Arts Wisconsin sat down with Americans for the Arts Vice President of Research and Policy Randy Cohen recently. Check out their discussion of the current stare of arts and creativity in Wisconsin!

United Performing Arts Fund (UPAF) recently held its 35^th annual Ride for the Arts in the city of Milwaukee. The event, which supports UPAF's United Arts Fund campaign, has become one of the largest one-day recreational bike rides, with major sponsors like MillerCoors. This year, over 5,000 riders raised more than $550,000 as part of the United Performing Arts Fund campaign.

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.”

The Americans for the Arts 2015 Public Art Network (PAN) Year in Review is open for submissions. The annual PAN Year in Review recognizes exemplary, innovative and creative public art projects completed in the previous calendar year, 2014. Up to 50 projects will be selected and presented at the Americans for the Arts Public Art & Placemaking Preconference happening June 10-12, 2015 in Chicago, Illinois.

Two of the foremost banjoists in the world, Béla Fleck and Abigail Washburn, have announced plans to donate profits from merchandise sales at an upcoming concert to the Confluence Project in Eau Clair, WI. The show will take place at the State Theatre in Eau Clair on February 27. 

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. 

The results are in for this year’s “Art of Education” Campaign!  Congratulations to Cascade K-8 Community School of Shoreline, WA, recipient of the $5,000 grand prize.  Consumers, parents, and educators nationwide determined the grant winners by voting for their favorite K-12 public schools through the KRIS Facebook page.

Fifteen other schools around the country will receive additional grants totaling $20,000. They include:

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 congratulates State Arts Action Network (SAAN) member Anne Katz, Executive Director of ArtsWisconsin, on being selected for the third class of the National Arts Strategies’ (NAS) Chief Executive Program.

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!

Americans for the Arts is pleased to announce the 2014 BCA 10: Best Businesses Partnering with the Arts in America, which recognizes 10 businesses of all sizes for their exceptional involvement with the arts. The awards will be celebrated on October 1, 2014 at a gala presentation and dinner in New York City, which will highlight the ways in which today’s businesses are using the arts to inspire employees, stimulate innovation, and foster creative collaboration all across the country.

Consumers spend nearly $150 billion annually on entertainment and the arts. How does this breakdown to spending on the arts in your individual community?