Last Monday, the San Diego City Council approved $100,000 in extra funding to the troubled San Diego Opera. Due to the opera company’s structural instability and its board’s recommendation to shut down for financial reasons, the city council voted to slash city funding from $383,322 to $160,000.  In the aftermath, over half of the San Diego Opera’s board left and its leadership resigned. Since then, under the guidance of a new board and interim executive director, the company is appearing more stable and successfully raised $2 million through a crowdfunding campaign.

On July 11, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick signed into law the final state budget of $36.5 billion, including the appropriation of $12 million to the Massachusetts Cultural Council (MCC). Before signing the Massachusetts budget, Governor Patrick announced on July 7 at the Barrington Stage Company in Pittsfield that he would allocate $15 million to the state’s Cultural Facilities Fund (CFF).

On July 9th, Senate confirmed Dr. William "Bro" Adams to lead the National Endowment for the Humanities, the independent federal agency that supports research and learning in history, literature, philosophy, and other areas of the humanities by funding selected, peer-reviewed proposals from around the nation. He was nominated by President Obama on April 10^th.

The LA Arts Commission recently released a report detailing arts instruction within LA County public school districts. Arts for All - an arts education advocacy organization – acquired, compiled, and analyzed data from the California Department of Education, which reported on each district and their educational offerings.

NYC Mayor, Bill De Blasio, recently announced a $23 million increase to the city’s education budget specifically for arts education. The allocation is in response to the report by city Comptroller, Scott Stringer, which found 28 percent of city schools lack even one full-time certified arts teacher, especially with the South Bronx and Central Brooklyn.

Last month, Beaumont, TX students took to the state capitol in Austin to fight for their right to quality arts education.  Throughout June, the Beaumont Independent School District (BISD) in Texas has been under some unique pressure to fix a budget problem. 

Bonita Coleman Stewart discusses the merits of ballet as a business metaphor, and credits her one-a-week ballet lessons with teaching her skills that helped her advance in the ranks at Google from a national industry director of automotive to her role today as Vice President of Partner Business Solutions. Ballet's training, choreography, the ensemble, and "preparing to jump" all offer their respective lessons and preperation for career challenges that Stewart has been able to face head-on. Read the full Fast Company article at the link below! 

In 2013, private sector giving to the arts (by individuals, foundations, and corporations) was $16.66 billion, a 7.8 percent increase from 2012 (+6.8 percent when adjusted for inflation).  According to the Giving USA report, “Giving to arts, culture, and humanities organizations has realized strong growth since the end of the Great Recession in 2009.

On Monday, Detroit's three automakers, Chrysler, General Motors, and Ford, donated a total of $26 million to help save the Detroit Institute of Arts. The $26 million is part of the Detroit Institute of Art's commitment to raise $100 million as part of the "grand bargain," an effort by the city, state, and other groups to raise $800 million to help the city emerge from bankruptcy later this year.

A note from Susan Molinari, Vice President for Public Policy at Google, about an incredible project Google's Cultural Institute just completed commemorating the 70th anniversary of the Normandy landings:

American for the Arts CEO and President Robert L. Lynch wrote an article in The Tennessean on May 31 highlighting the recent Periscope: Arts Entrepreneur Training in Nashville as well as the economic impact of arts-related businesses, specifically in Tennessee. Lynch writes that Nashville is a perfect of example of how arts nonprofits, for-profit organizations, and the local government can work together to create a rich environment and a strong economy.

The National YoungArts Foundation has announced that applications for 2015 are now available until October 17, 2014!

On May 20, Michelle Obama - honorary chair of the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities - welcomed student performers from across the country as they took part in the first-ever White House Turnaround Arts talent show.

The event was held as part of a larger administration effort to leverage art, artists, and significant Department of Education resources to turnaround the nation's worst performing schools through Turnaround Arts, a public-private partnership that utilizes the arts to help narrow the achievement gap. 

On May 17th, Armed Forces Day, veterans traveled to Richmond, VA to use a hand-built ballista to launch physical symbols of their military service into a clay wall that will later be cast and become a tribute to veterans. The Veterans Impact Project made its debut at the Dominion Riverrock Festival. A collaborative project between Art on Wheels and artist James Robertson, it is the first art project of its kind to enable veterans to honor the military and to give them a platform to communicate their experiences.

Maya Angelou, famous poet and author who wrote the autobiography "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings," among many other works, has died today at age 86.