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.

Film and television professionals met at the Montclair Film Festival on May 4th to discuss concerns over the New Jersey film tax credit program’s 2015 sunset date.

Can art fuel a movement?  ArtPride NJ and the Printmaking Center of NJ have teamed up to campaign that art is as much a part of life as food, water, and air.  The two organizations have teamed up with artist Lunar New Year (LNY) and printer Jase Clark to create limited edition silkscreen and digital prints entitled FOOD WATER AIR ART. The art piece promotes the need to prioritize, fund, and support the arts.

The annual congressional letters to the U.S. House and Senate Appropriations Committees saw boosted support; the bipartisan House letter led by Congressional Arts Caucus co-Chairs Reps. Louise Slaughter (D-NY) and Leonard Lance (R-NJ) received 134 signatures! Last year, the letter yielded 95 signatures. In the Senate, 29 Senators signed a similar letter led by Sen.

Congressional Arts Caucus co-Chairs Reps. Louise Slaughter (D-NY) and Leonard Lance (R-NJ) are co-leading a letter requesting $154.466 million for the NEA in FY 2015. In the Senate, Sen. Tom Udall (D-NM) is circulating a letter in support of NEA/NEH funding at the $155 million level for FY 2015.

Museum champions in the U.S. House and U.S. Senate are circulating bipartisan letters in support of “robust” funding for OMS in the coming fiscal year. In the House, the letter is led by Reps. Paul Tonko (D-NY), Michael Grimm (R-NY), and Arts Caucus co-Chairs Reps. Louise Slaughter (D-NY) and Leonard Lance (R-NJ). In the Senate, it is led by Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Roy Blunt (R-MO).

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.

Representatives Frankel (D-FL), Lynch (D-MA), O’Rourke (D-TX), and Titus (D-NV) have all recently joined the Congressional Arts Caucus, which is currently co-chaired by Reps. Louise Slaughter (D-NY) and Leonard Lance (R-NJ). The caucus now has 163 members.

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.

Brunswick Acres Elementary School in Kendall Park, NJ was very dedicated to winning the third annual "€œArt of Education"€ contest sponsored by KRIS Wine and Americans for the Arts.

The 26th annual Arts Advocacy Day in Washington, DC, brought together a cross section of America's cultural and civic organizations, along with more than 500 grassroots advocates from 40 states, to underscore the importance of developing strong public policies and appropriating increased public funding for the arts and arts education.