September 30, 2021

A common mission among state arts agencies is to serve all residents of their state or jurisdiction. To this end, many state arts agencies are taking intentional actions to dismantle barriers to support and make their policies, programs and services more equitable and accessible.

Each state and jurisdiction is different, and will attune its approach to its own goals, demographics, capacities and arts ecosystems. To illuminate a wide range of options, NASAA announces State Arts Agency Equity Strategies. This new three-part series of research reports offers examples of numerous policies, programs and funding practices adopted by state arts agencies to foster equity and access.

•  In Pursuit of Equity: Four Case Studies of State Arts Agencies describes how state arts agencies in four states—California, Maryland, Massachusetts and South Carolina—have integrated equity principles across multiple aspects of their work.
• Deepening Relationships with Diverse Communities: State Arts Agency Strategies explores ways that state arts agencies can develop authentic and meaningful relationships with communities that have experienced limited access to state arts agency support in the past.

• Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in State Arts Agency Public Art Programs: A Roundtable Report begins to address the need for research on the equity aspects of state level public art or percent for art programs.

We hope you and your agency will find inspiration and actionable tactics in these reports, which were prepared in collaboration with the Washington State Arts Commission and reflect input from many different states. These resources also may be relevant to local arts agencies in your network, so feel free to share them with arts funders and other partners who might benefit.

For further information, consult NASAA’s State to State Article Archive and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion resources. Equity is a long-term goal, with ever-evolving understandings and practices. Feel free to reach out to me at ryan.stubbs@nasaa-arts.org to share your state’s equity approaches and challenges.

Ryan Stubbs
Senior Director of Reseaarch