Americans for the Arts

Much has happened since last I wrote, including the 2018 Midterm Elections, in which: Over 113 million citizens nationwide turned out to vote; a record-breaking total of 107 women were elected to serve in Congress; Democrats now control the U.S. House and Republicans retain hold of the U.S. Senate; key congressional arts supporters like Rep. Betty McCollum (D-MN) on the Interior Appropriations Subcommittee and Rep. Richard Neal (D-MA) on Ways and Means Committee will be the new chairs; at the state level, there will be 19 new governors, 27 new state legislative leaders, and 1,700 new state legislators—resulting in a 23% turnover; and more than 2,000 women will serve in state legislatures in their upcoming sessions and will hold the majority in two state legislative chambers—the Colorado House and Nevada Assembly. On top of getting out the vote for this year’s midterms, State Arts Action Network leaders had noteworthy advocacy gains in their communities.

ARTSblog once again was a vibrant space for sharing and learning across all sectors of the arts field in 2018. All told, we published more than 215 blogs by authors working in public art, healthcare, government, marketing, local arts agencies, the private sector, and at Americans for the Arts, plus artists, arts educators, leaders at every stage of their careers, and many more. We hope you got your fill of your favorite topics and posts—but if you’re looking for a quick snapshot of the year that was, here are the 10 most viewed ARTSblog posts from 2018.

Last November’s mid-term election resulted in significant political victories for the supporters of arts and culture as a tide of pro-arts ballot measures successfully passed in the western cities of San Francisco, Tempe, Culver City, and Tacoma. As co-chair of the Washington state effort to create enabling legislation and, later, co-chair of the campaign in Tacoma, I believe the lessons from these successes bode well for future, similar efforts in other communities across the country. Perhaps Tacoma is a model for such cultural funding solutions, especially in mid-size and smaller markets. If so, we in Tacoma hope other cultural communities across the nation will be bold, build a smart proposal, make their case, and give voters a chance to show you how much they want cultural services!

Whether an educator, architect, doctor, volunteer, or accountant, we know the arts have had some impact on you. We know the arts develop certain skills in people that prove essential. We know that those skills lead to successes in work and life. Now is our time as a field to share these stories of impact with decision makers. 

W.E.B. DuBois once said that we should “begin with art, because art tries to take us outside ourselves. It is a matter of trying to create an atmosphere and context, so conversation can flow black and forth and we can be influenced by each other.” As I read this quote during the final stretch of my undergrad years at Saint Louis University, I had just became an art history minor. Though I held a deep admiration for visual arts as well as the critical analysis of the work, I had absolutely no idea where I would end up with a liberal arts degree. It was not until I was perusing the internet that I was drawn to American University’s Arts Management program. Now, a little over a year later, I have been fortunate enough to not only be a full-time student of the Arts Management program but also the Government and Public Affairs intern at Americans for the Arts. 

Last fall, the Stuart Foundation invested in San Diego, and I’ve had the privilege of heading up our project which is a collective impact model we hope will be the arts education equivalent to “Got Milk?” It is called ART=OPPORTUNITY. And we want you to take advantage of it. Our campaign has many facets, including mentoring from the business community for VAPA coordinators, summits and anchor events, a teen/youth council, bilingual parent education, and arts integration boot camps. Our goal in the ART=OPPORTUNTIY campaign is to change public opinion from arts as fluff to arts as essential. And, the reason to change public opinion is to directly effect educational policy and budgeting decisions.