National Arts Ed News & Alerts

The National Endowment for the Arts will host a webcast, Improving Arts Learning through Standards & Assessment: A National Endowment for the Arts Research Roundtable on Tuesday, February 14, 2012 from 8:30 AM to 3:00 PM

Composer, Choreographer, PerformerMeredith Monk reflects on her 45 year career as a performing artist.

On behalf of the National Endowment for the Arts, it is with great sadness that I acknowledge the passing of 2006 NEA Jazz Master John Levy, a recipient of the A.B. Spellman NEA Jazz Master Award for Jazz Advocacy.

Meejin Yoon talks about creating work at the intersection of art, architecture, landscape, and technology.

Grants support unique opportunities to engage with NEA Jazz Masters through performance and education opportunities.

At the 2012 NEA Jazz Masters Awards Ceremony & Concert on January 10, 2012, the National Endowment for the Arts not only welcomed five new inductees into this elite group, but also celebrated 30 years of jazz and its importance in American culture.

On February 2, the U.S. House of Representatives Transportation and Infrastructure Committee is scheduled to consider legislation that could end federal support for public art projects through the Transportation Enhancements program. Find more information about the program here. Please write you member of Congress today to convey the message that the Transportation Enhancements program should continue supporting public art and museums!

The Art Institutes and Americans for the Arts are accepting entries for our 2012 Poster Design Competition through February 3. Winners will earn up to a full tuition scholarship to study at one of the more than 45 Art Institutes across the country.

This year's competition challenges high school seniors and graduates from the U.S., Canada, and Puerto Rico to design a poster that best expresses the competition's new theme, "You Can Create Tomorrow." Contestants will compete in two different categories: high school senior or high school graduate/adult. For more information, visit this website.

See how winning past contests has impacted the lives of these students:

Are you prepared for the new arts landscape—The New Normal?
 
This June, join more than 1,100 arts and community leaders from across the nation to learn how your organization can adapt to the shifting economic climate, changing demographics, and prepare your community for the future the 2012 Americans for the Arts Annual Convention.
 
San Antonio is the ideal backdrop to experience how arts and culture can shape a community. From the city’s River Walk and historic museums to its ethnic diversity, you will see how the artistic practices and traditions of the past can merge with—and help redefine—the present and future.

(San Antonio Arts from SAHEARTS on Vimeo.)

You can also dig deeper with colleagues during one of our focused preconferences, the Public Art Network Preconference or the Emerging Leaders Preconference (sponsored by American Express) on June 7 & 8.

For more information about our opening keynote speaker, ways to save on registration, and exhibiting/sponsorship opportunities, visit convention.artsusa.org.

Americans for the Arts Announces Changes to its Board of Directors

U.S. Secretary of Commerce John Bryson has appointed Americans for the Arts President and CEO Robert L. Lynch to a two-year term on the United States Travel and Tourism Advisory Board. Bryson stated, Lynch’s “experience in the travel and tourism industry will be an important resource to me as well as to the Board in advising me on ways to strengthen the industry, expand economic opportunities for American businesses, and create jobs.” Read the press release here.

Americans for the Arts’ President and CEO Robert L. Lynch has been appointed to a two-year term on the United States Travel and Tourism Advisory Board. The announcement was made today in conjunction with President Barack Obama’s new national strategy to make the United States the world’s top travel and tourism destination, as part of a comprehensive effort to spur job creation.

This announcement builds on Mr. Lynch’s long-standing dedication to advance and enhance cultural tourism. Through partnerships with The United States Conference of Mayors and the Destination Marketing Association International, he has made strides in boosting support of tourism and the arts and developing research and training tools that can be used by local arts agencies and destination marketing organizations around the country to strengthen tourism programs.

In addition, he has spearheaded national economic impact studies on the impact of culturally-specific tourism on regional and local economies, as well as policy mechanisms, revenue generation strategies, cultural districting, capital improvement and cultural infrastructure projects that help local municipalities and state governments enhance liveability and attract new businesses and tourists.

The U.S. Travel and Tourism Advisory Board serves as the advisory body to the Secretary of Commerce on matters relating to the travel and tourism industry in the United States. The Board consists of up to 32 members that advise the Secretary of Commerce on government policies and programs that affect the U.S. travel and tourism industry, offers counsel on current and emerging issues, and provides a forum for discussing and proposing solutions to industry-related problems.

Americans for the Arts and The United States Conference of Mayors presented 2012 Public Leadership in the Arts Awards to Illinois Governor Pat Quinn; Burnsville, MN Mayor Elizabeth Kautz; and Pembroke Pines, FL Mayor Frank Ortis today. In addition, Emmy Award®-winning actress Holland Taylor was honored with the 2012 Legendary Artist Award.

The awards honor elected officials and artists who have demonstrated outstanding leadership in the advancement of the arts. Americans for the Arts and The United States Conference of Mayors have given out the awards annually since 1997.

