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Arena Academy 201: The New Management Skills Recap
March 31, 2026
We just wrapped up our first training of 2026!
What Happened at Arena Academy 201: The New Management Skills?
Arena Academy 201: The New Management Skills is a 2.5-day training for experienced campaign staff who want to deepen their people and program management skills.
From March 13-15, we gathered online for large-group and small-group training sessions led by expert trainers, campaigners, and people and program managers. Throughout the sessions, we equipped participants with the skills to lead teams with a people-centered approach and prepared them to navigate the evolving AI and digital landscape campaigns face. Throughout our time together, participants connected with each other, reflected on themselves, and learned new skills.
We held sessions including Leadership Self Assessment, Preparing to Lead on AI: Crafting AI Guidelines, Hiring and Onboarding Effectively, Crafting Your Campaign Brand Voice, Budgeting Strategically, Performance Improvements and Terminations, Implementing Strong Management, and more!
Trainer Elise Ribiero is answering participant questions during the choose your own adventure session, Budgeting Strategically.
Who Came to Arena Academy
Over 2.5 days, we trained 138 experienced campaign professionals. Graduates of this cohort hailed from 35 states, 54% are women, 59% are BIPOC, and 41% are members of the LGBTQ+ community.
Our participants brought a wealth of experience: 46% have been employed in politics for 2+ years, and 41% have held roles at the department director level or above.
If you’re hiring, check out our Talent Bank or email careers@arena.run to get connected to top talent from this cohort.
What are the New Management Skills?
This year, Arena Academy 201 combined foundational management skills with the new management skills required to meet this moment. As participants honed their leadership styles, learned how to give effective feedback, and how to manage strong teams, they also learned more about the state of generative AI and social communications, and how these apply to management roles and team building.
Throughout the training, we held sessions with a specific focus on AI and digital skills, including Crafting Your Campaign Brand Voice, AI Google tools for Civics, Preparing to Lead on AI: Crafting AI Guidelines, Applied AI for Leaders and Managers, and on Friday evening, we opened up a panel discussion featuring the entire Arena Community about the state of AI.
The panel AI is Here: Now What, featured Ben Resnick, Chief Strategy Officer at Social Currant, Kate Gage, Executive Director at Higher Ground Institute, Michael Kaiser, President and CEO of Defending Digital Campaigns, Gautham Arumilli, Head of Technology at Swing Left, and Steve Lambert, Co-Founder and Executive Director at Center for Artistic Activism. Panelists shared their perspectives on the risks and opportunities of AI, then spent time in small-group discussions with participants.
You can watch the panel discussion here >>
On Sunday, we dove into topics such as budgeting, careers office hours, and social media communications. We held the popular session, Crafting Your Campaign Brand Voice. During this training, Danielle Kantor, founder of Sticky Notes Labs, and Brigitte Bradford, Senior Digital Strategist at DigiDems, helped participants understand how to build an authentic brand online and examined what it takes to communicate with voters effectively. Participants got to put their new skills into action through a hands-on exercise analyzing Elmo’s brand voice online.
We’re also excited to announce that, in the lead-up to the training, we teamed up with DigiDems to create an Arena Toolbox tool available for anyone looking to improve their campaign brand voice online. Check it out here >>
Our Impact
THIS WAS SO EXCELLENT. THANK YOU. I feel so, so lucky to have received this level of high-quality training, which has demystified a lot of the most intimidating aspects of management. I still feel (appropriately) daunted by the responsibility — but I feel much more prepared and I know where to access tools and support.
I learned so much, I really appreciate this opportunity. I’m taking this info with my team and hopefully make some adjustments
I’ve been able to learn brand new information regarding AI. I felt like I came from a complete luddite understanding, to actually having a feel for how to use AI in a responsible and more ethical way.
The staff has been incredible, leading these sessions smoothly, and very open to how the conversations went, and led to very interesting and thought provoking trains of thought that I would never have considered previously.
I loved the Leadership Statement [training session]; it was a great self-reflection, and helped begin to develop how to think about how to be a better leader.
Will You Fund Arena Academy Scholarships?
Now that Zinc Collective and Arena have joined forces, we are poised to strengthen the campaign talent pipeline at a moment when it matters most. Together, we’re recruiting, training, and connecting people to roles on the most critical campaigns.
A key part of this work is training staff at scale on foundational campaign skills and strategies to make the most of emerging technology, from AI to digital communications.
Arena is holding another Arena Academy at the end of April, where we’ll train hundreds more campaign staff.
But none of this works if access is limited. Will you fund a scholarship today and help ensure the next generation of campaign staff can step in, get trained, and make an impact?
Your Gift Can Cover
$100 — Partial scholarship support
$200 — Full scholarship for Arena Academy 201
$300 — Full scholarship for Arena Academy
$500 — Childcare grants that remove a critical barrier to participation
$900 — Three full Academy scholarships
Or consider making your gift monthly. Recurring donations provide the steady support that allows Arena to plan trainings, fund scholarships, and support the next generation of civic leaders year-round.
