I’m delighted that this month NASAA President Suzette Surkamer is writing to Notes readers about the upcoming NASAA Assembly 2010. I hope you can join us in Austin —Jonathan Katz, NASAA CEO NASAA Assembly 2010 is right around the corner—October 14-16 in Austin, Texas—and I’d like to share with you my anticipation and excitement about…
My thanks to Mayumi for agreeing to report to the NASAA membership on issues and events at the recent national conference of The Association of American Cultures (TAAC) in Chicago. State arts agency leaders were prominent in the founding of TAAC and have always been centrally engaged in its activities. As she mentions, NASAA is…
Last week, in Arizona, I keynoted the statewide Joint Arts Education Conference and made a presentation on “Strategic Advocacy” at the annual Southwest Arts Conference convened by the Arizona Commission on the Arts. I had the opportunity to hear Bob Booker, the commission’s executive director (and former president of NASAA) welcome attendees on July 29.…
In their quest to articulate, exhibit and dramatize meaningful experiences in a global environment exploding with new data and information, artists are transcending the boundaries presented by established artistic disciplines and traditions, live and virtual formats, artist and audience roles, amateur and professional activities, and for-profit and not-for-profit status. They are creating new communities—communities of…
It is more important than ever that state arts agencies (SAAs) foster the capacity of their grantees to adapt to a changing environment. The recessive economy is not the only factor challenging not-for-profit groups that produce and present the arts. Other factors—that also represent opportunities to increase the reach and public benefits of the arts—include…
Between last November and this month, each of the six regional arts organizations has cordially provided me the opportunity to address NASAA members at one of its meetings. Given turnover in Congress, in NEA leadership, and in the NASAA membership itself, the board of directors had suggested this method of updating members on the communication…
It was not long ago that a task force to examine arts education policy jointly convened by one of the most influential education associations and a state-based network of arts educators would have been unimaginable. Now it is happening. The Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) and the National Governors Association (NGA) through its…
Among NASAA’s communication priorities is conveying to key audiences—including its own membership as well as officials of the new federal administration—the unique value provided by the portion of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) program budget that Congress has mandated for distribution through state arts agencies and their regional groups. In the statement that…
On behalf of all state arts agencies, NASAA Executive Director Jonathan Katz recently testified before the Elementary and Secondary Education Act Reauthorization Committee about the importance of the arts to American education. Specifically, NASAA: urged the inclusion of the arts as a core academic subject; endorsed the inclusion of state arts agencies as eligible recipients…
I delivered these remarks as my Executive Director’s Report to the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies during its annual meeting on November 6, 2009. Novelist William Gibson, who coined the term cyberspace, said, “The future is already here—it’s just not very evenly distributed.” I would like to think “the future is here” in North…
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