On Monday, February 22, the National Association of Counties (NACo) approved an arts resolution at their annual Legislative Conference in Washington. The resolution supports the promotion of the arts and culture in America’s counties, and allows NACo to lobby and advocate for arts-related issues on Capitol Hill. It is evident that NACo is in strong support of increased funding for federal arts organizations.

Today, The Telegraph in Macon, Georgia, posted an op-ed co-authored by Abel Lopez, president of the boards of directors of Americans for the Arts and chairman-emeritus of the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities, and Jan Beeland, executive director of the Macon Arts Alliance. The op-ed was written in anticipation of the New Community Visions Initiative coming to Macon on Wednesday, February 17, 2016. 

Nominate arts leaders from your community for one of seven Annual Leadership Awards presented by Americans for the Arts. These awards recognize the achievements of individuals, organizations, or programs committed to enriching communities through the arts and are presented each year in conjunction with Annual Convention.

Americans for the Arts is pleased to offer a number of full ride and reimbursement scholarships to individuals interested in attending the 2016 Annual Convention in Boston from June 16 -19, 2016.

Vans and Americans for the Arts envision a country where every child has access to—and takes part in—high quality learning experiences in the arts, both in school and in the community. As such, the two organizations partnered to create the Custom Culture Grant Program to promote awareness and support arts education in public schools. Today the partners announced that eight schools across the country that have been awarded a $2,500 grant for the 2015-2016 school year. 

When arts and businesses partner, everyone profits. The arts help businesses foster critical thinking, engage employees, recruit and retain talent, and more.

The NABE Foundation, a partner of Americans for the Arts and the charitable arm of the National Association for Business Economics (NABE) is awarding its eighth annual Americans for the Arts scholarship to encourage the integration of the arts into the economic education process.

Today, Vans kicks off the seventh annual Vans Custom Culture competition, a national contest designed to give high school students a platform to embrace creative expression while joining a movement to support arts education. High school art teachers can now register their school to compete against thousands of other students, creating custom designs using blank Vans shoes as their canvas. 

“Each day is more wondrous and rewarding because I experience it through the arts.” When The Related Group Chairman and CEO Jorge Pérez said these words on October 6 at the BCA 10 gala at the Central Park Boathouse in New York City while accepting the 2015 BCA Leadership Award, he verbalized a sentiment which most of the business executives in the room shared.

Americans for the Arts is pleased to announce the newly elected leadership of its four National Advisory Councils. These individuals were nominated by their peers to advise Americans for the Arts staff on programs and services for the fields of Arts Education, Emerging Leadership, Public Art, and the Private Sector. Each will serve three year terms beginning January 1, 2016 and will join an existing slate of advisory council members, national leaders, who use their field expertise to connect the national work of Americans for the Arts to the local level.

As a tribute and a thank you to all our partners, Americans for the Arts is placing this advertisement featuring all our cross-sector awardees from 2015 in 14 publications this fall into early 2016. Our awardees will reach 377,000 readers and will appear on the pages of the Chronicle of Philanthropy, Politico, and APAP’s Inside Arts magazine, just to name a few.

Inspired by meeting Curtis Bean, a veteran and founder of Art of War Project, and our ongoing work in the area of arts & healing through the National Initiative of Arts & Health in the Military, Bob Lynch published an article with the Huffington Post for Veterans Day 2015.