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.

The most recent acquisition of paintings by the Southwestern Vermont Medical Center in Bennington—54 paintings valued at more than $40,000—marked the end of a project that spanned five years from conception to completion.

In the weeks leading up to "tax day," Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) and Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-FL) reintroduced the long-standing Artist-Museum Partnership Act (H.R. 4948) that would allow artists the same tax benefits as other Americans as it relates to donations of works of art, including literary, musical, artistic, or scholarly compositions given to and retained by a nonprofit collecting institution. Last year during the same week, Sen. Pat Leahy (D-VT) sponsored a bill in the U.S.

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

After 3 days of considering bipartisan legislation to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) and nearly 60 amendments, the Senate HELP Committee advanced the legislation, enabling it to be next considered on the Senate floor under an open amendment process. Floor action is now expected before the end of May.

In this month’s Smithsonian.com magazine you will find their top picks for amazing small towns across the United States. These towns all have populations under 20,000, and were selected because of their number of cultural and historic attractions, food and drink destinations, and nature opportunities. The article states: “Think of this list not as a ranking but as a menu, with something for every taste—whether it’s country bluegrass, Florida’s white beaches, or Alaska’s blue mountains.”

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. 

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!

Americans for the Arts acknowledges with great sadness the loss of former U.S. Senator Jim Jeffords of Vermont today.  He was the co-founder of the Congressional Arts Caucus, Senate Cultural Caucus, and of the Congressional High School Art Competition, a bi-partisan program that celebrates the talents of local high school students in Congressional districts across America.

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?