Advocacy, Equity, Public Service—and Community

I am welcoming the new year with open arms! 2024 will bring many opportunities, and at NASAA, we’re prioritizing action related to advocacy, equity and public service. Our advocacy work at the federal level will demonstrate our nonpartisan values as we help members and advocates cultivate arts support across the political spectrum. Related to equity, as state arts agencies (SAAs) work to ensure that everyone has access to the arts and that arts resources are available to all, NASAA will customize its strategies when assisting members, ensuring that we’re supporting SAA work in a variety of demographic and policy environments. Within our public service portfolio, we’re focused on helping members foster resilience and meaningful connections. The SAA workforce is not immune to what so many public-sector agencies currently face: burnout, isolation, and increasing turnovers and staffing shortages. At NASAA we’ll focus on providing a welcoming and connected professional community that centers the needs of SAA teams.

Beyond NASAA’s action agenda, I’m also ready to greet some 2024 special events that hold great promise for the arts and for SAAs. First among them is “Healing, Bridging, Thriving: A Summit on Arts and Culture in Our Communities.” Set for January 30, the summit is cohosted by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the White House Domestic Policy Council. The first of its kind, the summit will take a cross-sector approach to addressing community issues. NEA Chair Maria Rosario Jackson describes the summit and its related momentum beautifully in her end-of-year message. The summit will be accessible January 30 online at www.arts.gov.

As summer sets in later during the year, our members and partners in the Pacific will be participating in FestPAC, the Festival of Pacific Arts and Culture. FestPAC is designed to showcase the unique heritage and artistry of the Pacific islands. FestPAC 2024 will be hosted in Hawaiʻi, and jurisdictional arts agencies will travel with artistic delegations to attend. Dedicated to the preservation and promotion of the distinctive art forms of the Pacific islands, the event also builds cultural bonds and understanding across the region’s island communities. The exchange affords opportunities for cultural practitioners and artists to learn from each other, as participants seek to preserve creativity and heritage at home. FestPAC provides a multitude of benefits that are particularly valuable to participants, who tend to be fairly geographically isolated across the region, so the convening creates important connections.

This fall I’ll be particularly excited to join the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture (ICP) and all state arts agencies when NASAA Assembly 2024 convenes in San Juan, October 23-26. Vibrant Puerto Rico provides a plethora of opportunities to connect, learn from each other and be inspired by how the arts serve communities. As Assembly plans unfold throughout the year, we’ll keep you informed through our website, email communications and NASAA Notes.

As we move forward into creating a 2024 that advances great work, I wish each of you a tremendous start to the new year.