Like many social areas, the arts have struggled to reach consensus on impact measurement metrics. Certainly, considerable progress has been made in terms of measuring economic impact as a result of the arts, led by Americans for the Arts and its Arts and Economic Prosperity series of research reports. But, as Business Contributions to the Arts: 2018 Edition reiterates, most companies are not measuring a standard set of social outcomes when it comes to the arts—and that could be holding the sector back. Our data also show that corporate funding for the arts is in a strong position. That means that now is the time to take on the challenge of being more rigorous in the measurement of arts programs to help ensure sustained contributions over the long term. Companies would benefit from stepping up to the plate.

Last November’s mid-term election resulted in significant political victories for the supporters of arts and culture as a tide of pro-arts ballot measures successfully passed in the western cities of San Francisco, Tempe, Culver City, and Tacoma. As co-chair of the Washington state effort to create enabling legislation and, later, co-chair of the campaign in Tacoma, I believe the lessons from these successes bode well for future, similar efforts in other communities across the country. Perhaps Tacoma is a model for such cultural funding solutions, especially in mid-size and smaller markets. If so, we in Tacoma hope other cultural communities across the nation will be bold, build a smart proposal, make their case, and give voters a chance to show you how much they want cultural services!

Earlier this fall, Americans for the Arts and The Conference Board released the Business Contributions to the Arts: 2018 Edition report. The results provide both an insight into current corporate giving trends as related to the arts and an opportune moment to look back on broad trends. While the survey methodology has changed numerous times over the years, making exact comparisons challenging, we can examine the overall progression of certain aspects of arts support among companies, including what size businesses are consistent arts supporters, what reasons companies give for supporting the arts, and how giving behavior changes (or not) as the national economy fluctuates.

The effects of the shutdown are widespread. The good news about the National Endowment for the Arts (the NEA, a federal agency that receives its annual appropriation from Congress) is that it funds the arts across the country, reaching every Congressional district in all 50 states plus U.S. Territories. The bad news is that any negative impact becomes equally widespread. The American public values the arts and wants access to more opportunities, not fewer. Whether people engage in the arts or not, 90 percent of Americans believe that cultural facilities improve quality of life, and 86 percent believe that cultural facilities are important to local business and the economy. The arts benefits to the community are formidable, and they are to the individual as well. The arts help us address so many challenges in education, health and healing, military, community development, among many others, and the effects of a shutdown are felt not just in the arts organizations, but also in the industries and organizations that are helped by the arts. The benefits of the arts are numerous, but still the ecosystem is fragile and should be cultivated, not endangered.

There is a growing interest in public art from across the country. In the Public Art Programs Fiscal Year 2001 report, Americans for the Arts estimated 350 public art programs across the U.S. The 2017 Survey of Public Art Programs identified more than twice as many. With this growth it is important to understand the various ways public art is planned for and implemented in different communities. In this post, we provide an overview of three papers published by Americans for the Arts that speak to the diverse needs of public art programs across the country, and how local institutions are approaching the topic in innovative ways. With a focus on planning for public art from a municipal perspective, growing public art programs in small to mid-sized cities, and recognizing grassroots and folk art in rural communities, these papers show that successful public art values local context and the public art programs are as unique as each community.

In recent years, there has been an increase in smaller scale, temporary public art projects that encourage community participation and conversation. This is an exciting moment as community members are taking the initiative to create public art that fosters a sense of ownership and pride in their neighborhoods. As the interest in localized public art grows, the individual artists and communities who pioneer these projects are looking for new ways to fund their art. Crowdfunding, a grassroots method of funding a project through raising many small amounts of money from a larger number of people, typically via the Internet, has grown in prominence as a way to pool resources towards a project. In the recently published paper “Crowdfunding in Public Art,” I explored the ways crowdfunding has been used to implement public art, and I’ve been inspired by what I’ve seen.

Much has happened since last I wrote, including the 2018 Midterm Elections, in which: Over 113 million citizens nationwide turned out to vote; a record-breaking total of 107 women were elected to serve in Congress; Democrats now control the U.S. House and Republicans retain hold of the U.S. Senate; key congressional arts supporters like Rep. Betty McCollum (D-MN) on the Interior Appropriations Subcommittee and Rep. Richard Neal (D-MA) on Ways and Means Committee will be the new chairs; at the state level, there will be 19 new governors, 27 new state legislative leaders, and 1,700 new state legislators—resulting in a 23% turnover; and more than 2,000 women will serve in state legislatures in their upcoming sessions and will hold the majority in two state legislative chambers—the Colorado House and Nevada Assembly. On top of getting out the vote for this year’s midterms, State Arts Action Network leaders had noteworthy advocacy gains in their communities.