Arts Intranet

In Part 2 of the collection, participants will take the foundational knowledge gained and basic activations from the first series and expand beyond their role as arts leaders into the role of community and economic development partner. Participants will learn about how to identify their own work and assets within their full community and creative ecosystem and begin to leverage new connections and relationships inside the chamber to address social impact, equity, and community issues. Participants will gain fluency in the Arts & Economic Prosperity studies, as well as learn how to use

The arts are fundamental to our humanity. They ennoble and inspire us—fostering creativity, empathy, and beauty. The arts also strengthen our communities socially, educationally, and economically—benefits that persist even during a pandemic that has been devastating to the arts. The following 10 reasons show why an investment in artists, creative workers, and arts organizations is vital to the nation’s post-pandemic healing and recovery.

Art & Soul is a project of the Orton Family Foundation. The Orton Family Foundation, in partnership with the Town of Starksboro and the Vermont Land Trust hypothesize that, by getting in touch with deeper community values and connections to place, citizens will be able to improve upon traditional approaches to planning and make better decisions about the future of their communities. With the Art & Soul Civic Engagement Project they are testing whether the use of different forms of art will catalyze articulation of the unique assets of a community, in turn impacting community

Artists who are committed to social justice through their work must navigate a complex contemporary art world characterized by numerous political positions and aesthetic expectations. In this paper, Nato Thompson observes two overarching approaches taken by artists—strategic and tactical—that operate against a political and economical infrastructure. Thompson describes successful examples in both categories, including sustained place-based work; culturally engaged radical pedagogy; engaged museums; engaged academic institutions; and a variety of work that raises questions rather

This paper synthesizes key insights from MicroFest: USA—part festival, part learning exchange—orchestrated in 2012–2013 by the Network of Ensemble Theaters (NET) to take a fresh look at the roles of art, culture, and artists in creating healthy vibrant communities. MicroFest shone a light on a spectrum of cultural production, including ensemble theaters, that is traditionally under the radar in official or conventional creative placemaking strategies, but that constitutes a critical part of the cultural ecosystem. This paper draws from the experiences and dialogues of

Mark Kidd’s own cross-sector work in arts and regional development lends valuable socio-economic and environmental context to MicroFest: Appalachia’s many rich examples and experiences.  In his essay, Kidd contrasts a current national creative placemaking trend which emphasizes economic and physical development with creative placemaking in Central Appalachia that is grounded in community-based arts and aims to establish a civic and creative infrastructure capable of taking on and sustaining a variety of projects, including economic development, in an ongoing way. He writes,

Caron Atlas' essay on MicroFest: Appalachia focuses on the connections between civic capacity, imagination, and moral economy in Appalachia. Stimulated by the MicroFest workshop on cultural organizing led by the Highlander Center, a key Appalachian institution and gathering place, Atlas reflects on the work of Helen Lewis, activist scholar who is considered the mother of Appalachian studies and her essay, “Rebuilding Communities: A Twelve-Step Recovery Program,” in which Lewis outlines the values and assumptions that must underlie a responsible moral economy.  Atlas

In this paper, Lyz Crane draws on the work of practitioners and researchers to characterize the field of arts-based community development in which arts and culture can help achieve place based change related to the physical, social, and economic dimensions of place.  From the premise that the existence of arts is considered a powerful end in itself, Crane then outlines the variety of ways that the actors and activities involved in arts and community development work can relate to and interact with each other to create sustainable communities.  Looking at the cultural ecology of

In April 2002, on the heels of the Human Genome Project’s historic announcement about the completion of a human genome “rough draft,” Seattle’s Henry Art Gallery opened Gene(sis): Contemporary Art Explores Human Genomics. The exhibition brought together more than 50 recent and new artworks representing artists’ imaginings of the social, ethical, and economic ramifications of genetic and genome research. To spur dialogue about the provocative and potentially polarizing issues, the Henry, together with its community collaborators, devised and implemented a cross

On the island of Hawai’i, residents of the rural region of Kohala deliberated how best to conserve a statue of King Kamehameha I—a hero revered as the indigenous unifier of the Hawai’ian islands and native son to Kohala: should the statue be restored to gilded bronze, the original intent of the mainland artist; or should it be repainted in life-like colors, thereby continuing a longstanding community tradition? Through the respectful collaboration of the Hawai’i Alliance for Arts Education, conservator Glenn Wharton, and the Kohala community's leaders and

Civic Dialogue, Arts & Culture explores the power of the arts and humanities to foster civic engagement while advancing possibilities for arts and humanities organizations to be vital civic as well as cultural institutions. From 2000 to 2004, Americans for the Arts, with support from the Ford Foundation, implemented Animating Democracy, an initiative to foster artistic activities encouraging civic dialogue on important contemporary issues. This book examines the experiences of 37 arts and humanities projects, realized by a wide range of cultural organizations. These

The arts are fundamental to our humanity. They ennoble and inspire us—fostering creativity, empathy, and beauty. The arts also strengthen our communities socially, educationally, and economically—benefits that persist even during a pandemic that has been devastating to the arts. The following ten reasons show why an investment in artists and arts organizations is vital to the nation’s post-pandemic healing and recovery. 

