Americans for the Arts

11/07/2020

Americans for the Arts Issues Statement Congratulating President-Elect Joe Biden and Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris

Americans for the Arts looks forward to working with the Biden-Harris administration to support the nonprofit arts community as well as independent artists working in the growing gig economy. #ArtsVote

The historic election saw record-high popular votes electing Joe Biden to become the 46th president of the United States and Kamala Harris, as both the first woman and woman of color, to be elected as vice president.

11/05/2020

A Message for the Next Administration: “We Must Put Creative Workers to Work”

No matter who comes out ahead after all the ballots our counted, we want to work with the next White House on putting creative workers to work. Read more about how creativity can be an essential part of recovery in the months ahead (via Hyperallergic).

In a proposal sent to both presidential candidates for post-pandemic recovery, Americans for the Arts suggests deploying cultural workers in fields such as community development, public health, and infrastructure.

11/04/2020

Read an important message on #Elections2020 from our Arts Action Fund. #ArtsVote

We urge our Arts Action Fund members to be patient while states #CountEveryVote. We stand on the side of voters to make sure your votes are counted and your voices are heard #ArtsVote.

https://www.artsactionfund.org/Post-ElectionMessage

11/03/2020

It's Election Day in the United States, which means it's your last chance to pledge to Make Your Vote Count! Whether you're waiting in line to vote today or you've already completed an early ballot, you can still take the #ArtsVote pledge for access to this sweet artwork by Shepard Fairey—and you'll be connected to the Arts Action Fund for critical post-election updates and information.

www.ArtsActionFund.org/ArtsVote

THANK YOU for participating in democracy! #ElectionDay2020

11/02/2020

Joe Biden and the Arts: No R.B.G. but a Loyal Promoter of Culture

"As a senator, Mr. Biden co-sponsored the bill creating the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress, supported initiatives for cultural diplomacy, and in 2001, was one of the original co-sponsors of legislation establishing the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. He attended the opening as vice president in 2016."

The former vice president has been an intermittent consumer of the arts, but cultural leaders credit him as a key source of government financial support.

10/31/2020

Make Them Hear You - Brian Stokes Mitchell

“Your sword could be a sermon
Or the power of the pen ...

Make them hear you.”

As you head to the polls this weekend and through Tuesday, let Brian Stokes Mitchell remind you—even if the lines are long, the weather is crummy, or you’re just plain tired—why your vote truly matters. We’re so proud to have Stokes as an active and vocal member of our Board and Artists Committee.

Make them hear YOU! A new Video in praise of American Heroes.

10/30/2020

City Song Project 2020

🔊 SOUND ON 🔊 Happy Friday, arts & humanities friends! Let’s celebrate today—also the second to last day of #ShowYourArt2020—with a Karaoke Party! We’ll spare you our singing and turn the tunes over to local artists who composed and performed original songs for the just-released City Song Project to represent and uplift their communities. The City Song Project is a program of the United States Conference of Mayors, and Americans for the Arts is proud to be a partner on the project along with the National Endowment for the Arts. Nine cities were chosen to participate based on their strong mayoral leadership, committed local arts agency, and wide diversity of artists and musicians in the community. Catch a first listen here to some of the inspiring, powerful, and fun songs worthy of singing along to—especially if you have hometown pride for any of these places! Stay tuned for more music to be added to the collection later this fall, and listen to full versions of these songs now at usmayors.org/city-song-project.

1️⃣ “Lift Up Lou” • Louisville, KY • Mayor Greg Fischer
2️⃣ “Heartbeat to Heartbeat, Eye to Eye” • Reno, NV • Mayor Hillary Schieve
3️⃣ “Cha Cha Charleston” • Charleston, SC • Mayor John Tecklenburg
4️⃣ “Walk With Me Austin” • Austin, TX • Austin Mayor Steve Adler
5️⃣ “Sweet Home Chicago” • Chicago, IL • Mayor Lori Lightfoot
6️⃣ “Glory” • Detroit, MI • Mayor Mike Duggan

10/29/2020

We've loved watching local proclamations of National Arts & Humanities Month roll in this October! Thank you to all the arts advocates and local leaders who took the time this month to officially recognize the power and importance of the arts and humanities in your communities. If your city, county, or state is among these proclamations, please take a moment to thank your leaders for supporting the arts!

