During 2022’s Strategic Realignment Process, we worked with members and other stakeholders to identify the specific and unique role of Americans for the Arts within the arts and culture community. While we continue to evaluate and evolve our offerings, here’s the latest update on some of our flagship events, including the National Arts Action Summit, Annual Convention, and the National Arts Marketing Project Conference.

Americans for the Arts today launched a multimedia platform that will serve as a hub for results and information pertaining to its Strategic Realignment Process (SRP), which the organization undertook during 2022. With the SRP completed, the Designing Our Destiny platform represents Americans for the Arts’ new path forward to better serve the arts and culture field. 

Registration is now open for the 2022 Americans for the Arts Annual Convention! A live, in-person event will be held May 18-20 in Washington, D.C., and recorded content from the live event will be made available for a fee in a limited time digital on-demand format in June 2022. To maintain health and safety protocols, there is a firm registration deadline of May 2, 2022, to attend the in-person event. 

Americans for the Arts has begun work to redefine its role as a national service organization and support of the field. To that end, we are pleased to announce two recent hires to fill pivotal roles for the organization. Adrianne R. Troilo joined as vice president of People and Culture in December 2021, and Daniel Fitzmaurice will begin as the chief of staff on April 4. Both positions are newly created to provide leadership in areas vitally needed to successfully accomplish our mission and achieve a people-first culture.

A new report by The Conference Board and Americans for the Arts finds that companies that are continuing to fund the arts are increasingly partnering with arts organizations to address social challenges, including racism and other forms of inequality.

Americans for the Arts’ 2022 Annual Convention will take place May 18-20, 2022, in Washington, D.C. The event will be simplified, shorter, and more accessible, and the public may participate in a more open and equitable session submission process through Feb. 15, 2022.

After six months of hearing candid feedback from the field and internal planning, Americans for the Arts is set to begin the next phase of the Strategic Realignment Process toward redefining its unique role as a service organization to the arts and culture field and the public good. The organization has engaged the services of three consulting organizations to support the process: Arts Consulting Group, The Hewlin Group, and Hope Nation.

Americans for the Arts and its national partners are excited to announce that applications for the Diversity in Arts Leadership (DIAL) internship program are now open! Summer 2022 will mark the 30th year of the DIAL program, and host sites have expanded once again to six national locations: New York City, New Jersey, Nashville, Boston, Sarasota (FL), and Raleigh/Wake County (NC). The deadline for applications is January 14, 2022.

At The Table is a new group of African-American arts leaders responsible for organizing dynamic discussions that showcase and leverage our collective cultural and philanthropic power. The group aims to offer opportunities for connection, a platform for financial growth, infrastructure for community building, and encouragement to engage in wellness.

Registration support opportunities are available for arts marketing professionals who are unable to access a paid registration to the 2021 virtual National Arts Marketing Project Conference, taking place December 7-8.

Individuals and organizations can use National Arts & Humanities Month as a starting point to advocate for the arts and raise awareness about its role in our communities and lives—not just for the month, but throughout the entire year! Here are a few of the ways you can join Americans for the Arts in celebrating NAHM.

Americans for the Arts announced today the recipients of the 2021 Americans for the Arts Leadership Awards at Americans for the Arts’ Annual Convention. Given annually, the awards recognize the achievements of individuals and organizations committed to enriching their communities through the arts.

The Michael Newton Award is presented as part of Americans for the Arts’ Annual Convention and recognizes an individual for their innovation in developing arts and business partnerships for the arts and/or long-term achievement in effective and creative techniques to engage the private sector. The 2021 honoree is Alma Robinson, Executive Director of California Lawyers for the Arts. 

Just as local arts agencies act as voices and conveners for their arts and culture communities, so do local chambers of commerce for their business communities. Partnerships between the two are essential to community and economic development. But where to start? Register for our new 101-level, on-demand webinar series that aims to flip the conversation away from “business support for the arts” to “how and why the arts are an essential part of business and community development strategies.”  

Scholarships are available for those interested in attending the 2021 Annual Convention, happening virtually June 8-11. The deadline to request a scholarship is Monday, May 3 at 9:00 a.m. ET.

The Annual Leadership Awards recognize the achievements of individuals, organizations, or programs committed to enriching their communities through the arts and will be acknowledged in conjunction with the Annual Convention happening virtually June 7-11, 2021. Nominations close Monday, March 29 at 9:00 a.m. ET.

Americans for the Arts annually honors the best businesses partnering with the arts in America at the Arts and Business Partnership Awards based on nominations by individuals and organizations. Nominations for this year's awards must be made by February 12, 2021. 

Americans for the Arts’ staff, board, members and councils are united by a common purpose: To build recognition and support for the extraordinary and dynamic value of the arts and to lead, serve, and advance the diverse networks of organizations and individuals who cultivate the arts in America. We, as an organization, have taken multi-year steps towards making racial and cultural equity the guiding principle in everything we do. Those steps have not been enough. We need to do more – to increase our efforts and communicate those efforts to our stakeholders more effectively. 

In 2020, Americans for the Arts continued its commitment to our vision and planned work, while also pivoting and taking on new, urgent work like so many of our 5,000 member organizations. Here are highlights of some key areas of the new and urgent work of Americans for the Arts in 2020 that are in addition to our planned work portfolio.

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 Public Art. Voting closes November 23, 2020 at 1:00 PM ET and is restricted to members of Americans for the Arts at the Colleague level or higher. 

Americans for the Arts today announced its October celebration of National Arts and Humanities Month, a coast-to-coast collective celebration of culture in America. In this turbulent year, the arts and humanities have played a critically important role in getting us through the COVID-19 pandemic and in amplifying the need for racial equity across the country. National Arts & Humanities Month is the time for communities to come together in unified celebration of the power of the arts to make a difference and change our lives for the better.

Americans for the Arts, in partnership with over 775 cultural organizations and creative workers, has proposed a 15-action national recovery strategy that the next Administration can use to put creative workers to work—activating the creative economy and drawing upon the creative energies of the country’s 5.1 million creative workers to energize Americans, reimagine how communities can thrive, and improve the lives of all. Organizations and creative workers who wish to endorse this proposal can do so via the Creative Workforce Proposal Endorsement form.

Do you or someone you know want to support and advise Americans for the Arts on the services we provide to the field? If yes, we invite you to nominate yourself or a colleague for one of Americans for the Arts’ Advisory Councils! Nomination deadline is Sept. 21, 2020.

Americans for the Arts announced today the recipients of the 2020 Americans for the Arts Leadership Awards at Americans for the Arts’ digital Annual Convention and Public Art & Civic Design Conference. Given annually, the awards recognize the achievements of individuals and organizations committed to enriching their communities through the arts.

Christen Boone is the President & CEO of the Fund for the Arts in Louisville, Kentucky, one of the country’s largest privately funded regional arts agencies. She has developed thousands of unique partnerships between the creative and private sectors, driving workplace culture, client cultivation, project innovation, DEI initiatives, and social impact. 

Registration is now open for the 2020 Annual Convention and Public Art & Civic Design Conference! This newly virtual convening, happening June 23-25 from the comfort of your home, is the chance for arts leaders across the country to gather virtually and better understand the current health crisis, how we are responding to it, and how the arts field can move toward recovery.