of the 2012 Robert L. Luddy Arts Scholarship for his contributions to the arts. He studied acting and orchestra conducting beginning at age 14. While in school, he became the first student conductor of the North Carolina Symphony's Youth Sinfonietta, studying under Maestro William Henry Curry.

He attended UNC-Greensboro where he crafted an interdisciplinary degree in Arts Administration, majoring in Theatre and minoring in Business Administration. While at UNCG, he acted in UNCG Theatre productions including Junie B. Jones in Jingle Bells, Batman Smells, Quake, Romeo and Juliet and assistant directed productions of THIS, In the Next Room or, The Vibrator Play and UNCG Opera productions of Galileo Galilei (Glass), Iolanthe (w/UNCG Summer Opera). In 2016, he received UNCG's UNCG's Undergraduate Research, Scholarship and Creativity Office had given him the funds to be the full music director and conductor for the summer GLOS production in Manteo of "Beauty and the Beast".

Leadership
In 2016, Cooper became the Executive Director of Chamber Music Raleigh, a nonprofit presenting organization in Raleigh, NC. He produced two concerts in collaboration with pianist Lara Downes and the Leonard Bernstein Office in honor of Bernstein's centennial year, including a televised concert at the North Carolina State Capitol Building. Under his tenure, CMR grew revenue and community impact, becoming a nationally recognized artistic catalyst through presenting groups like the Juilliard Quartet, American Chamber Players, Melange, and celebrating the NC Arts Council's anniversary year with a concert by NC-born composer Caroline Shaw. For his leadership, he was recognized by the News and Observer as Tar Heel of the Week.

He currently serves as the Executive Director of the American Genre Film Archive, the world's largest and only known nonprofit distributor and archive dedicated to preserving and protecting the greatest genre films of all time.

Theatre and Music
He was the Music Director/Conductor of the Durham Savoyards, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit theatre company dedicated to the presentation of Gilbert & Sullivan, from 2017-2019 and was Chair of the Artistic Committee for The Justice Theatre Project from 2016-2019. During his time with JTP, he directed and conducted shows as well as served on the Artistic Director Search and Transition Committee.

Writing
Cooper is the author of A Kid's Book About Kindness  which promotes kindness as a tool for personal and social growth for children and their caregivers. The book has been profiled in The Advocate, Fox13, KOMO News, and on the podcast A Kid's Book About Podcast, noting "kindness is not just about being nice to others but also about being nice to yourself. It's part of cultivating a kind mindset that the author feels children aren't taught as often and which doesn't usually follow us into adulthood."

He is currently working on a book on Fundraising through Columbia Business School Publishing with his co-author Hannah Grannemann.

Active in arts criticism, Cooper served as a Music/Theatre/Dance critic for the Greensboro News and Record and Winston Salem Journal. He was a frequent contributor to Classical Voice of North Carolina, American Theatre Magazine, Classical Voice of North America, TheHomoCulture.com, Grove Music Online/Oxford Dictionary of Music, and held professional memberships in the Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association and Music Critics Association of North America.

Teaching
Cooper currently serves as Adjunct Professor of Arts Administration at UNC-Greensboro and Adjunct Faculty of Arts Leadership at Seattle University, at which he teaches Fundraising and Arts Leadership for both. He served on the Curriculum Standards Committee, Association of Arts Administration Educators in 2022 to revise curriculums standards for teaching Fundraising in Arts Administration programs.

He has presented on topics of arts leadership, fundraising, and next generation leaders for the League of American Orchestras, Theatre Communications Group, Cultural Congress, ArtsReach, and other prominent conferences.

Honors and Awards
In 2023, Musical America named Cooper as one of the Top 30 Arts Professionals of the year, recognized for his work in philanthropy and teaching in Seattle and in 2024, was appointed to the Washington State Arts Commission for a three-year term by Governor Jay Inslee and named as an Honorary Fellow for the Rainier Club in Seattle, WA.

UNC-Greensboro awarded Cooper with the Young Alumni Award which recognizes exceptional achievement and significant contributions made to profession, community, society or the university by the age of 40.

Southern Theatre magazine recognized him, along with 5 other leaders, paving the way for "The Future of Arts Fundraising" in their Fall 2022 issue.