To our members, strategic partners, patrons, artists, and the entire arts and culture community: Americans for the Arts Board of Directors and senior leadership want to share, with all sincerity, that we have used these last months of organizational transition to reflect on our actions, and their effect on those we serve. We have taken a deep and critical look in the mirror to better understand how our work is being impacted by the societal issues affecting our members, partners, and all those dedicated to the arts and culture community. In our introspection, we acknowledge the importance of shared advocacy and shared leadership within the broader arts and culture community. We want to be better partners in this regard, and we realize our best efforts can only occur by rebuilding trust and realignment with the field. We know that it will take time and, more importantly, actions. We have come to fully recognize that Americans for the Arts can do better in delivering consistent, high quality, and mutually beneficial leadership and service as a national organization. We want to begin this recognition by offering the findings from the board commissioned Task Force for Racial and Cultural Equity.

The Diversity in Arts Leadership program once again returns to a virtual setting with a brand-new set of interns from all over the country fueled by their passions and interest in arts administration and cultural equity. For 28 years, Americans for the Arts has been hosting the DIAL internship program as an investment in a more equitable arts management field. This ARTSblog series features the DIAL cohorts in New York City, New Jersey, and Nashville in four parts; profiled here are interns from the Nashville cohort. Get to know Mikayla Gary, Maya Brown, Grace Kim, and Paula Wilson.

The Diversity in Arts Leadership program once again returns to a virtual setting with a brand-new set of interns from all over the country fueled by their passions and interest in arts administration and cultural equity. For 28 years, Americans for the Arts has been hosting the DIAL internship program as an investment in a more equitable arts management field. This ARTSblog series features the DIAL cohorts in New York City, New Jersey, and Nashville in four parts; profiled here are interns from the New Jersey cohort. Get to know Mikayla Bush, Randy Campo, Malcolm Davis, Mimi Laws, Maya Mangum, Camryn Morrow, Nelly Sanchez, and Emily Springer.

This summer, we had the opportunity to intern at Americans for the Arts. Callia, a student at Harvard University, worked with the Government Affairs team, and Bella, a recent graduate of Tufts University and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, worked with the Marketing and Communications team. Both of us hope to pursue artistic careers in the future: Callia as a filmmaker and Bella as a visual artist specializing in soft sculpture. Having gotten a taste of the arts administration and advocacy world this summer, we wanted to share our experiences and discuss the ways we have found that the arts and advocacy are intertwined.

The Diversity in Arts Leadership program once again returns to a virtual setting with a brand-new set of interns from all over the country fueled by their passions and interest in arts administration and cultural equity. For 28 years, Americans for the Arts has been hosting the DIAL internship program as an investment in a more equitable arts management field. This ARTSblog series will feature the DIAL cohorts in New York City, New Jersey, and Nashville in four parts; profiled here are six of the NYC interns. Get to know Fabia St-Juste, Jennifer Villa, Leon Caleb Christian, Rafael, Sarah Cecilia Bukowski, and Vivian Gonzalez.

The Diversity in Arts Leadership program once again returns to a virtual setting with a brand-new set of interns from all over the country fueled by their passions and interest in arts administration and cultural equity. For 28 years, Americans for the Arts has been hosting the DIAL internship program as an investment in a more equitable arts management field. This ARTSblog series will feature the DIAL cohorts in New York City, New Jersey, and Nashville in four parts; profiled here are six of the NYC interns. Get to know Alex Gomes, Aurimar Báez Collazo, Austin Kim, Brian Le, Kaleb Stevens, and Harrison Clark.

The Native Arts and Cultures Foundation (NACF) is the only national philanthropic organization focused exclusively on Native arts and cultures with a deep commitment to supporting Native artists in a spirit of advancing equity and cultural knowledge for American Indian, Native Hawaiian, and Alaska Native communities. NACF is especially active in supporting artists responding to economic justice and environment issues. Its SHIFT – Transformative Change and Indigenous Arts program gives artists opportunities to work with communities to examine complex issues from a Native perspective, while LIFT – Early Career Support for Native Artists encourages artists to develop projects that advance positive social change at the community level. And through Mentor Artist Fellowships, emphasis is put on opportunities for contemporary Native artists working both in traditional and contemporary practice to deepen their connections to the artistic traditions and heritages of their tribal communities.

Since its inception, the Arts Council of Indianapolis has provided programs and services to the citizens of central Indiana, and to hundreds of artists and arts organizations. Vice President of Community Impact and Investment Ernest Disney-Britton’s areas of focus include grantmaking, arts education, impact research, and equity partnerships. He provides support for arts organizations and individuals who apply for grant and fellowship funding through the Annual Grant Program, Creative Renewal Arts Fellowship, Robert D. Beckmann Jr. Emerging Artist Fellowship, and Transformational Impact Fellowship. Additionally, he coordinates the Any Given Child Indy program that is creating a long-range arts education plan for students in grades K-8 in Indianapolis Public Schools.

