Jackson Cooper is a community-centered fundraiser, writer, arts administrator, and consultant. He has served as an arts philanthropy professional for 15+ years, having served in various arts nonprofit positions in North Carolina, New York, and Pittsburgh.

He is the Executive Director of the American Genre Film Archive, the world's largest nonprofit archive and distributor dedicated to preserving, collecting, and presenting the greatest genre films of all time. Formed in 2009, AGFA is committed to preserving the legacy of genre films through our archival work, sharing these movies through our home video label, and promoting the power of genre through our theatrical distribution arm. Since its inception, AGFA has rescued over one-hundred features from the void, including the works of exploitation pioneer Doris Wishman, underground trash-art king Jon Moritsugu, Riot Grrrl icon Sarah Jacobson, and found-footage founder Joe Dante. AGFA’s archives house over six-thousand 35mm film prints, a 4K scanner, and prestigious libraries such as the Something Weird archive.

He was named one of the Top 30 Arts Professionals of 2023 by Musical America magazine. Now based in Seattle, he is currently the Individual and Major Gifts Associate Director at Mary’s Place and was previously the Major Gifts Manager for Pacific Northwest Ballet. He also is Adjunct Faculty at both Seattle University and UNC-Greensboro where he teaches Fundraising . He holds an MFA in Arts Leadership at Seattle University where his thesis focused on accountability to Equity and Antiracism in Arts Organizations.

He is the author of the children’s book A Kid’s Book About Kindness (AKidsCo, 2023) based on his life and career in philanthropy. He is authoring two forthcoming books on fundraising: Sustainable Fundraising (Columbia Business School press, 2027) and Giving, Philanthropy, and the Practice of gratitude (Routledge, 2024). He has contributed to When The Lights Are Bright Again (Applause Books, 2021), Alternative Careers in the Arts (Focal Press, 2022), HowlRoundTheatre Commons, the Arts Ecosystem Research project, American Theatre Magazine, Hollywood.com, amd the Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association. He has programmed films for North Carolina Museum of Art and the Alamo Drafthouse in Raleigh and contributes liner notes for Arrow Video’s classic film releases.

He has lectured and taught classes on musicals, film, and pop culture for Duke University, North Carolina State University, The University of Washington .

His podcast appearances include Town Hall Arts and Culture, I'd Like to Speak with your arts manager, Movies that Made Us Gay, Keep Sweet, Strictly Speaking (NC State), Movies on the Radio (WUNC), The State of Things, and Scene and Screen where he was a frequent co-host with Mix 101.5FM’s Diane Ramsey.

A trained theatre director and music conductor, his credits include productions with Theatre In The Park, Theatre Raleigh, UNC-Chapel Hill, and UNC-Greensboro. 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.

He has been a grant panelist for local and national artist grant panels including the National Endowment for the Arts, United Arts Council, ArtsWA, State of North Carolina, 4Culture. He is a member of the national Taskforce on Next Generation artists for Theatre Communications Group and has presented on arts administration for the Society of Arts Entrepreneurship Educators, the Association for Arts Administration Educators, Mary Reneult Society, The Governor’s Club, and the Rainier Club. In his free time, he enjoys running, cooking, re-listening to show tunes, and long drives in the country. .