Tuesday, December 13, 2016

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 third year of work for the State Policy Pilot Program, the Art Works: Arts Education grant will allow Americans for the Arts to support its 10 state pilot teams, including Arizona, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Wyoming, Arkansas, Michigan, North Carolina, California, Minnesota, and Oklahoma. 
 
The grant will support a set of resources to share the lessons learned by each state team and produce a focused dissemination effort that ensures a broad sharing of that knowledge with arts education practitioners, education policy leaders, and funders across the country.
 
“We are grateful to the NEA for their continued support of our programs, and excited to enter our third year of the State Policy Pilot Program with the help of this grant. It will allow us to work with team leaders from state agencies, state legislators, advocates, and the education policy community to ensure that all of America’s students can have equal access to an arts education,” said Robert L. Lynch, president and CEO of Americans for the Arts. 
 
“The arts are for all of us, and by supporting organizations such as Americans for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts is providing more opportunities for the public to engage with the arts,” said NEA Chairman Jane Chu. “Whether in a theater, a town square, a museum, or a hospital, the arts are everywhere and make our lives richer.”
 
NEA is the only funder in the country that supports the arts in all 50 states and five U.S. jurisdictions. In its first funding round of fiscal year 2017, the NEA is awarding more than $27.6 million to support the creation of work and presentation of both new and existing work, lifelong learning in the arts, and public engagement with the arts. For more information on projects included in the NEA grant announcement, visit arts.gov/news.
 
Americans for the Arts is the leading nonprofit organization for advancing the arts and arts education in America. With offices in Washington, D.C. and New York City, it has a record of more than 55 years of service. Americans for the Arts is dedicated to representing and serving local communities and creating opportunities for every American to participate in and appreciate all forms of the arts. Additional information is available at www.AmericansForTheArts.org.