The Innovation Collaborative and its national partners have joined together to create the Innovation Collaborative (IC), a new, national organization networking the Arts, Sciences, and Humanities in education to promote innovation thinking for students of all ages. IC focuses on the dissemination of research and effective practices in the intersections of art and design, science, humanities, and engineering, use of technology, and creativity, cognition, and learning in both Pre-K-12 and informal learning settings.

StubHub, the world’s largest ticket marketplace, recently announced its biggest music initiative yet to discover and support emerging artists.

Ingenuity’s "State of the Arts" progress report shows that Chicago Public Schools (CPS) have increased arts instruction, staffing, partnerships, and funding during the second year of implementing the CPS Arts Education Plan. The CPS Arts Education Plan and the effort to expand instruction in CPS is a leading goal of the Chicago Cultural Plan, issued by the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events.

This week the Massachusetts Cultural Council (MCC) launched the first state initiative in the U.S. to bring music education to underserved youth through programs inspired by El Sistema.

Earlier today, Representative Aaron Schock (R-IL), co-chair of the Congressional STEAM Caucus, addressed attendees at The Atlantic’s Full STEM Ahead event at The George Washington University.

In October, Americans for the Arts and The Conference Board collaborated on two events focused on how the arts can advance business and community goals. On October 6, Bob Lynch hosted forty corporate leaders from the Corporate Contributions Council I at his home in Washington, D.C. for a dinner and discussion on arts education policy. We shared with them recent work in arts education including the new National Core Arts Standards.

The NABE Foundation, a partner of Americans for the Arts and the charitable arm of the National Association for Business Economics (NABE) is awarding its seventh annual Americans for the Arts scholarship to encourage the integration of the arts into the economic education process.

Arts education transforms societies, but how? In many ways, but one way that Americans for the Arts' CEO and President, Bob Lynch, focuses on in his op ed to the Huffington Post is by creating a larger and more innovative workforce.

This fall, the South Dakota Board of Education announced that they are seeking to change state standards for fine arts – as well as science and technology – to keep their students on par with other states and help them succeed. 

Way back in 2011, The Kennedy Center selected Tulsa, Oklahoma to participate in their “Any Given Child” program; an initiative dedicated to ensuring unique arts education for students throughout every grade level in K-8 schools.  Through a partnership between Tulsa Public Schools and the Arts & Humanities Council of Tulsa, local students just recently completed their first year of an arts curriculum in May of 2014 and are now entering a secon

This August, officials from the White House, famous Hispanic artists, and Americans for the Arts staff were on hand to visit Meadow Homes Elementary School in Concord, California and observe its two year growth in a new arts-centered curriculum.

Americans for the Arts and the National Coalition for Core Arts Standards (NCCAS) will be joined by singer-songwriter and arts education activist Ben Folds to launch the new National Core Arts Standards on Monday, October 20.

October is the month to #ShowYourArt, meet up for Creative Conversations, and celebrate the role the arts and humanities have in shaping and improving our communities - it's National Arts and Humanities Month (NAHM)! 

Yesterday, American voters turned out to the polls to vote for federal, state and local candidates and ballot measures. With many headlines focusing on control of the U.S. Senate or trends of state legislature leadership, arts education was central to several races throughout the country.

State Superintendent of Education

In the United States, there are 13 states which publicly elect their state education chief. In 2014, seven of the thirteen were up for election. The results are below:

Three weeks ago, the Beaumont Independent School District (BISD) realized they must act on their $25m shortfall for next year; their solution was to cut 231 teachers targeting specific genres of educators like the fine arts. This angered groups of students and business owners (from creative industries like tattoo parlor owners), who went to the BISD board and the Texas Education Agency (TEA) to protest in support of a TEA takeover of BISD which would have a better solution than targeting the fine arts teachers.

Following passage of legislation sponsored by Congressional Arts Caucus and STEAM Caucus member Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA) in 2010, now each September, the country celebrates “Arts in Education Week.” This year during Arts in Education Week, the STEAM Caucus joined forces with the newly-formed Maker Caucus to brief members, staff, and interested organizations on 3D printing—and what’s happening at the intersection of art and technology in schools.

Robert Lynch, CEO and President of Americans for the Arts, and Jane Chu, Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, wrote for a special insert on arts education and creative careers to Mediaplanet featured in today's edition of USA TODAY.

KRIS wine and Americans for the Arts have teamed up again to help support arts education through the Art of Education contest. Now in its 5^th year, the contest awards 16 schools in the US a total of $25,000 in grants to improve academic achievement through quality arts education. As more states continue to cut arts education budgets, every extra dollar towards arts education helps!

Would you like the opportunity to influence Americans for the Arts programs/services? Now's your chance, it’s election season here at Americans for the Arts!

The Right Brain Initiative is releasing new data that demonstrate the impact of rich classroom arts-integrated instruction on student test scores.

Annually, each September, a week is designated by Congress as Arts in Education Week. According to the resolution, which Congress passed in 2010, the week following the second Sunday in the month of September shall be "Arts in Education Week."

WASHINGTON– August 20, 2014 – Americans for the Arts, the nation’s leading nonprofit organization for advancing the arts and arts education, announced today that ten state teams would join a three-year pilot program to strengthen arts education by advancing state policy. Announced at the National Conference of State Legislatures’ legislative summit in Minneapolis, the ten states entering the pilot program are:

Smith Micro Software and Sprint have teamed up to launch an avatar design contest that will help encourage students explore their creative side through the digital arts.

Throughout the month of August, JCPenney shoppers can round up their purchases to the nearest dollar and donate the difference to support arts in education. Contributions will be donated to JCPenney Cares to help fund national and local arts education programs through partnerships with organizations such as Young Audiences Arts for Learning.
 
Shoppers' donations will support student and teacher needs and purchase classroom resources like instruments and art supplies.

The LA Arts Commission recently released a report detailing arts instruction within LA County public school districts. Arts for All - an arts education advocacy organization – acquired, compiled, and analyzed data from the California Department of Education, which reported on each district and their educational offerings.

NYC Mayor, Bill De Blasio, recently announced a $23 million increase to the city’s education budget specifically for arts education. The allocation is in response to the report by city Comptroller, Scott Stringer, which found 28 percent of city schools lack even one full-time certified arts teacher, especially with the South Bronx and Central Brooklyn.

Last month, Beaumont, TX students took to the state capitol in Austin to fight for their right to quality arts education.  Throughout June, the Beaumont Independent School District (BISD) in Texas has been under some unique pressure to fix a budget problem. 

On Wednesday, June 18, Bob Lynch and other members of Americans for the Arts' staff joined The Art Institutes for their Congressional Arts Reception honoring this year's Annual Poster Design Competition winners. This year's winners are Ameila Kohr who will be attending the Art Institue of Las Vegas, Madeleine Brackett who will be attending The New England Institue of Art, and first-place winner Ashley Devaney, who will be attending The Art Insititue of Charleston. 

Americans for the Arts announced today that ten state teams would join a three-year pilot program to strengthen arts education by advancing state policy. Announced at the National Conference of State Legislatures’ legislative summit in Minneapolis, the ten states entering the pilot program are:

Americans for the Arts in partnership with The National Coalition for Core Arts Standards (NCCAS) will launch the 2014 National Core Arts Standards for educators during an online webinar.

These preK-12 grade-by-grade standards are intended to guide educators seeking  quality arts education for America’s students, define artistic literacy, and support 21^st century skills and college and career readiness.