The arts are fundamental to our humanity. They ennoble and inspire us—fostering creativity, goodness, and beauty. The arts bring us joy, help us express our values, and build bridges between cultures. The arts are also a fundamental component of a healthy community—strengthening them socially, educationally, and economically—benefits that persist even in difficult social and economic times.

Local arts agencies—arts councils, arts commissions, cultural affairs departments—are an essential tool for community leaders as they rebuild their economies and promote social cohesion. The nation’s 4,500 local arts agencies (LAAs) support, present, and promote the dynamic value of the arts. Through their partnerships and leadership, LAAs are building healthier communities through the arts in the following ways:

Local arts agencies—arts councils, arts commissions, cultural affairs departments—are an essential tool for community leaders as they rebuild their economies and promote social cohesion. The nation’s 4,500 local arts agencies (LAAs) support, present, and promote the dynamic value of the arts. Through their partnerships and leadership, LAAs are building healthier communities through the arts in the following ways:

Local arts agencies—arts councils, arts commissions, cultural affairs departments—are an essential tool for community leaders as they rebuild their economies and promote social cohesion. The nation’s 4,500 local arts agencies (LAAs) support, present, and promote the dynamic value of the arts. Through their partnerships and leadership, LAAs are building healthier communities through the arts.

This one-pager is a summary of research by Americans for the Arts and others on the human and financial impact of the COVID -19-pandemic impact on the arts. Data current as of 5/122022.

The arts are fundamental to our humanity. They ennoble and inspire us—fostering creativity, goodness, and beauty. The arts bring us joy, help us express our values, and build bridges between cultures. The arts are also a fundamental component of a healthy community—strengthening them socially, educationally, and economically—benefits that persist even in difficult social and economic times.

This briefing paper provides data and examples of how partnering with the arts fuels the economy, promotes health, wellness and safety, creates social cohesion and connectivity, and fosters civic engagement.

This one pager features data from Americans for the Arts 2017 Arts & Economic Prosperity 5 report providing key figures of the overall economic impact the arts industry provides.

Inspired by the popular 21 Balançoires (21 Swings) installation, The Swings: An Exercise in Musical Cooperation is a standalone musical installation available for international touring.Since 2011, the original 21 Swings installation has attracted millions of fans to the Quartier des spectacles area in Montréal, where every day each swing has swung an average of 8,500 times. This is a study and compartive analysis of the impact the project had on three citie

Americans are highly engaged in the arts and believe more strongly than ever that the arts promote personal well-being, help us understand other cultures in our community, are essential to a well-rounded K-12 education, and that government has an important role in funding the arts.

Art in public spaces plays a distinguishing role in our country’s history and culture. It reflects and reveals our society, enhances meaning in our civic spaces, and adds uniqueness to our communities. Public art humanizes the built environment. It provides an intersection between past, present, and future between disciplines and ideas. Public art matters because our ommunities gain cultural, social, and economic value through public art.

Business Contributions to the Arts: 2018 Edition is the second edition of the annual report published by The Conference Board and Americans for the Arts. Conducted in the summer of 2018, this year’s survey garnered 132 responses from small, midsize, and large US businesses, 123 of which made a philanthropic contribution of some description in 2017 and are therefore included in this report. The survey asked for information based on corporate practices at the time of the survey completion.

The arts are fundamental to our humanity. They ennoble and inspire us—fostering creativity, goodness, and beauty. The arts bring us joy, help us express our values, and build bridges between cultures. The arts are also a fundamental component of a healthy community—strengthening them socially, educationally, and economically—benefits that persist even in difficult social and economic times.

This national study, conducted every five years by American for the Arts, is the most comprehensive look at the economic impact of the nonprofit arts sector in the country, and is accompanied by trainings and resources to translate data into change.

Americans are highly engaged in the arts and believe more strongly than ever that the arts promote personal well-being, help us understand other cultures in our community, are essential to a well-rounded K-12 education, and that government has an important role in funding the arts.

We can safely say today that, thanks to the boom in tourism in recent decades, never before in the history of humanity have the inhabitants of this planet travelled as much, or been as much engaged in the discovery of other cultures. So, what are we, as interna-tional organizations, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), politicians, policy makers, practitioners and as ordinary citizens and tourists, doing with this tremendous opportunity to advance understanding among the inhabitants of the planet through encounters with others and their cultural and artistic expressions, monumental

The Cultural Tourism Toolkit is designed to assist small regional communities to enhance, profile and package their cultural offering. It has the dual aim of encouraging the growth of regional arts and culture and making them a vital part of the visitor experience.

Tourism has a vital role in development of different destinations all around the world. Accordingly, culture is assumed as one of the primary beneficiaries and is regarded as a key asset in tourism development by promoting both tangible (i.e. cultural attractions, like museums and heritage centers, natural assets like beach, sun and mountain) and intangible (i.e. promoting gastronomy cultural events and festivals and selling “atmosphere”) elements. However, the diversity of known definitions and a complex relationship between culture and tourism underlines the problem of