Do you know of a proclamation that's not represented here? We'd love to know about it—please share!

1: State of Kansas, signed by Governor Laura Kelly
2: City of Little Rock, Arkansas, signed by Mayor Frank Scott, Jr.
3: State of Nevada, signed by Governor Steve Sisolak
4: City of Dublin, Ohio - Government, signed by Mayor Chris Amorose Groomes
5: State of Kentucky, signed by Governor Andy Beshear
6: Dual proclamations from City of Chattanooga - Government signed by Mayor Andy Berke and Hamilton County, TN Government signed by Mayor Jim Coppinger
7: State of Rhode Island, signed by Gov. Gina Raimondo
8: Johnson County, KS Government, signed by Ed Eilert, Chairman, Board of County Commissioners
9: State of Wisconson, signed by Governor Tony Evers
10: City of Wichita Falls, Texas Government, signed by Mayor Steve Santellana

10/28/2020

Become an Americans for the Arts member today to access scholarships and discounts for our upcoming National Arts Marketing Project Conference (#NAMPC), happening virtually December 7 & 8. Registration is open now!

artsu.americansforthearts.org/nampc

10/27/2020

“Craft in America: Democracy” trailer

“Craft and art are core to democracy in the United States.” This reflection by our President and CEO Bob Lynch kicks off “Craft in America: Democracy,” the latest episode in the
Craft in America docuseries that’s now available to stream online and via the PBS Video app. It’s the perfect show to watch on Day 27 of National Arts & Humanities Month, because today’s #ShowYourArt2020 theme is Crafting! “Democracy” explores how craft is intertwined with our nation’s defining principles and features powerful stories from craftspeople, curators, and leaders working to create democratic cultural experiences across the United States. Get inspired by artists involved with the brand-new Native American Veterans Memorial on the National Mall in Washington DC, the Veterans History Project at the Library of Congress, the Student Craft program at Berea College in Kentucky, and more!

Watch now at www.craftinamerica.org and catch the television premiere Dec. 11 on PBS.

10/26/2020

Leveraging the Arts to Achieve Equity, Justice, and Inclusion Goals | Arts Partnership Movement

By creating platforms for connectivity and conversation, businesses can use the work of artists and organizations to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. Get inspired by three stories of the power of the arts in achieving DEI goals from Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Universal Orlando Resort, and Booz Allen Hamilton.

With compounding crises of a global pandemic and a reckoning with systemic racism, companies need people and strategies that can respond to an ever-changing, complex world of work. Artists have long used creative outlets to drive movements of change through the celebration of diversity and cultivati...

10/23/2020

It’s Day 23 of National Arts & Humanities Month, and today’s #ShowYourArt2020 theme is On My Bookshelf. In the wake of the murders of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and too many others in this year of senseless racial violence, the Americans for the Arts staff has committed to furthering the work we began many years ago and formally published in 2016 as our field-leading Cultural Equity Statement. We are working hard to listen and learn from voices of color on our own staff, among our membership, and anywhere we hear them.
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To that end, we began an informal collection of recommended reading on anti-racism and the Black Lives Matter movement to share with each other; the goal is to have a permanent and expanding staff library of books readily available to us. These 10 books are a small fraction of our staff recommendations, and in no way are considered a comprehensive collection on the subject—but if you’re on your own anti-racism journey, we hope they might inspire your reading too. #NAHM #ShowYourArt2020 #OnMyBookshelf #BlackLivesMatter #AntiRacism

1️⃣ “The Color of Law” by Richard Rothstein

2️⃣ “Me and White Supremacy” by Layla F. Saad

3️⃣ “Yellow Peril!: An Archive of Anti-Asian Fear” by John Kuo Wei Tchen and Dylan Yeats

