Americans for the Arts today announces a schedule of events for its Nancy Hanks Lecture on Arts and Public Policy and Arts Advocacy Day, as part of the National Arts Action Summit held March 20-21, 2017. Now in their 30th year, the events are presented by Americans for the Arts with 88 national organizational partners representing arts, culture, business, civic, and education institutions and individuals nationwide. This annual series of events is particularly important with recent news that the Trump Administration’s proposed FY2018 budget shows eliminating funding for the National Endowment for the Arts and other federal cultural agencies.

Americans for the Arts releases a statement about the importance of artists and creative workers being able to acquire and maintain affordable healthcare insurance at a time when Congress is working to “repeal and replace” portions of ACA.

24 U.S. Senators, including two GOP members, sent a letter to President Trump outlining their support for the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Americans for the Arts releases a statement in response to the executive order signed by President Trump that denies entrance into the U.S. by immigrant and non-immigrant visitors from seven Muslim-majority nations.

Americans for the Arts is pleased to release a new guide, Arts Deployed: An Action Guide for Community Arts & Military Programming, for local arts organizations and artists interested in bringing creative arts programming to military and Veteran communities, their caregivers, and families. Arts Deployed honors the highly effective and robust arts and military programs that exist all across the country and seeks to help close a critical gap, as the demand for these services far exceeds their number. 

The Heritage Foundation formulated a number of arguments against the NEA decades ago. These arguments are listed below with corresponding rebuttals.

Americans for the Arts knows that engaging business employees through volunteerism and the arts is key to fostering a desirable work environment, increasing efficiency and morale, and doing good in the community. We're pleased to announce the release of our fourth workbook in a series dedicated to helping nonprofits start arts-based employee volunteer and engagement programs, focused on Berea College's AIR Institute arts incubator program.

Today's The Hill newspaper carried a disturbing but not unexpected article related to funding for the arts in the incoming administration. The article said that policy advisors to the President are calling for the elimination of the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities and privatizing the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

From the beginning, the goal of the NAMP program has been to connect, strengthen, and advance our nation’s growing community of arts marketers. The new website provides arts marketers with an improved and dynamic digital space to grow and connect in their community, with four distinct spaces to get smarter, get together, get involved, and get inspired. 

Vans invites high school art students throughout the country to join in the eighth annual Vans Custom Culture art competition to embrace youth creativity and support arts education. Starting today, high school art teachers can register their classes to compete for the grand prize of $50,000 towards their art program by creating their most artistic and inventive designs using blank Vans shoes as their canvas.

As Congress and the Trump Administration prepare the federal budget for Fiscal Year 2018, Americans for the Arts is working to remind our elected officials about the economic importance of federal funding for the arts, specifically through the National Endowment for the Arts. This morning, ads appeared in the New York Post and The Hill newspapers with the bold headline “The Arts Put America to Work.”

On Tuesday, November 15, 2016, First Lady Michelle Obama hosted a reception and performance at the White House to honor the 2016 National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award recipients.

Arts projects created in reaction to the hardships of the Flint water crisis serve to assuage grief, raise political awareness, educate, and allow residents to try to resume normal life as much as possible.

On October 21, Americans for the Arts cosponsored a briefing on Capitol Hill organized by Independent Sector and the Council on Foundations. Panelists from charitable organizations spoke about the value of tax incentives that promote charitable giving, including the IRA Charitable Rollover. This provision is an important funding source for nonprofits, including arts organizations and institutions, and is a key tax incentive for charitable giving.