In this month’s Smithsonian.com magazine you will find their top picks for amazing small towns across the United States. These towns all have populations under 20,000, and were selected because of their number of cultural and historic attractions, food and drink destinations, and nature opportunities. The article states: “Think of this list not as a ranking but as a menu, with something for every taste—whether it’s country bluegrass, Florida’s white beaches, or Alaska’s blue mountains.”

Today, Bloomberg Philanthropies announced 12 finalist cities in the running to receive up to $1 million each as part of the Public Art Challenge, a new program aimed at supporting temporary public art projects that engage communities, enhance creativity, and enrich the vibrancy of cities. Americans for the Arts president and CEO Robert L. Lynch applauds Bloomberg Philanthropies and comments on the news. 

KRIS Wine and Americans for the Arts are proud to announce that Pete Beeman, creator of the Hampline Exploration Stations in Memphis, Tennessee, is the grand prize winner of the KRIS Wine “Art of Giving” contest.

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! 

Property Management Insider recently ranked downtown Indianapolis 8th in the nation’s busiest submarkets. The article features the Indianapolis Cultural Trail, a  $63 million world-class urban bike and pedestrian path that connects the city’s 6 cultural districts. The trail delivers users to every significant arts, cultural, heritage, sports, and an entertainment venue downtown.

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.

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.

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Americans for the Arts, the leading organization for advancing the arts and arts education in America, announces its annual National Arts Awards honorees. The awards recognize artists and arts leaders who exhibit exemplary national leadership and whose work demonstrates extraordinary achievement. They are individuals who share a common belief in the power of the arts and arts education to enrich individual lives and communities alike.

This year’s National Arts awards recipients are:

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

In Lafayette, Indiana public art is springing up in the West. Local artists Alexandria Monik and Aaron Bumgarner will be creating art that responds to their surroundings in the West Lafayette neighborhood. Monik takes on refurbishing a dilpated and closed bar by creating storyboard paintings on the shuttered windows and doors of the building.

It's that time again: Americans for the Arts is seeking at least 200 partners to make this Arts and Economic Prosperity Study larger and more comprehensive than ever before--and we invite YOU to be a part of it!

Yesterday, July 24, Americans for the Arts and the National Lieutenant Governors Association (NLGA) presented Indiana Lt. Gov. Sue Ellspermann with the Public Leadership in the Arts Award for State Arts Leadership, which honors a public official who has demonstrated outstanding leadership in the advancement of the arts at the state level. Lt. Gov. Ellspermann will receive her award at the NLGA’s Annual Conference in Anchorage, Alaska, on July 24.

WASHINGTON – July 24, 2014 – Americans for the Arts, the nation’s leading nonprofit organization for advancing the arts and arts education, and the National Lieutenant Governors Association (NLGA) will present Indiana Lt. Gov. Sue Ellspermann with the Public Leadership in the Arts Award for State Arts Leadership, which honors a public official who has demonstrated outstanding leadership in the advancement of the arts at the state level. Lt. Gov. Ellspermann will receive her award at the NLGA’s Annual Conference in Anchorage, Alaska, on July 24.

Asthmatic Kitty Records, a tiny record label co-owned by alternative artist Sufjans Stevens, is putting Indianapolis on the arts map. 

Consumers spend nearly $150 billion annually on entertainment and the arts. How does this breakdown to spending on the arts in your individual community?

As part of Americans for the Arts' ongoing initative to support our veterans and their families by helping them heal through the arts, we have recently partnered with We Are Veterans, a collaboration of local PBS stations, partner organizations, veteran service organizations, and communities to leverage resources to raise awareness about the well-being of veterans and their families.

With 2013 ending, we at Americans for the Arts find ourselves grateful for so many great arts achievements this year. There are so many partners doing amazing work in towns, cities, and states across the country--and in reflecting on this work, we wanted to especially thank the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and its staff for serving as the national lynchpin for the whole US arts field.

On Friday, Decemeber 6, an open house for the Community of the Arts at Turman Gallery featured artwork created by adult students participating in metal sculpture and digital photography classes. The students in the metal scuplture class had three dimensional steel sculpture work displayed, and on the other end of the specturem, children's artwork from the Saturday art classes for kids. There was a special performance by the "Terre Haute Guitar Club", and guests were invited to enter a drawing to win free spring art classes.

During the opening keynote of this year’s National Arts Marketing Project Conference, Americans for the Arts and Destination Marketing Association International announced the recipients of the 2013 Arts Destination Marketing Award. This year’s winners are Bloomington, IN and Memphis, TN.

Americans for the Arts, the nation’s leading nonprofit organization for advancing the arts and arts education, announced today that it is presenting the 2012 Michael Newton Award to Scott Provancher, president of the Arts & Science Council. Given annually since 1991, the Michael Newton Award recognizes exemplary leadership skills and extraordinary dedication to supporting the arts through a united arts fund, which is a combined effort to raise money on behalf of multiple arts institutions in the community.