As Congress and the Trump Administration prepare the federal budget for Fiscal Year 2018, Americans for the Arts is working to remind our elected officials about the economic importance of federal funding for the arts, specifically through the National Endowment for the Arts. This morning, ads appeared in the New York Post and The Hill newspapers with the bold headline “The Arts Put America to Work.”

On Tuesday, November 15, 2016, First Lady Michelle Obama hosted a reception and performance at the White House to honor the 2016 National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award recipients.

Arts projects created in reaction to the hardships of the Flint water crisis serve to assuage grief, raise political awareness, educate, and allow residents to try to resume normal life as much as possible.

On October 21, Americans for the Arts cosponsored a briefing on Capitol Hill organized by Independent Sector and the Council on Foundations. Panelists from charitable organizations spoke about the value of tax incentives that promote charitable giving, including the IRA Charitable Rollover. This provision is an important funding source for nonprofits, including arts organizations and institutions, and is a key tax incentive for charitable giving.

Americans for the Arts wants you to elect art professionals from the field to serve on one of four network advisory councils: Arts Education, Emerging Leaders, Private Sector, and

Americans for the Arts invites all Americans to celebrate October as National Arts & Humanities Month (NAHM). Towns and communities across the country are hosting special events that capture the spirit that the arts and humanities bring to everyday life. 

The Michigan Film Office announced that it is re-branding as the Michigan Film & Digital Media Office. Having been established as a film office  since 1979, the new Michigan Film & Digital Media Office believes its name change will better reflect its expanded portfolio in growing Michigan’s creative media industry.

Today, the Senate Finance Committee considered legislation to extend several expired tax provisions, including the IRA Charitable Rollover. The provision is a key tax incentive for charitable giving and an important funding source for nonprofit groups, including arts organizations. It most recently expired on December 31, 2014.

Through the deft work of the Senate education committee, the leadership team of Senators Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and Patty Murray (D-WA) succeeded in crafting and maintaining a bipartisan bill to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA).  Today, the Senate voted to approve the Every Child Achieves Act (S.1177), by a vote of 81-17, a remarkable finish, especially considering the number of amendments that were filed (nearly 200 in all) and several other controversial provisions that could have sunk the bill.

Americans for the Arts, the nation’s leading nonprofit organization for advancing the arts and arts education in America, announced today that it has been awarded a $100,000 Art Works: Arts Education grant from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) to support the State Policy Pilot Program, a three-year program aiming to strengthen the focus and attention being put on arts education through advancing state-level education policy. 

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.”

In February, USA Today asked the public to vote for their favorite art and cultural districts based on a set of hand-picked districts and neighborhoods within the U.S. and the results are in.

The winners in the 'Best Art District' contest category for USA TODAY 10Best Readers' Choice are as follows:

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. 

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.

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:

A study from Michigan State University found a strong connection between childhood arts or crafts education and adult business ventures later in life.  In full, the findings were so surprising that researchers concluded that not only was there a link, but that arts and crafts in youth development are actually critical to economic innovation.  This research is a powerful piece of evidence that could disprove the commonly held theory that the arts are merely an extra-curricular for students and thus easy to add or cut. 

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:

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

The Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs launched the app "MI Amazing Art Tour" in July, with 209 artworks currently and plans to grow. 

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!

Today, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a package of charitable tax provisions that includes making permanent the IRA Charitable Rollover provision – a legislative goal of Americans for the Arts for the last decade.

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

On July 9th, Senate confirmed Dr. William "Bro" Adams to lead the National Endowment for the Humanities, the independent federal agency that supports research and learning in history, literature, philosophy, and other areas of the humanities by funding selected, peer-reviewed proposals from around the nation. He was nominated by President Obama on April 10^th.

On Monday, Detroit's three automakers, Chrysler, General Motors, and Ford, donated a total of $26 million to help save the Detroit Institute of Arts. The $26 million is part of the Detroit Institute of Art's commitment to raise $100 million as part of the "grand bargain," an effort by the city, state, and other groups to raise $800 million to help the city emerge from bankruptcy later this year.

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:

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.

After more than three years of work, House Ways & Means Chairman Dave Camp (R-MI) released comprehensive draft tax reform legislation on February 26, 2014 for review and comment. Measuring nearly 1,000 pages, the proposed Tax Reform Act of 2014 contains changes to the Charitable Tax Deduction, a longstanding tax incentive important to the nonprofit sector and charitable giving.