We founded the Americans for the Arts National Arts Policy Roundtable at Sundance together in 2006, as a place to engage high-level leaders from government, business, arts and the social sectors in not only talking about big ideas—but envisioning new ways to engage in action to advance the arts and our American society. Since then more than 175 decision-makers and thought leaders have convened annually in spirited discussion and debate. Significant and measurable policy achievements at the national, state, and local levels have been the result.

The 2011 convening, Innovating for Impact—Arts Based Solutions for a Stronger America comes amidst widespread calls for collaborative action and innovative solutions in order to address challenging issues including economic opportunity, at-risk youth, and the impact of the current recession on daily lives. This attention is coming not just from government or the not-for-profit community alone, but from artists as well as social, corporate and philanthropic sector leaders.

The 2011 Roundtable participants discussed ways in which the arts can assist individuals and communities—in partnership with foundations, business and government entities—develop locally-based solutions to our Nation’s most pressing problems. Our goal was to generate specific, actionable policy recommendations—and to extend them to the appropriate leaders in both the public and private sectors. This report is the result.

We did not begin our conversation from square one: indeed, we are fortunate to be building off of the recommendations from both the 2006 National Arts Policy Roundtable, The Future of Private Sector Giving to the Arts in America, and the 2008 Roundtable, The Arts and Civic Engagement: Strengthening the 21st Century Community. The leaders who met in 2006 agreed that the arts “are — and need to be understood as — a valuable part of strategies to address a variety of social issues, and build vibrant, healthy communities.” In the intervening years, Americans for the Arts has been acting upon their recommendations—including launching the Arts & Social Change Mapping Initiative of Animating Democracy, to map and highlight the spectrum of ways the arts are being activated to engage and make change. [Message from Robert Redford and Robert L. Lynch]

The 2011 convening, Innovating for Impact—Arts Based Solutions for a Stronger America comes amidst widespread calls for collaborative action and innovative solutions in order to address challenging issues including economic opportunity, at-risk youth, and the impact of the current recession on daily lives. This attention is coming not just from government or the not-for-profit community alone, but from artists as well as social, corporate and philanthropic sector leaders.