Americans for the Arts today announced Transforming America’s Communities Through the Arts, a comprehensive, three-year initiative to increase understanding of the value of the arts and investment in the arts. 

President and CEO of Americans for the Arts, Robert L. Lynch, as well as Vice President of Local Arts Advancement, Clayton Lord, participated in the third annual SphinxCon on January 30 in Detroit, Michigan as part of Americans for the Arts ongoing work in the field of arts and diversity.

Register today for the 2015 Annual Convention, taking place June 12–14, 2015 in Chicago!

The conference will take place at the Chicago Sheraton, with more than 40 breakouts, three keynotes, three preconferences, two Workshop Intensives, a dozen ARTventure Tours, and an opening reception at the Museum of Contemporary Art! 

Get the conversation about encouraging creativity and ensuring arts education in your community with a new series of videos by Americans for the Arts. These videos convey the stories behind importance of arts education, as told by children whose lives have been postiviely impacted by the arts. 

Local competitions began on January 1, 2015, that will lead to the National Veterans Creative Arts Festival in October.  Nationwide, Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) medical facilities use the creative arts as one form of rehabilitative treatment to help Veterans recover from and cope with physical and emotional disabilities. Across the country each year, Veterans enrolled at VA health care facilities compete in local creative arts competition.

Americans for the Arts celebrates its 4th year of partnering with Vans for the Custom Culture student arts and design contest.

Americans for the Arts has launched the National Cultural District Exchange this week - a new web-based resource, produced in part with the generous support of the National Endowment for the Arts, that includes a host of tools and resources specific to cultural districts. Cultural districts play an important role in helping to strengthen local economies, create an enhanced sense of place, and deepen local cultural capacity.

Continuing a long-standing partnership with Aetna in Hartford, CT, the Greater Hartford Arts Council has embarked on a project with the company that supports a local artist, raises the level of employee engagement and morale, and increases the presence of art at Aetna and in the community.

Since the Military Child Education Coalition (MCEC) began the “Call for the Arts” in 2002, thousands of military children – from all over the world, from every branch of service, in grades PreK-12 – have submitted their drawings, their poems, and their interpretations of what it means to be a military child. The MCEC takes advantage of every opportunity to display the artistic skill of these unique, resilient children.

On November 20, Reps. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI), Aaron Schock (R-IL), Cheri Bustos (D-IL), Rodney Davis (R-IL), Juan Vargas (D-CA), and Todd Young (R-IN) introduced a bipartisan congressional resolution (H.Res.761) in support of Giving Tuesday.

On Tuesday, December 2^nd, Americans for the Arts is participating in #GivingTuesday, when charities, families, businesses, community leaders, and students around the world will come together to celebrate generosity and to give.

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.

In September, we held a call for nominations for our Network Councils. Now it's time for you, our members, to cast your vote to determine which nominees will be elected to the following four Americans for the Arts' Network Councils.

On Oct. 1, the Wallace Foundation announced they are launching a new six-year $40 million initiative focused on audience building for performing arts. The initiative will provide four-year grants to a select cohort of organizations around the country. Wallace will be inviting 80 organizations to submit proposals and will fund approximately 25 of them.

Wallace President Will Miller just shared the news in a webinar featuring guest panelists:

The greatest month of the year is upon us - National Arts & Humanities Month!

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.

For the past seven years, Barry's Blog - an independent service of the Western States Arts Federation (WESTAF) - publishes an annual list of the most influential individuals in the nonprofit arts. 

On Monday, August 11, the world lost one of its most loved comedians and most talented artists - Robin Williams. With over four decades in Hollywood under his belt, it's undeniable that he left his mark on pop culture forever. 

Today, the Independent Sector announced the 2014 American Express NGen Fellows - 12 individuals who will contribute to Independent Sector's work on nonprofit impact and leadership over the next year. These fellows are already innovators and leaders in the nonprofit sector, and through the Fellowship will interact with established mentors and collaborate with other leaders under 40 years of age. 

School of Doodle, a new project sponsored by the arts service nonprofit Fractured Atlas and funded by Kickstarter, was formed with the mission to change the way girls value themselves and teach them to be loud. Founders, staff, A-list supporters, and advisory board - of which our own Nora Halpern is a member - believe in a world where girls don't have to ask for permission, and that female creativity and confidence is the foundation of the future.

This year's Opening Keynote Address will feature Steve Stoute, Founder and CEO of Translation, former record label executive, and one of the most influential marketing minds of our time. Stoute delivers a wealth of knowledge in the areas of diversity, cultural marketing, and embracing today's generation of globally aware and media-saturated consumers.

Bonita Coleman Stewart discusses the merits of ballet as a business metaphor, and credits her one-a-week ballet lessons with teaching her skills that helped her advance in the ranks at Google from a national industry director of automotive to her role today as Vice President of Partner Business Solutions. Ballet's training, choreography, the ensemble, and "preparing to jump" all offer their respective lessons and preperation for career challenges that Stewart has been able to face head-on. Read the full Fast Company article at the link below! 

Today the U.S. Senate confirmed Dr. Jane Chu as chair of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). Chu is currently the president and CEO of the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts in Kansas City, Mo. She fills a chair position left vacant at the NEA since Rocco Landesman stepped down in 2012.

Ben Folds, musician and arts education activist, will speak Friday, June 13 at 11:30 a.m. with Americans for the Arts' CEO and President, Bob Lynch, at our 2014 Annual Convention. He will share with attendees his personal history and transformation into an artist-acitvist, which has allowed him to witness the power of arts education in transforming the lives of young students.

This opening keynote session will also include Bob Lynch's State of the Arts speech, the Leadership Awards Lunch, and a welcome from Nashville mayor Karl Dean. 

American for the Arts CEO and President Robert L. Lynch wrote an article in The Tennessean on May 31 highlighting the recent Periscope: Arts Entrepreneur Training in Nashville as well as the economic impact of arts-related businesses, specifically in Tennessee. Lynch writes that Nashville is a perfect of example of how arts nonprofits, for-profit organizations, and the local government can work together to create a rich environment and a strong economy.

The National YoungArts Foundation has announced that applications for 2015 are now available until October 17, 2014!

CEO and President of the Aspen Institute and acclaimed author, Walter Isaacson, delivered the 43rd Annual Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities on May 12, 2014 at the Kennedy Center. The Jefferson Lecture is sponsored annually by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Americans for the Arts, the nation’s leading nonprofit organization for advancing the arts and arts education, announced the recipients of the 2014 Americans for the Arts Annual Local Arts Leadership Awards.