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. 

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?

Americans for the Arts, a leading partner in The National Coalition for Core Arts Standards (NCCAS), will launch in partnership with NCCAS the 2014 National Core Arts Standards in a streaming webinar on Wednesday, June 4, 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. Join arts education leaders from around the country to learn more about the new standards. The event will feature interviews with a broad spectrum of arts education providers, including certified educators, teaching artists, administrators, national/state policy makers, and arts education advocates.

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.

Jan Stevenson writes to the Post Gazette about the ways in which businesses help support the arts in the Fox Valley region. She sites one of Americans for the Arts' Business Committee for the Arts survey in stating cash and non-cash giving by businesses in support of arts programs between 2009 and 2012 has increased by 18 percent, which means they have returned to near 2006 levels.

Since spring 2006, The National Endowment for the Arts and The Poetry Foundation have been partnering with U.S. state arts agencies to support Poetry Out Loud, “a contest that encourages the nation's youth to learn about great poetry through memorization and recitation.” Participating students recite a poem of their choice, using materials that schools receive by partnering with their state arts agency.