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.

GIVE (Growing Inclusivity for Vibrant Engagement), created by New Victory and a consortium of teaching artists and arts administrators, is a free guide that supports Teaching Artists in the creation of liberated learning environments and vibrant arts experiences within inclusion settings.

Americans for the Arts and its partners are thrilled to announce the interns selected for the 30th year of the Diversity in Arts Leadership (DIAL) program. With equitable arts leadership at the center, DIAL provides undergraduate students from diverse backgrounds who have a career interest in arts and cultural equity a hands-on introduction to working in the arts sector during a 10-week summer internship. From 360 applications received from candidates throughout the country, 39 were selected to participate for this summer’s program.

Registration is now open for the Cultural Equity Learning Community 2.0, a two-unit, asynchronous anti-racism course for arts and culture leaders committed to building intersectional racial equity. Two cohorts (Summer and Fall 2022) are currently offered with a sliding scale payment structure. Registration closes on Wednesday, July 13 for the Summer cohort, and on Wednesday, Aug. 31 for the Fall cohort.

The American Planning Association recently announced the formation of a new Division focusing on the intersection of the arts and planning to provide a unique opportunity for artists and culture bearers to achieve more effective engagement between the two disciplines, as well as a stronger platform to influence the planning profession within the American Planning Association and beyond.

Mid Atlantic Arts and Americans for the Arts are continuing to develop a series of educational and professional development resources for the state, county, and local arts agencies in the mid-Atlantic region. Artists, administrators, and other arts and culture professionals with disabilities or who are active members of the disability community and who currently reside in the Mid-Atlantic Region are invited to apply by March 31, 2022.

Arts advocates from across the United States will gather virtually March 28-30, 2022, for the National Arts Action Summit, now in its 35th consecutive year. This year, for the first time, there will be no registration fee to attend the National Arts Action Summit for both individuals and partner organizations.

The goal of the prize is to celebrate one unique civic design professional at the mid-career level for their locally implemented contributions that support community development through the integration of art and artists into the built environment. The selected individual will receive $30,000 to further their work plus professional development and engagement opportunities throughout the year.

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.

A new collection of webinar sessions designed for mid-career arts and culture professionals will dive deep into equitable leadership and power sharing structures and support arts administrators from backgrounds underrepresented in arts leadership to help advance their leadership journeys.

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.

Americans for the Arts today announced its annual National Arts Marketing Project Conference, held virtually December 7–8, 2021. As the nation continues to react and respond to the changing landscape created by the pandemic, uncertainty is the only constant. The conference will prepare the arts and culture field with tools, tactics, strategies, and inspiration to go forth into 2022 and beyond. The National Arts Marketing Project Conference is the largest gathering of arts marketers in the country.

Arts & Cultural Equity Studio (ACES) centers the experiences of arts leaders of color navigating the field and offers attendees insights into various professional journeys the paths that have led to leadership roles in the arts sector.

This week: an update on our board-commissioned Task Force for Racial and Cultural Equity, a new bipartisan pro-arts bill and a full legislative update on federal arts advocacy success in 2021, looking ahead to National Arts & Humanities Month, and shining a spotlight on our Diversity in Arts Leadership interns.

This week: Get to know some of the next generation of arts leaders from our internship and Diversity in Arts Leadership summer programs. And in case you missed it, catch a recording of a webinar about congressional earmarks and how your arts organization can benefit from this type of spending.

Catch up on blogs about the STAR Act, supporting Native artists, and a North Carolina arts leader; an exhibit that’s redefining public art monuments using augmented reality; and the final sessions of our DIALogues professional development webinar collection for early arts leaders.

This week: a community art project in NYC’s Chinatown, a report on the intersection of arts and technology, an educator’s guide on the First Amendment and the arts, the latest in our professional development webinar series for early arts leaders, and more!

“Does the First Amendment Allow the Government to Censor Art?” is an educator’s guide that addresses the relationship between freedom of speech and art censorship using history, discussion questions, and debate prompts.

The National Endowment for the Arts recently published Tech as Art: Supporting Artists Who Use Technology as a Creative Medium, a report focused on artists and organizations working with digital technologies. 

This week we’ve got expert advice on how to apply for American Rescue Plan grants from the NEA and scoop on the legislative amendments that might have scuttled future federal funding for arts in transit projects. Plus: Congress wants to increase the NEA’s budget by how much?! Catch up on this and much more in our weekly roundup!

This week: applications for NEA relief grants, new research on local arts agencies, forging deeper relationships with audiences post-pandemic, support for Indigenous artists and culture bearers, and professional development for early arts leaders of color.

Americans for the Arts will host its virtual Annual Convention June 8-11, 2021. Through 24 sessions, over 800 participants will gather to better understand how the nonprofit arts field can build an equitable arts, culture, and creative economy together as we reemerge and rebuild from the pandemic. The Annual Convention is an opportunity for the field to explore how to put creative workers and cultural organizations to work as part of a collective recovery.

This week: case studies and new learning especially for arts organizations, inspiration for artists looking to promote equity and collaborate with communities, a reversal on executive orders related to public art, and extended scholarships to attend the 2021 Annual Convention.