As I reflect on my journey as an Arts & Culture Leaders of Color Fellow with Americans for the Arts, I am unsure of when I started referring to myself as an “arts administrator,” or if I have yet fully embraced the term. I’ve always lived and worked in the community engagement lane, in theater arenas. My resume reflects a career path synonymous with the definition of arts administrator, but I never really claimed that title out loud. I knew, however, that this fellowship would put me in community with other people of color outside of the American Regional Theater network. A space that I initially thought would be pure refuge from my (at the time) predominantly white working environment ended up being so much more. It was affirming, challenging, and, at times, liberating. I felt seen and inspired by my cohort of fellows.

Founded in 2008, with start-up funding of $10 million from the Ford Foundation, NACF supports Indigenous artists, culture bearers, and Native-led arts organizations through fellowships and project funding. Betsy Theobald Richards (Cherokee), who served as Ford’s Program Officer in Media, Arts, and Culture from 2003 to 2010, provided key leadership in establishing NACF. Other Native leaders and artists were involved from the get-go: the civil rights lawyer Walter Echo-Hawk (Pawnee), poet and musician Joy Harjo (Muscokee-Creek), museum director and artist Elizabeth Woody (Yakama Nation Wasco descent and Citizen of Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs), and singer, artist, and educator Buffy Sainte-Marie (Cree First Nation of Canada), among others. It’s powerful to have such dynamic and creative national and community-based leaders setting the stage for NACF’s work. The organization is currently in the early stages of developing a major cultural facility and new headquarters: the Center for Native Arts and Cultures in southeast Portland, Oregon, with a vision to create a “vibrant gathering place” for Indigenous artists as a convening ground for cultural ceremonies and celebrations; as an incubator for Native artists to create; and as a venue for presenting contemporary exhibitions and performances, workshops, and seminars.

Since the late 1970s, the Salt Lake City Arts Council has promoted, presented, and supported artists, arts organizations, and arts activities to further the development of the arts community and to benefit the public by expanding awareness, access, and participation. As director of the Arts Council, Felicia Baca acts as the chief arts and culture advocate for the city and oversees the development, promotion, implementation, support, and strengthening of creative programs and policy. “I’m an advocate, ambassador, and relationship-builder to elevate artists and art organizations in the city, while facilitating opportunities for residents to engage in the arts. My hope is to further the development of an arts ecosystem citywide that considers artists and arts engagement as essential for livability, equity, and economic development. Our Arts Council has a variety of functions, including granting, public art, and public programs. It all ties back to serving as an advocate for artists, and engaging residents in the many benefits of the arts.”

Following the strong, public statements of solidarity with Black Lives Matter that cultural institutions across the country made in Summer 2020, museums, artist-endowed foundations, and other arts organizations began to look inward, identifying all the ways their commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and access can be lived in their day-to-day activities. This has prompted endowed cultural organizations to seriously evaluate whether their investment decisions reflect their values, and to begin the journey to align their money with mission and purpose. Such a reflection is a natural outgrowth of recent debates over accepting donations earned through the sale of opioids, fossil fuels, weapons, and the operation of private prisons. It also recognizes that Next Generation art donors and foundations that fund the arts—many of whom are impact investors themselves—are beginning to evaluate an arts organization’s investments alongside its programs and policies when deciding where to give. America’s museums, libraries, art schools, performing art centers, and other cultural institutions steward more than $58 billion in financial assets through their endowments. This means investment policies and practices offer a meaningful way for cultural institutions to signal their values of diversity, equity, inclusion and access.

Since 2016, Jeremy Johnson has been executive director of Newark Arts, one of the city’s leading nonprofits. The organization makes grants to neighborhood arts programs, produces the award-winning Newark Arts Festival, and advocates for policies to uplift Newark as a city of the arts. During his tenure, Newark Arts has strengthened the city's cultural profile, including the 2020 ranking of Newark among America's Top 10 Arts-Vibrant Communities by the National Center for Arts Research. Johnson led the creation of Newark’s first community cultural plan, Newark Creates, which resulted in the city-sponsored Creative Catalyst Fund to support area artists impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The multi-media Atlanta-based artist Luzene Hill, a member of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, was one of five Fellowship artists chosen by the Eiteljorg Museum in Indianapolis in 2015 and featured in their exhibition Conversations (the other artists honored in 2015 were Brenda Mallory, Da-ka-xeen Mehner, Holly Wilson, and Mario Martinez). Certainly, the work of these artists reaches a high formal and aesthetic level, as well as being informed by complex contemporary cultural, social and political realities. Luzene Hill’s work draws deeply personal and difficult experiences related to violence against women and Indigenous cultures. In creating museum and site-specific installations, she helps her audiences understand complex issues on a deeper level. In communicating about tough issues, she also manages to create visually stunning work. During our current period of tremendous social, cultural, and political upheaval, artists like Luzene Hill bring needed attention to key issues while engaging our hearts and minds to consider more effective ways to respond to the serious work that remains to be done.