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.”

Americans for the Arts today announces six additions to its 38-member Board of Directors. The group collectively includes leaders in the areas of cultural policy, business, innovation, and the arts.

The board and staff of Americans for the Arts, who remember Sasse French as a staunch advocate, a tireless fundraiser, and a community change agent through the arts, mourn her passing and celebrate her legacy and contributions to strengthening the arts in America.

This new authorization of the the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act attempts to better align CTE programs with the current job market by supporting innovative learning opportunities, building stronger community partnerships, and encouraging more engagement with employers.

IDEAS xLab, based in Lousiville, KY, announced the receipt of a planning grant from the Health Impact Project, a collaboration of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and The Pew Charitable Trusts.

In a study released on December 16, 2015, Metro Schools’ collaborative Music Makes Us initiative is credited with increasing musical participation among Nashville students, as well as supplying them with the soft skills and character traits that will set them up for success in academics and life. The study shows growth in music programs at every level, particularly in the important middle school years, and 100 percent music participation at the elementary level.

Today, the U.S. House of Representatives formally agreed to form a conference committee to reauthorize the federal K-12 education law (Elementary and Secondary Education Act, ESEA), which has been expired since 2007.

The rule in today’s House floor debate formally allowed the House to request a conference with the Senate.

Americans for the Arts wants you to elect art professionals from the field to serve on one of four network advisory councils: Arts Education, Emerging Leaders, Private Sector, and