Since the Military Child Education Coalition (MCEC) began the “Call for the Arts” in 2002, thousands of military children – from all over the world, from every branch of service, in grades PreK-12 – have submitted their drawings, their poems, and their interpretations of what it means to be a military child. The MCEC takes advantage of every opportunity to display the artistic skill of these unique, resilient children.

Americans for the Arts' congratulates and thanks Jonathan Katz for his 30 years of dedicated service to the global arts community through his leadership of the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies (NASAA). We celebrated his many achievements and long standing partnership with Americans for the Arts at a reception in our Washington, D.C. office on November 10. 

Wish you could be an art collector but can never afford the price tag of the pieces you'd truly want? There is hope for those attending the world-famous Southeby's Paris this week. Today, December 12, they will be raffling off a $1 million dollar original Picasso masterpiece - the 1914 cubist drawing L'homme au Gibus, Man with Opera Hat - for only 100 euros, or $130.00.

Americans for the Arts' Artist Committee member and American artist, Jeff Koons, helps push forward public charity in the arts world with his $4million dollar piece, auctioned off by Project Perpetual on Nov. 9. The piece, based on Picasso’s La Soupe and titled Gazing Ball (Charity), stands six feet tall and is slung with donated Hermès handbags. 

With everyone celebrating our nation's veterans today, Americans for the Arts' President and CEO, Robert Lynch, writes to the Huffington Post about the connection between the arts and the healing of our nation's veterans. Americans for the Arts has been engaged in this work through our National Initiative for Arts and Health in the Military, in collaboration with the American Legion Auxiliary and more than 16 national partners, working for policy that supports these programs and services and towards serving as the national nexus for knowledge and connection. 

Americans for the Arts isn’t the only organization working to transform STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) into STEAM (science, technology, arts, engineering, mathematics). Some top tech companies have been hiring artists-in-residence to assist engineers in design and open the box of ideas and creativity. The artists, hired for a specific period of time and provided a stipend in many cases, offer a creative perspective on the science of engineering and manufacturing technology.

The Annual Healing Arts Exhibit opened October 16 in the America Building pavilion at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (WRNMMC) in Bethesda, Maryland.  The exhibit, jointly sponsored by the John P. Murtha Cancer Center and ground-breaking Creative Arts Program of WRNMMC, featured poetry, and music, accompanied by the artists explaining the role that art is making in their recovery.  The show is given each year in “memory of those who lost their battle or were lost in battle; and in celebration of those who continue on…”

This fall, the South Dakota Board of Education announced that they are seeking to change state standards for fine arts – as well as science and technology – to keep their students on par with other states and help them succeed. 

Recent studies over the past year all point to one key finding: music education is insanely beneficial; to children and adults alike.  Through studies by the Northwestern University Auditory Neuroscience Lab, the Boston Children’s Hospital, the University of Toronto and many others, researchers have accumulated tactile evidence that music training – learning to play an instrument or to sing – for children has large and wide-reaching impact.  Specifically, neuroscientists and psychologists point to how music training can improve the brain’s abilities, help c

This August, the US Department of Education revealed the Obama administration’s Preschool Development Grant Program, which – for the first time – now includes the arts as a required activity for early childhood education programs.  This great addition of the arts into preschool curricula is in large thanks to the Grantmakers in the Arts’ Arts Education Funders Coalition (AEFC) – and Americans for the Arts as an advisory committee member – who worked to advocate that t

Way back in 2011, The Kennedy Center selected Tulsa, Oklahoma to participate in their “Any Given Child” program; an initiative dedicated to ensuring unique arts education for students throughout every grade level in K-8 schools.  Through a partnership between Tulsa Public Schools and the Arts & Humanities Council of Tulsa, local students just recently completed their first year of an arts curriculum in May of 2014 and are now entering a secon

On Oct. 1, the Wallace Foundation announced they are launching a new six-year $40 million initiative focused on audience building for performing arts. The initiative will provide four-year grants to a select cohort of organizations around the country. Wallace will be inviting 80 organizations to submit proposals and will fund approximately 25 of them.

Wallace President Will Miller just shared the news in a webinar featuring guest panelists:

Back in 2010, the principal of an inner-city school in Boston, Massachusetts took a massive leap of faith and redirected his entire school to focus around arts education. The school, Orchard Gardens, was a K-8 school facing challenges and one of the lowest rankings of Massachusetts schools. Principal Andrew Bott decided to redirect school resources and refocus the school – in a year he fired the school’s security guards and brought on new teachers and a curriculum centered on the arts.

On Monday, September 15, 2014, a series of press releases announced a long awaited wave of funding specifically for the arts and education of Brooklyn.  While arts and education funding is usually channeled elsewhere, this support was championed by local leaders and advocates who firmly believe in the ability and promise of their local institutions.  All together, over $175 million will be split between local arts and cultural institutions, schools across the borough, and the largest expansion ever for afterschool programming that will be available for more than 34,000 students.&n

Arts education is getting an extra push from some big names.  Celebrities, and artists themselves, Kerry Washington, Kevin Spacey, Monica Horan, and violinist Joshua Bell all took a moment this week to herald the need for greater access to arts education for young people across the country.  In a nod to their own successes and opportunities, these stars have taken up the cause – either via their own personal foundations, programs, or public speaking – to promote and fight for arts programs in schools so that future generations might also have the chance to succeed.