Turnaround Arts and Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts announce a national partnership to support arts-integrated learning in early childhood classrooms across the country. Through in-class services for young children, ongoing training for educators, and resource development for the early childhood community at-large, the two organizations will work together to use the arts as a tool to improve student outcomes and school culture.

The Minneapolis city government is participating in a program called Creative CityMaking—which places 9 local artists within 5 city departments to work on city planning. The program's goal is "to create strategies for tackling community challenges — things like reaching out to the city's youth and trying to get a higher rate of response from people of color for surveys and city meetings.” Creative CityMaking is the first program of its kind in Minneapolis and is successfully connecting the city to its residents.

The leaders of the House and Senate education committees met today to discuss the next step for reauthorizing the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA).

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.

Livability.com has just identified the top 10 best downtowns in America. Here is the list:

1.Pittsburgh, PA
2.Minneapolis, MN
3.Indianapolis, IN
4.Greenville, SC
5.Salt Lake City, UT
6.Alexandria, VA
7.Fargo, ND
8.Lincoln, NE
9.Somerville, MA
10.Evanston, IL

In developing the list Livability.com used the following criteria:

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. 

After 3 days of considering bipartisan legislation to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) and nearly 60 amendments, the Senate HELP Committee advanced the legislation, enabling it to be next considered on the Senate floor under an open amendment process. Floor action is now expected before the end of May.

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. 

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! 

Vickie Benson, Program Director at the McKnight Foundation reflects on how the foundation has and continues to suppport artist-centric creative placemaking through Minnesota as early as the 1980's.

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.

Americans for the Arts is pleased to share an article that was published in National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL)’s Fall 2014 issue of "State Legislatures.” In collaboration with Americans for the Arts staff, NSCL featured an article on Arts in Education with a special call-out box for Americans for the Arts. Please click here to read the full article, “Art Smart,” by Sarah Shelton.

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

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!

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:

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

Americans for the Arts, a leading partner in The National Coalition for Core Arts Standards (NCCAS), will launch in partnership with NCCAS the 2014 National Core Arts Standards in a streaming webinar on Wednesday, June 4, 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. Join arts education leaders from around the country to learn more about the new standards. The event will feature interviews with a broad spectrum of arts education providers, including certified educators, teaching artists, administrators, national/state policy makers, and arts education advocates.

The Congressional Arts Caucus, co-led by Reps. Louise Slaughter (D-NY) and Leonard Lance (R-NJ),  is one of the largest and most active on Capitol Hill, and is central to supporting the arts and arts education in the U.S. House of Representatives. Recently, 10 new members of Congress have signed up!

Since spring 2006, The National Endowment for the Arts and The Poetry Foundation have been partnering with U.S. state arts agencies to support Poetry Out Loud, “a contest that encourages the nation's youth to learn about great poetry through memorization and recitation.” Participating students recite a poem of their choice, using materials that schools receive by partnering with their state arts agency.

Americans for the Arts, the nation’s leading nonprofit organization for advancing the arts and arts education, in conjunction with The United States Conference of Mayors, will present the 2013 National Award for Congressional Arts Leadership to Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA).

Sheila Smith, Executive Director of Minnesota Citizens for the Arts and member of Americans for the Arts, testified in support of the National Endowment for the Arts before the U.S. House of Representatives Interior Appropriations Subcommittee. Read Sheila's testimony requesting $154.466 million in funding for the NEA.

Last week, the U.S. House Education and Workforce Committee approved education reform legislation introduced by Chairman John Kline (R-MN). Ranking Member George Miller (D-CA) had proposed a substitute amendment which included several new pro-arts provisions that failed along a party-line vote, but we expect Mr. Miller to continue pushing for these changes through future consideration on the House floor.