The Salina, Kansas Community Art & Design (CAD) program was developed in 2000. Brad Anderson, Executive Director of the Salina Arts & Humnanities local arts agency that manages the program, discusses the importance of public art and how the program has impacted the community in this article which also details the included projects and some of the controversies that have been encountered along the way.

Anderson states "if I instructed our office to only follow the direction of the negative voices in the community, we wouldn’t have any art."

Last week, Randy Cohen, Vice President of Research and Policy at Americans for the Arts, garnered media attention as the featured speaker at the Innovation & Creativity Through the Arts breakfast sponsored by the Wichita Arts Council. He shared his experience and presented ideas, inspiration, and real-world examples of how the arts can create jobs, retain young professionals, and attract new businesses.

Register today for the 2015 Annual Convention, taking place June 12–14, 2015 in Chicago!

The conference will take place at the Chicago Sheraton, with more than 40 breakouts, three keynotes, three preconferences, two Workshop Intensives, a dozen ARTventure Tours, and an opening reception at the Museum of Contemporary Art! 

Get the conversation about encouraging creativity and ensuring arts education in your community with a new series of videos by Americans for the Arts. These videos convey the stories behind importance of arts education, as told by children whose lives have been postiviely impacted by the arts. 

Wish you could be an art collector but can never afford the price tag of the pieces you'd truly want? There is hope for those attending the world-famous Southeby's Paris this week. Today, December 12, they will be raffling off a $1 million dollar original Picasso masterpiece - the 1914 cubist drawing L'homme au Gibus, Man with Opera Hat - for only 100 euros, or $130.00.

In September, we held a call for nominations for our Network Councils. Now it's time for you, our members, to cast your vote to determine which nominees will be elected to the following four Americans for the Arts' Network Councils.

The greatest month of the year is upon us - National Arts & Humanities Month!

It's that time again: Americans for the Arts is seeking at least 200 partners to make this Arts and Economic Prosperity Study larger and more comprehensive than ever before--and we invite YOU to be a part of it!

Consumers spend nearly $150 billion annually on entertainment and the arts. How does this breakdown to spending on the arts in your individual community?

As part of Americans for the Arts' ongoing initative to support our veterans and their families by helping them heal through the arts, we have recently partnered with We Are Veterans, a collaboration of local PBS stations, partner organizations, veteran service organizations, and communities to leverage resources to raise awareness about the well-being of veterans and their families.

With 2013 ending, we at Americans for the Arts find ourselves grateful for so many great arts achievements this year. There are so many partners doing amazing work in towns, cities, and states across the country--and in reflecting on this work, we wanted to especially thank the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and its staff for serving as the national lynchpin for the whole US arts field.

Join our first ever Local Arts Agency Blog Salon December 5-9 on ARTSblog as leaders in the field tackle questions about emerging trends, surviving the economic downturn, local collaboration, model programs, and more.

The following guest bloggers are generating and leading the discussion: