Americans for the Arts

The Arts and Civic Engagement Tool Kit: Planning Tools and Resources for Animating Democracy in Your Community features customizable worksheets containing thoughtful questions, clarifying sidebars, and examples to help users plan, design, and partner to create meaningful engagement activities. Resources on the CD include: 

This Monograph is intended to begin dialogue within the arts field about arts and creativity programs by and for older people by providing basic information on current trends and opportunities to integrate creativity and aging.

In this case study, Bill Cleveland offers an engaging in-depth excavation of the genesis, planning, and implementation of Creative CityMaking, a collaboration between the City of Minneapolis and Intermedia Arts aimed at integrating creative thinking, strategies, and processes into the operations of city departments. Detailed stories of the five collaborative projects at the heart of Creative CityMaking along with outcomes and learning from the first phase provide an illuminating and instructive look at how collaboration between artists and municipal government can achieve

This document outlines the San Francisco Arts Commission's (SFAC) policies and guidelines around public artworks in relation to the Americans with Disabilities Act and Title II. It also provides assistances to artists and staff in adhering to these requirements. 

This sample map and brochure is from Museum Without Walls™: AUDIO, an award-winning audio program that features more than 150 voices and viewpoints of people from all walks of life – artists, educators, civic leaders, historians, and those with personal connections to the artworks.

This report outlines the state of Alabama's efforts to bolster support and advoacy for Arts Education through the establishment of an Arts Education Leadership Team. The task force also looked at several data points and cultural climate indicators. 

Situated at the crossroads of LA’s Skid Row and the burgeoning downtown Arts District, Inner-City Arts is well-positioned to produce greater educational equity for our students and opportunities for them to participate in the region’s growing creative economy. This study looks at the data showing how our work has an impact on the students in Los Angeles.

For years, Orchard Gardens K-8 Pilot School was plagued by low student achievement and high staff turnover. Then, in 2010, with an expanded school schedule made possible with federal funding, Orchard Gardens began a remarkable turnaround. Today, the school is demonstrating how increased learning time, combined with other key turnaround strategies, can dramatically improve the performance of even the nation’s most troubled schools.

While there is research on the potential for wraparound services, including health care services, family involvement programs, and expanded food assistance programs to eliminate barriers to student learning, there is little known about the possible connection between wraparound services and teacher efficacy. This report examines specific examples of schools where wraparound services are benefiting teachers in addition to students. 

This paper demonstrates the effectiveness and importance of community schools to reforming our public school systems in ways that are creative, enduring, and based on measurable results.

The community-centered arts and culture movement—made up of social justice artists, arts and culture agencies focused on racial equity, and cultural centers that serve communities of color and low-income communities— leads in securing cultural assets, building greater social cohesion, and feeding economic vibrancy. [Introduction p.4]

An introductory lesson plan for 4/5th graders to understand a piece of public art in Philadelphia with the goal to learn how art can provide inspiration.

This article looks at a public art project's impact on increasing voter awarness and turnout in Philadelphia, PA. Funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation through their Knight Cities Challenge grant, Next Stop: Democracy! (NSD) aimed to improve the voting experience and increase civic engagement using public art. Here’s My Chance (HMC), a creative agency that works exclusively with nonprofits and socially responsible businesses, produced the project. Working with the Knight Foundation, Mural Arts, Committee of Seventy and other key nonprofit partners, HMC

This sample bike map takes participants around the city of Philadelphia's outdoor sculpture. The Outdoor Sculpture Bike Map provides two routes for a unique view of Philadelphia’s public art

This report  reviews how their findings extend and enrich the vast literatures on the glass ceiling, tokenism, and workplace discrimination.

The report released by the New York City Comptroller, “Culture Shock: The Importance of National Arts Funding to New York City’s Cultural Landscape,” highlights how the NEA supports arts and educational programs across the five boroughs of New York City and profiles four neighborhood-based arts groups that would be impacted.