Today at 12:00 noon, The Association of Performing Arts Presenters will honor Americans for the Arts' CEO and President, Robert L. (Bob) Lynch, and their other 2014 APAP Awards recipients at a luncheon at the New York Hilton Midtown in New York City. The APAP Awards honor individuals whose service to the performing arts has had a significant impact on the industry and on communities worldwide.

Bob is the receipient of the The Sidney R. Yates Award for Outstanding Advocacy on Behalf of the Performing Arts, recognizing his outstanding commitment to empower communities and leaders to advance the arts in society and in the lives of citizens across the country. He has over 38 years experience in the arts industry, successfully merging National Assembly of Local Arts Agencies, where he was Exceutive Director for 12 years, with the American Council for the Arts to form Americans for the Arts in 1996. Under his leadership, Americans for the Arts' programs and services have grown 50 times their original size. He has personally reached audiences in over 2000 locations spanning 49 states and more than a dozen nations.

Under his direction, Americans for the Arts has become a leader in documenting and articulating the key role played by the nonprofit arts and culture industry, and their audiences, in strengthening our nation’s economy through Americans for the Arts' signature reports, Arts & Economic Prosperity IV and the National Arts Index. He has also been instrumental in creating a strong portfolio of projects and information about the transformative value of the arts in non-arts areas such as civic dialogue, social problem solving and work with the Pentagon, West Point, and Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on the arts and military.  

See our full biography for Robert Lynch, and check out the CEO's Corner for information on Bob's latest travels, speaking engagements, projects, and honors.