4️⃣ “The Hate U Give” by Angie Thomas

5️⃣ “Black on Both Sides: A Racial History of Trans Identity” by C. Riley Snorton

6️⃣ “How to be an Anti-Racist” by Ibram X. Kendi

7️⃣ “The Lies That Bind” by Kwame Anthony Appiah

8️⃣ “Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race” by Reni Eddo-Lodge

9️⃣ “Barracoon: The Story of the Last ‘Black Cargo’” by Zora Neale Hurston

🔟 “Uprooting Racism: How White People Can Work for Racial Justice” by Paul Kivel

10/21/2020

Vinnie Bagwell - Artist Statement 2020

“Artistry is a powerful and useful tool of social transformation—one capable of condensing our thoughts, distilling our minds, and renewing our hopes and aspirations.”

Congratulations to Vinnie Bagwell, winner of the inaugural Jorge and Darlene Pérez Prize in Public Art & Civic Design! Vinnie is a self-taught sculptor whose work facilitates the unlearning of hate by giving humanity to stories of marginalized people.

Read more about Vinnie and the prize: https://bit.ly/2HdEhVb

10/21/2020

Today, October 21, is Support Your Local Chamber of Commerce Day! Arts and Chambers are natural partners in creating economic vitality. Please join your local Chamber of Commerce in celebrating the critical work they do in helping their communities through the #COVID19 pandemic and focusing on economic recovery far into the future. #ChamberStrong #ArtsandBiz

10/19/2020

The 2020 election is crucial to electing leaders at each level of government who will ensure arts funding is protected and accessible for all. Join our #AFTAmember briefing tomorrow, Tuesday Oct. 20, to hear from arts leaders at Minnesota Citizens for the Arts and ARTS North Carolina who are turning out the vote! Register now: https://bit.ly/2SXwKMe

Photo by Element5 Digital on Unsplash.

10/16/2020

On Day 16 of #ShowYourArt2020 with the theme Poetry, we can’t stop thinking about “House of Light” by Amanda Gorman, named the first National Youth Poet Laureate in 2017. We’ll let the poet speak for herself. #NAHM #ShowYourArt2020 #Poetry @amandascgorman

“House of Light” by Amanda Gorman

We know a nation of states
Depends on the state of the arts,
A beacon which deepens our appreciation
of education, a task which is no better deserved
Than in serving the underserved.

Art is not a luxury, but a right,
That one might make way out of no way,
write one’s way out so they will see, one day,
that art is always mystical, but need not be a mystery.
It's no nicety but instead a necessity.
Every child moved by art is a victory,
inspired to learn history but also to make it,
To shape it, to speak it,
Until the world glows with the sound.

I’ve found people sometimes say:
“In a world that is sick and dying,
What’s the use in trying to fund poetry, dance, music, art, song?”
I smile because they're wrong.
art has been here all along,
It’s what makes a people strong,
Creativity will always belong
At the center of the throng,
At the center of civilization,
at the heart of a nation’s word
Because we need art just as much
As the blood needs a beat,
Just as much as flesh needs heat
Or the gut needs to eat.

We stand for expression;
We support access to the arts not because we could,
Not because we should,
But because we must,
If just for a moment to see a world that is a work of art.

We’ve known in our bones
That arts and education matter,
They make a ladder where we can lift as we climb.
I’m chiming in because tonight
Is about responsibility,
Our ability to create courageously,
to teach audaciously,
To learn graciously, maybe a little outrageously,
In the pages we pen,
The stages we transcend,
In the places we defend
And the rules we bend,
Each of us a never-ending ray of a new day,
Drawn into dawn by the arts and education
We stand upon.

In this craft, we observe how the burdens braved by humankind
Are also the moments that make us humans kind.

Tonight we fan the wick,
The path of a new work,
A new story well-lit,
For anyone brave enough to tell it.

