This week’s big news from the National Endowment for the Arts is a lifeline for arts organizations and local arts agencies seeking relief funds due to pandemic-related losses. Read on for more information about the new grant program and register for one of our upcoming free webinars to help you through the application process. Local arts agency staff may also find useful information in our recent webinar about the 2020 Profile of Local Arts Agency survey findings, which paint the first picture of how LAAs have been affected by the pandemic.

Also this week: Brea Heidelberg shares advice with arts marketers about forging deeper relationships with audiences and communities post-COVID, and John Haworth tells the story of a national foundation leading the way in support of Indigenous artists and organizations. Plus, early arts leaders can catch up on our DIALogues professional development collection—the third webinar debuts this week and sessions continue each Friday through July 30.

ARTSblog

You Need a Community to Build Your Community by Dr. Brea M. Heidelberg
The work of rebuilding community, or building community with new partners, cannot be done in isolation. Establishing a strong foundation by choosing to repair or deepen engagement with a specific community and focusing on what’s important to that community, not just your organization’s bottom line, is work best done with others.

Native Arts and Cultures Foundation: A national leader supporting Indigenous artists and engaging Native communities by John W. Haworth
Founded in 2008, with start-up funding of $10 million from the Ford Foundation, NACF supports Indigenous artists, culture bearers, and Native-led arts organizations through fellowships and project funding. Native leaders and artists were involved from the get-go; it’s powerful to have such dynamic and creative leaders setting the stage for NACF’s work.

News Room

Testimony Submitted to the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee
Americans for the Arts President and CEO General Nolen V. Bivens (U.S. Army Ret.) submitted official testimony to the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies to support federal funding for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) at $201 million for FY 2022—a $33.5 million increase over FY 2021 funding. 

Applications Open for Arts and Culture Relief Funds from the American Rescue Plan
The National Endowment for the Arts has announced two new grant program guidelines to distribute approximately $80 million in American Rescue Plan funds to arts and culture nonprofits and local arts agencies; applicants need not have been a previous NEA grantee to be eligible. Americans for the Arts is hosting two free webinars to share more about the program and how to apply.

ArtsU

2020 Profile of Local Arts Agencies: Pandemic Edition
In this webinar, Vice President of Research Randy Cohen discusses findings from the 2020 Profile of Local Arts Agencies, our annual survey of the LAA field, and shares the updated interactive LAA Dashboard and online tools. Conducted during the fall of 2020, the findings provide a first look at how LAAs have been impacted by, and are responding to, the pandemic.

DIALogues | Moving Change Forward: Shifting Influence for Transformation in the Arts
Arts leader and educator Anthony Meyers presents a model for advancing change by engaging a combination of strategies, conditions, and people as levers to shift influence through collective engagement and distributed forms of power. This session is part of the DIALogues Professional Development Collection designed to support college students and emerging leaders underrepresented in arts leadership. Learn more and register for the full collection here.

Pictured: Cover of the NACF 2020 convening report, with art by Frank Big Bear (Ojibwe). “Autumn’s Wind” (detail), acrylic on canvas, 2010.