This morning, Americans for the Arts and The United States Conference of Mayors presented the 2010 National Award for Congressional Arts Leadership to U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA). The award, which recognizes distinguished public service on behalf of the arts, was presented at the Congressional Arts Kick Off during Arts Advocacy Day on Capitol Hill.

Speaker Pelosi receives the Congressional Arts Leadership Award for her commitment to the arts as an outspoken defender of the creative industries in her home of San Francisco and across the country. She was personally involved in securing funding to save nonprofit arts jobs during the stimulus bill debate last year. The arts community owes her debt of gratitude for the jobs that were saved and the validation it provided of the importance of arts workers to the overall national economy. Her leadership of the 111th Congress is making great strides in advancing cultural policy and federal arts funding in the United States.