In September 2013, Governor Martin O’Malley’s P-20 Leadership Council unanimously voted to establish a statewide task force on arts education in Maryland schools. The task force is in place to ensure that all students in Maryland have access to a quality education, which includes the arts. In order for this to happen, the task force will make recommendations on policy, regulations, curriculum, instruction, professional development, and resources regarding student’s PreK-12 education in dance, music, theatre, and the visual arts.

In September 2014 Deborah F. Rutter will be taking over as the third president of the Kennedy Center, the nation’s premier arts institution. Rutter will succeed Michael M. Kaiser, the Kennedy Center’s president of 13 years, in order to guide the organization through a time of immense growth and expansion. Rutter, currently president of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association, is the first female president of the Kennedy Center and will serve as both artistic and administrative director.

On February 11, Robert Lynch, Americans for the Arts' CEO and President, co-authored a Letter to the Editor with arts advocate and award-winning actor Robert Redford on arts' potential to open doors for the less fortunate in response to an article pubished on February 4 by Patricia Cohen: N.E.A Benefits Both the Rich and the Poor, Study Finds.

This past month, 13 arts organizations in small and rural communities throughout the state of Arizona were awarded $111,000 in Community Catalyst Grants from the Governor-appointed Arizona Commission on the Arts. The competitive grant program was established by a one-time state budget allocation for Fiscal Year 2014 and awarded funding of up to $10,000 to support community-focused partnerships between arts and non-arts organizations in communities with populations fewer than 100,000.

Betting on the Super Bowl nothing is new. You may even be involved in a pool in your workplace or among friends. But stakes have reached a new all-time high in the world of fine arts with a friendly wager between the Seattle Art Museum and the Denver Art Museum. Both institutions have put up priceless works of art—not to keep, but rather to be exhibited in the home of the losing team as a constant reminder that a Super Bowl win is not only a victory in the name of football, but a victory for the whole community.

Marty Walsh, the newly elected Mayor of Boston, stepped into office and immediately went to work restructuring his cabinet and the Boston government. Walsh decided on cutting 14 city cabinets down to 12 and including 17 people in his cabinet instead of 20 with hope that the reorganization will better support city services.  A large change in the new cabinet is the promotion of Arts and Culture as a cabinet-level position.

Between the moving 33 marriages officiated by Queen Latifia during the big-winners Macklemore and Ryan Lewis performance (oh, and Madonna!), the memorable performances by Daft Punk and Beyonce/Jay-Z, and the funny dancing of Taylor Swift - it was easy to miss a special, first-time-for-the-Grammy's award that recognizes artist's teachers - the Music Educator Award.

The Boston mayoral race between state Rep. Martin Walsh and Boston City Councilor John Conolly may show the two candidate’s differences, but there is certainly one common theme shining through—art and culture as the centerpiece for both campaigns. As the first open mayoral race in 20 years, there seems to be more room for different ideas and influence from Boston’s cultural communities.

At the end of last year, Dean Mary Schmidt Campbell of the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University retired. She has been the face of arts and culture in New York for over 23 years. Prior to her role as Dean at Tisch School, she was the chairwoman of the New York State Council on the Arts, commissioner of New York City’s Cultural Affairs Department, and Executive Director of the Studio Museum in Harlem.

So what is on this arts and culture leader's agenda for the New Year?

Enghien-les-Bains (France) and Sapporo (Japan) have been designated UNESCO Cities of Media Arts, and Paducah, Kentucky (United States of America) is the most recent City of Crafts and Folk Arts.

A new report was released today, profiling the state of the arts in one of the country’s largest school system – Chicago Public Schools. Ingenuity, an arts advocacy organization in Chicago, works closely with the school system to reinstate arts education in every school for every student. The report, is the first of its kind in Chicago, and will be the first in a set of longitudinal reports by Ingenuity which will track student access to the arts in schools.

In November, the Theatre Development Fund made the holiday season extra bright with a special showing of Spiderman: Turn off the Dark. What made this performance different from any other night’s? For one night, actors and producers altered the show specifically so that autistic kids and adults – who are especially sensitive to lights and sounds - could enjoy it.

Just in time for the 2013 holiday season, Rhode Island is elimintating the state tax on artwork and liquor. Starting Dec. 1, the sales tax for any original or limited edition works of art was eliminated as the state launches a first-in-the-nation statewide arts district. Additionally, starting Dec. 1, wine and spirits purchased from a liquor store in Rhode Island will no longer carry a 7-percent sales tax, but beer and other alcoholic beverages will. State Tax Administrator David M.

The Crystal Bridges Museum of Contemporary Art opened in 2011 with a vision: to make contemporary art accessible, both physically and intellectually, for the people of Bentonville, Ark. and the surrounding area. The museum’s president, Don Bacigalupi, and his curator for special projects, Chad Alligood, are currently midway through a cross-country road trip, visiting 400 studios and 40 cities over the past six months to witness firsthand what’s actually going on in contemporary American art.

Jan Stevenson writes to the Post Gazette about the ways in which businesses help support the arts in the Fox Valley region. She sites one of Americans for the Arts' Business Committee for the Arts survey in stating cash and non-cash giving by businesses in support of arts programs between 2009 and 2012 has increased by 18 percent, which means they have returned to near 2006 levels.

For the third time since Anchorage Museum opened in 1968, the cultural institution is changing leadership. Julie Decker comes from a small art gallery to the largest cultural institution in the state, with a budget over 10 million - but she grew up with the arts and has an advanced degree and a long history of art administration work. Beyond that, Anchorage Museum personally means a lot to her. She grew up with the place - danced there at her senior prom and later got married in the atrium.