Throughout his public service career, Governor Pat Quinn has been a strong and vocal supporter of the arts and arts education and has remained committed to ensuring that all Illinois residents have meaningful opportunities to experience and participate in the arts. His leadership contributed to the passage of the Live Theatre Production Tax Credit Act for Illinois. Through the use of the credit, the State of Illinois has created a tool that allows the City and State to further develop Illinois as a leader in theatrical tourism. Governor Quinn included arts related projects in the Illinois Jobs Now! capital program, including a new Performing Arts Center at Western Illinois University that will create 400 jobs.

Mayor Elizabeth Kautz has insisted that art play a major role in the highly successful Heart of the City – a mixed use redevelopment project in Burnsville’s revived downtown area. In addition, she is a prime supporter of the annual city Art and All That Jazz Festival that attracts over 10,000 music fans to an outdoor concert setting. She was a central proponent of the city’s $20 million Performing Arts Center, which was constructed without any new taxes, relying instead on revenues from the Tax Increment Financing and landfill host feels.

Recognizing that the arts were the key to Pembroke Pines’ vitality, Mayor Frank Ortis made it his mission to build arts and cultural resources into the city. His efforts include visionary initiatives to invest in much-needed infrastructure, including theater, classroom and studio space, as well as increasing opportunities for residents of all ages to enjoy and participate in the arts. He has been instrumental in the establishment of arts resources in Pembroke Pines, including Studio 18.

Holland Taylor’s career has spanned more than four decades. She has worked extensively in film and television, appearing in Romancing the Stone, Jewel of the Nile, To Die For, Next Stop Wonderland, One Fine Day, George of the Jungle, The Truman Show, Keeping the Faith, Legally Blonde, and Baby Mama. On television, she has been nominated for an Emmy Award® seven times, winning Best Supporting Actress in a Drama for her popular rose Judge Roberta Kittleson on The Practice. Her numerous series starring roles include The Powers that Be, Bosom Buddies, and currently, Two and a Half Men. She has performed narrations for the Los Angeles Philharmonic with Essa-Pekka Salonen and John Adams, and narrated the "Harry Potter Suite," for John Williams at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

To learn more about the awards and see previous winners, please visit AmericansfortheArts.org.

Rep. John Kline (R-MN), chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Education has introduced long-awaited legislation to reauthorize the Elementary & Secondary Education Act (also recognized as the No Child Left Behind Act). While the legislation maintains the arts as a core academic subject, it also would terminate the federal Arts in Education program which has been in place for the last 10 years. Bipartisan Senate committee legislation was approved in October 2011, however this House legislation does not have bipartisan support, which is expected to delay consideration of the bill for the immediate future. For more information, please contact Senior Director of Federal Affairs & Arts Education Narric Rome at nrome@artsusa.org

In this current economic environment, businesses are continually seeking new ways to build their competitive advantage. To help them reach this goal, Americans for the Arts has launched The pARTnership Movement, a new initiative designed to create mutually beneficial partnerships between arts and business institutions.

The Movement demonstrates how the arts can help business achieve these goals by enhancing the critical thinking, team building, and creative skills of the corporate workforce while also enhancing communities to attract and retain employees. In addition, it prepares arts organizations to partner with businesses in new and innovative ways.

To help businesses better understand the myriad benefits of partnering with an arts organization, The pARTnership Movement—working with local arts agencies across the country—will place ads with major newspapers, magazines, and other publications that demonstrate how partnering with the arts enhances critical thinking skills and creativity within the workforce as well as strengthens community engagement.

The website gives a comprehensive description of the benefits partnering with the arts brings, provides numerous case studies and creates a one-stop shop for building out connections in the community; provides companies with a thorough overview of how and why the arts can help them realize business goals; and includes a zip code finder that will allow businesses to easily locate Americans for the Arts’ member arts organizations across the country that are ready to partner.

The Movement also offers arts organizations the tools they need to more effectively partner with the businesses in their communities including: case studies that showcase innovative ideas and program concepts and multi-channel aspects to highly successful partnerships that deepen over time; information on creating a solid business proposition for partnering with the arts and making an initial request; opportunities to connect with business leaders, gleaning valuable tips directly from the source; and chances to network with and learn from peers.

A package of charitable giving incentives, which includes the IRA Charitable Rollover, expired at the end of 2011 with Congress failing to extend them. Legislators hope to wrap up this unfinished tax business before April 15. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) released a statement vowing "to find a bipartisan path forward" for these tax extenders, adding that "it is critical to extend these tax provisions early in the year to maximize their effect and provide certainty for the 2012 tax year."

Legendary drummer and 2012 NEA Jazz Master Jack DeJohnette talks about his early career.

National Endowment for the Arts will honor the 2012 NEA Jazz Masters at an awards ceremony and concert produced by Jazz at Lincoln Center and featuring the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis.

The gifted 26-year-old pianist talks about making a career in jazz.

For the first time, the National Endowment for the Arts critically acclaimed Operation Homecoming writing program will take place in a clinical setting as part of a formal medical protocol to help heal service members at the National Intrepid Center of Excellence (NICoE) at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland.