Julie Baker is Executive Director, Californians for the Arts and California Arts Advocates (Sacramento). As the Executive Director of California’s statewide arts advocacy organizations since 2018, Julie has worked to increase the legislative clout and visibility of the arts and culture communities by building coalition across the for- and nonprofit sectors of California’s creative industries, producing a month-long arts awareness and advocacy campaign every April, and fighting for resources and legislation to serve and protect artists and cultural workers. She serves as the California State Captain for the National Arts Action Summit, is a member of Americans for the Arts’ State Arts Action Network Council, and is the co-chair of the Western Arts Advocacy network for WESTAF. She is on the board of California Heritage: Indigenous Research Project, a founding member of the Nevada County Relief Fund advisory council and was elected to the Nevada County school board in November 2020.

Over the years, Julie has owned a fine arts gallery for emerging artists, co-founded Flow art fair—a satellite to Art Basel Miami Beach—opened the consulting firm Julie Baker Projects, and curated an annual music series at the Crocker Art Museum. Earlier in her career she was president of her family’s arts marketing firm in New York City and worked at Christie’s auction house before moving to California in 1998. Julie also served for eight years as the Executive Director of The Center for the Arts, a nonprofit performing arts venue, and California WorldFest, an annual music and camping festival located in Grass Valley, CA. She is the recipient of the inaugural Peggy Levine Arts & Community Service Award from the Nevada County Arts Council.