I’d like to share with you my response to a question asked by Barry Hessenius, former executive director of the California Arts Council, on his blog. It is important for NASAA members to know they can depend upon NASAA as their collective voice to represent and explain the value of the portion of the National…
My First Conversation with Rocco Landesman I met with new National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Chairman Rocco Landesman during his first week at the helm of the arts endowment, and I’d like to share with you a few aspects of that conversation. I asked Chairman Landesman what it was that attracted him to the…
Evidence continues to mount that the availability of learning in and through the arts is a factor critical to the success of American schoolchildren. In her recent front-page article in The New York Times, “Where Education and Assimilation Collide,” Ginger Thompson focused on how Hylton High, a public school in Virginia, responded to an influx…
Opportunities for Arts Participation in Summer 2009 is a new feature on the NASAA Web site that suggests ways in which artists and arts organizations can participate in the nationwide United We Serve initiative, which is being coordinated by the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS). The purpose of this initiative, according to a…
If his nomination is approved by the Senate as expected, theatrical producer Rocco Landesman will be the next chair of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). As chief executive officer of NASAA I have worked in partnership with six NEA chairs and four acting chairs. Each person occupying that daunting position has brought unique…
There can be no escaping the fact that, from the perspective of a not-for-profit arts organization, the recession has made survival and the maintenance of artistic and administrative operations immediate priorities. Many individuals who produce, distribute or present art also find themselves in survival mode. The list of large arts organizations that have issued major…
The next chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) will have the advantage of a set of priorities already articulated by President Obama’s campaign Arts Policy Committee. These priorities include greater support for arts education, establishing an “Artist Corps,” and promoting cultural diplomacy. They can be implemented by a combination of integrating artistic…
NASAA’s policy paper Advancing America’s Creativity: An Agenda for Leadership in Support of the Arts and Cultural Activities laid out a set of principles that the new president, the new Congress and the state arts agencies can follow to achieve their shared goals in the most effective ways. We prepared this set of recommendations in…
What a time we live in—so much challenge and so much hope! I hope you have on your calendar NASAA’s Web seminar, “Contending with Economic Uncertainty: State Arts Agency Strategies and Perspectives.” This members-only session, which is free to state arts agencies, takes place on Thursday, January 22, from 3:00-4:15 p.m. EST. We’ll explore: How…
Economic downturns—and, consequently, reduced tax revenues—trigger predictable concerns on the part of responsible public sector leaders. Seeking to lower expenditures, elected officials and staff members with fiscal purview review not only agency budgets, but agency raisons d’etre. State arts agency staff and council members seek to carry out the missions they are charged with by…
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