The opening ceremonies begin with a rousing Roll Call of the States and Jurisdictions, followed by a special plenary featuring Mary Anne Carter, chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). Chairman Carter joins the Assembly to share the latest developments in the NEA’s work to unlock new opportunities for American communities to thrive through the arts.

State arts agency council/board members and staff gather in job-alike groups to discuss current issues and challenges. Most sessions take place off-site in community based arts settings, reinforcing the connection between policy and practice.

Plenary Session:  Long-Term Bipartisan Advocacy Strategies

How does the arts sector build advocacy that lasts beyond any single election or policy ? Join prominent national policy and advocacy strategists for a cross-cutting conversation on sustainable, bipartisan approaches to advancing the arts at the state and federal levels. Drawing on past battles to protect the National Endowment for the Arts, panelists explore how to position the arts for long-term durability in a polarized climate and how today’s environment, shaped by litigation and regulatory action, differs from previous eras.

2026 NASAA Leadership Awards

NASAA Leadership Awards showcase best practices of state arts agencies and regional arts organizations, recognize exemplary leadership and demonstrate how government creatively, effectively and efficiently serves the public through the arts.

Friday afternoon’s topical sessions offer focused, practical learning across key areas including creative aging, arts and health, advocacy, policy innovation, and member-driven topics.

Join colleagues from across the country for the inaugural meeting of the NASAA Creative Aging, Creative Futures Professional Learning Community. A renowned national leader in the creative aging field shares insights on the importance of creative aging and the essential role state arts agencies and regional arts organizations play in advancing this work. Participants engage in peer dialogue to reflect on and contextualize the presenter’s insights within their own state, jurisdictional or regional setting, identifying shared opportunities, challenges and points of alignment. The session is designed to support practical learning and field building, bringing participants together as colearners in a network that will continue beyond the Assembly.

Arts and cultural production are valued at over $1 trillion in the United States, yet there is a long-standing absence of viable commercialization pathways that benefit artists and arts organizations. How can state arts agencies be part of a transformation that ensures that the immense economic and social value of the arts results in more viable and sustainable pathways for artists and cultural organizations?

State arts agencies, in collaboration with policy entrepreneurs, are addressing this deep structural challenge through training, access to capital and even a new legal entity designed for artists, organizations and collectives. In this session, hear about solutions from leaders in Colorado, where legislation creating a new legal entity for artists and collectives (A-Corps) was just enacted, as well as Connecticut, where the Yale Cultural Innovation Lab and Collective CT are finding new financial pathways for the arts. Participants discuss how these strategies relate to initiatives or needs in their own states.

More information coming soon.

State arts agency leaders and cross-sector partners come together to explore how creative aging initiatives are being embedded into state systems cross-sector partnerships. Using concise case examples from multiple states, presenters outline different partnership models and the conditions that have enabled them to succeed. The session is designed as a practical, hands-on exchange that helps attendees translate models into actionable strategies for building or strengthening creative aging infrastructure.

State general funds comprise more than 75% of all money appropriated to state arts agencies. However, about half of state arts agencies realize revenue from other state government sources, such as special taxes, fees, gaming proceeds or bond issues. While securing public money is always a challenge (and advocacy is always needed!), our field has shown great ingenuity in tapping into nontraditional public funding. This session offers a national overview of dedicated funding mechanisms as well as a chance to discuss strategic considerations for pursuing new revenue streams. Also included is a preview of some new ways that state legislatures are seeking to raise revenues. Come prepared to ask questions and share ideas about emerging opportunities!

The READI 2.0 Arts and Culture Initiative is a first-of-its-kind $65 million investment in regional arts and cultural development by the Indiana Economic Development Corporation in partnership with the Indiana Arts Commission, made possible by funding from the Lilly Endowment, Inc. Phase one was the development of regional arts and cultural plans, phase two is the funding of regionally transformative arts and culture projects, and phase three will be investing in targeted capacity building and technical assistance designed to address some of the identified gaps from the first two phases of the initiative. Hear from key initiative partners about the importance of regionalism in addressing quality of place statewide, how the partnership came together, and what they’re learning about how economic development and arts and culture can and should work together.

As communities confront the ongoing toll of substance use disorder, arts-based approaches are showing promise in prevention, recovery support and stigma reduction. The National Endowment for the Arts anchors this session with a look at its new report on arts strategies and opioid addiction, updating its 2020 evidence review. Panelists will discuss the evidence base along with connections to federal and state resources for arts-based recovery work.

As creative aging programs continue to grow, state arts agencies and partners are developing new approaches for supporting the teaching artist workforce. This session explores strategies for recruitment, training, artist rosters and peer learning networks. Discussion examines the unique skills and knowledge that support strong creative aging practice, as well as approaches for expanding teaching artist networks across communities. Rather than presenting a single framework, the session brings together varied perspectives and emerging practices from different regions and settings. 

Creative districts are powerful tools for community and economic development, but their success depends on strong policy frameworks, cross-sector partnerships and effective local implementation. This session brings together two complementary models: Louisiana’s nationally recognized Cultural Districts Program and Missouri’s partnership-driven approach to rural creative districts.

Participants explore how statewide policies, economic impact data and local strategies can align with partnerships across the economic development, historic preservation and tourism sectors to support sustainable creative districts. The session features concise case presentations followed by a facilitated, participant-centered discussion focused on practical application.

State arts agencies are actively rethinking how grant-making processes can better serve artists, organizations and communities by reducing complexity, reaching more constituents and building capacity. This session brings together peer agency leaders to examine how two state arts agencies have reimagined general operating support and program structures at scale, showcasing different strategies for approaching grant-making changes.

State arts agencies are operating in a rapidly evolving technology landscape shaped by emerging tools, shifting expectations and the growing influence of artificial intelligence. As these changes accelerate, agencies are balancing immediate operational needs with the longer-term challenge of building and sustaining resilient technology infrastructure that can support grant making, public service and internal operations.

This facilitated discussion, led by Bethanne Abramovich Smith and Kerry Kaleba, focuses on how state arts agencies are approaching technology infrastructure as a core organizational asset—one that must be adaptable, sustainable and responsive to change. Drawing on experiences from Arizona and Washington, D.C., the conversation explores how agencies are strengthening foundational systems such as customer relationship management systems, improving internal capacity and making strategic technology investments in constrained public funding environments.