Americans for the Arts has made the difficult decision to cancel the 2020 National Arts Action Summit, which was to take place March 30-31 in Washington, D.C., and to postpone the related Nancy Hanks Lecture on Arts & Public Policy. The cancellation of the Summit comes out of an abundance of caution and to align with COVID-19 health recommendations and warnings issued by the Washington, D.C., government against mass gatherings in the city until March 31.  

We regret having to cancel the Summit, including this 33rd annual Arts Advocacy Day, but the health and safety of our attendees is our highest priority. Americans for the Arts will be providing a full refund to all registered attendees within 30 days. We are also creating a special suite of National Arts Action Summit virtual briefings that will include information on the effect of COVID-19 on the arts community.  

Americans for the Arts continues to closely monitor recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the Federal and D.C. governments as developments evolve concerning the coronavirus. Our organization cares about the health and safety of our members, stakeholders, staff, and board in communities across the country, and we understand that health, work, and travel require personal decisions that individuals must make for themselves. 

We will still convene the Americans for the Arts Annual Convention and Public Art and Civic Design Conference in late June in Washington, D.C. Again, the health and safety of all our attendees is our highest priority and we are working with meeting experts to take active preventative measures for these meetings. Should the status of these meetings change, we will reach out immediately to those registered for these events and post cancellation notices on the website. In addition, we have also relaxed our event registration cancellation policy to take COVID-19 into account, and we encourage anyone who may be unwell to opt out of attending any of our in-person meetings. 

Please contact us if you have further questions via email at [email protected] or by calling 202.371.2830.