10/15/2020

P&G Continues to Make Music with Cincinnati Music Festival and ArtsWave

They say, “The show must go on!” And the show did just that at this summer's Cincinnati Music Festival, which brought people together through music thanks to a solid arts & business partnership between ArtsWave and P&G. #pARTnershipMovement

This iconic Cincinnati event engaged audiences both online and in person to highlight the community across the nation and build brand affinity and goodwill for its sponsors along the way.

10/14/2020

Registration is NOW OPEN for the National Arts Marketing Project Conference! 2020 has asked a lot of arts and culture organizations: We have quickly changed the ways we deliver content, invited our communities and audiences to participate through different platforms, and reimagined our business models. And there’s still more change ahead. As the year draws to a close, join us for a virtual #NAMPC rich with ideas and tactics, strategies and inspiration to set the groundwork for surviving and thriving in 2021 and beyond.

Register now: artsu.americansforthearts.org/nampc

10/13/2020

It’s Day 13 of National Arts & Humanities Month, and our #ShowYourArt2020 theme is Art In My Home. Earlier this year on #ARTSblog, we shared the story of Wa Na Wari, a unique community gathering space in the Central District neighborhood of Seattle. Wa Na Wari (which means “our home” in the Kalabari language of Southern Nigeria) has its roots as a family home purchased by Frank and Goldyne Green in 1951, and it thrived as a community center over the years because the Green family opened and welcomed the house to everyone. Now, the house is kept by their grandson Inye Wokoma, an artist who envisions the space as a center for Black artists and culture; together with artists Jill Freidberg, Rachel Kessler, and Elisheba Johnson, they are exploring what it means for Black people to reclaim space in gentrified communities. In the past year, more than 3,000 community members have come through the doors at Wa Na Wari, and 80% of those guests are African American – in a neighborhood that has experienced drastic displacement of the Black community. And the visitor experience has a more familiar feeling than some arts spaces: “People love how the house deconstructs the sometimes cold and unwelcoming nature of traditional white cube galleries; it feels like home when you are there,” Johnson wrote on ARTSblog. “Arts and culture live everywhere. It is our job to find ‘homes’ for those artworks and artists. We need spaces that are as unique as the communities they aim to serve.” #NAHM #ShowYourArt2020 #ArtInMyHome @wanawariseattle

📷: 1) Sunita Martini, 2) Thea Quiray Tagle, 3) Mujale Chisebuka, 4) Inye Wokoma

10/12/2020

As we celebrate Indigenous People’s Day, it’s also Day 12 of #ShowYourArt2020 with the theme People in Art. “Still Here,” a five-story mural in Providence, RI by street artist Gaia, features two individuals from the Narragansett community – Lynsea Montanari, an educator at the Tomaquag Museum, holding a photo of Princess Red Wing, a Narragansett elder who founded the Tomaquag, Rhode Island’s first and only Indigenous museum, in 1958. But the mural is much more than a painting of two Indigenous women; it is “meant to be a representation of an entire community that still exists,” Montanari has said. “The idea was to capture our community and create a piece that wasn’t about me, but something our community can be proud of and represent us as we are today. People are still shocked to hear that Native people still exist in Rhode Island. You’ve all met Indigenous people, but you didn’t recognize us. So, the mural brings the awareness that we still exist, that we are here and that we aren’t confined to the western reservation systems.” #NAHM #ShowYourArt2020 #PeopleInArt #IndigenousPeoplesDay @gaiastreetart @tomaquagmuseum @avenuepvd

Posted @withregram • @providenceact The first day of the @americans4arts #ShowYourArt2020 challenge is to Identify Art! Can you tell us the name of this @avenuepvd mural? Large scale Providence murals like this one make a huge impact on the community! This mural features Narragansett tribal member Lynsea Montanari on a five-story building, surrounded by divine natural elements like flowers, berries, blackbirds and other living things. In her hands, she holds a Black and white photo of tribal elder Princess Red Wing, founder of @tomaquagmuseum
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#PVDACT #PVDCreativeCapital #murals #publicart