NASAA's Sizzling Summer

As summer sizzles here in Washington, D.C., and across much of the country, your NASAA team is beating the heat by diving into activities designed to advance state arts agencies and NASAA. Here’s a sample of what we’re up to this summer.

Boot Camp Coming Soon

We’re gearing up for NASAA’s August boot camp for new state arts agency (SAA) executive directors. We’re excited to welcome eight new directors to Washington for professional development on the public purpose of SAAs, partnership development, leading change and more. Designed to enhance the ability of new executive directors to lead government arts agencies, our annual boot camp is a core component of NASAA’s ongoing strategies to strengthen state arts agencies.

Planning and Budgeting for FY2020

We’re also knee-deep in action planning this summer. The development of NASAA’s annual action plan is driven by member needs. Our new plan will be fueled by 98 recent interviews with SAA leaders, your ongoing requests for help, and a host of performance measurements and vital statistics data that give NASAA’s Planning & Budget Committee good aim in targeting fiscal year 2020 priorities, goals and strategies to advance state arts agencies. Each state arts agency has the opportunity to review and approve our new action plan at the September Leadership Institute in Providence, Rhode Island. A big thank-you goes out to NASAA Treasurer and Planning & Budget Committee Chairman Ken May, the entire committee, and staff liaisons Kelly Barsdate and Sylvia Prickett for their ongoing work on the action plan.

Nominating New Leaders

NASAA’s Nominating Committee is wrapping up its work, once again yielding many incredibly thoughtful perspectives, ideas and suggestions. Members of this committee reach out every year to every SAA executive director and chair and invite all kinds of feedback about NASAA. This informs recommendations for board leadership and committee service and feeds into NASAA’s annual planning process. This year’s committee had wide-ranging, in-depth conversations with 98 state arts agency leaders—a record high! This annual opportunity to take the pulse of the field is a lot of work and also singularly rewarding, and NASAA is grateful to everyone who participated. Be on the lookout for a report from the Nominating Committee in August. Thanks to Nominating Committee Chair Tatiana Gant, the committee, and staff liaison Laura Smith for dedicating time and talent to this work.

Developing New Resources

Work is now beginning on two initiatives for which NASAA recently received foundation support—creative placemaking and creative aging—and we continue efforts to build up relationships with foundations. Please stay tuned for announcements and information about these new initiatives. In addition, NASAA’s Development Committee this summer is working on two new individual-giving initiatives: a Leadership Giving program that will recognize, thank and inspire donors who give gifts of $2,500 or more annually to NASAA, and a Legacy Giving program for donors interested in making planned gifts to NASAA. Plans are also in the hopper for our fall Annual Fund campaign, which kicks off at the 2019 Leadership Institute in Providence. If you’ve made a gift to NASAA this year, thank you so much. Support from individuals is crucial for our advocacy success and we couldn’t do what we do without you! It’s a pleasure to thank NASAA board member and Development Committee Chair Nola Ruth for her leadership of development; thanks also to her committee and to staff liaisons Laura Smith and Katie Hughes for fueling these efforts.

Register Now for the 2019 Leadership Institute

We’re full steam ahead toward our 2019 Leadership Institute. Designed for SAA council members and executive staff, the Institute will provide guidance and training on strategic partnerships, leadership development and more. It’s also an opportunity for peers to connect to each other and participate in NASAA’s community of practice; it’s an important strategy that advances individual leaders and the agencies they lead, as well as our collective SAA community. Thanks to Eric Giles for his work on planning the Leadership Institute—both the work completed to date and the hours and days of work to come! We’re excited to greet SAA leaders in Providence September 18-20—it’s a bonus that it’s in beautiful Rhode Island in colorful September! This is a unique opportunity to advance our SAA work as well as bask in the lovely foliage of the season.

New Publications Coming Your Way

Later this summer, please look for publications from NASAA’s research team, led by Senior Director of Research Ryan Stubbs. We look forward to releasing our annual state Legislative Appropriations Preview (Patricia Mullaney-Loss is working hard on it now!) and our State Legislative Roundup that chronicles all state legislative bills with an impact on the arts (thanks to Paul Pietsch for monumental bill tracking across the country!). These documents provide vital information about how SAAs fared during recent legislative sessions, and just as importantly, the Legislative Roundup provides inspiration for arts policy initiatives that can be undertaken in the future. If the roundup inspires a new policy idea for your SAA, please let us know; we’d be pleased to guide you to resources to help you develop your idea.