WASHINGTON—Americans for the Arts, the leading organization for advancing the arts and arts education in America, today announced the New Community Visions Initiative, part of the large-scale Transforming America’s Communities Through the Arts, a $10.5 million suite of programs set to generate national dialogue and engage key stakeholders over the next three years. 

 

The New Community Visions Initiative will explore the future of local arts in America and the role of community-based arts that enable organizations, funders, cultural institutions, and artists to shape healthier communities over time. The project engages a wide swath of more than 30 partners across the arts and non-arts sectors and is centered on the role of arts and culture in impacting ten sectors central to the healthy communities of the future: tourism, the creative workforce, prisons and rehabilitation, education, health and wellness, intra-community strength, inter-community dialogue, political activation, environment and sustainability, and transportation and infrastructure. 

 

“The arts are a vital part of creating healthier, more vibrant communities across the United States, and we can best build an awareness of their impact by being in communities and discussing the role the arts are uniquely suited to play,” said Robert L. Lynch, president and CEO of Americans for the Arts. “There is no better way to gain that understanding than to meet with arts and community leaders and have those conversations—that’s what the New Community Visions Initiative is all about.”

 

The initiative incorporates four key elements: ten commissioned monographs—short white papers authored by field leaders—regional and national convenings, three books, and a DIY toolkit.  

 

The monographs will be released in May online and later in a printed book called Arts and America: Arts, Culture and the Future of America’s Communities. These monographs will form a background from which Americans for the Arts will conduct a variety of convenings over the course of June 2015 to June 2016, with the focus being the future of the ten community sectors and the role that the arts can play in enhancing positive change and mitigating negative change. 

 

The convenings, initially kicked off at Americans for the Arts’ Annual Convention, will bring together leaders from inside and outside the arts—community development professionals, government officials, funders, agency professionals, arts administrators, and artists—for structured discussions about how communities will change over time, what will happen in various sectors, and what role artists, arts organizations, and arts agencies can play.

 

Convenings for 2015 include:

In mid-2016, the second book in the series, The Arts and the Small Community, will be released to celebrate the 50th anniversary of its original publication. The third book, New Community Visions: A Blueprint for 21st Century Healthy Communities through the Arts, will celebrate the 25th anniversary of another seminal text, Community Vision, first published by Americans for the Arts in 1990. The DIY toolkit is designed to enable others to conduct their own version of a New Community Visions convening, and includes detailed instructions on order, format, and prompting questions. 

 

The New Community Visions Initiative is made possible through support from the National Endowment for the Arts and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation—and in partnership with 30 local, state, and national arts organizations, arts agencies, and foundations. 

 

On March 3, Americans for the Arts formally released the Transforming America’s Communities Through the Arts plan, the larger umbrella initiative under which Community Visions lives. That full press release is here.

 

Americans for the Arts is the leading nonprofit organization for advancing the arts and arts education in America. With offices in Washington, D.C. and New York City, it has a record of more than 50 years of service. Americans for the Arts is dedicated to representing and serving local communities and creating opportunities for every American to participate in and appreciate all forms of the arts. Additional information is available at www.AmericansForTheArts.org.