If you are new to your state arts agency, are becoming familiar with the public arts funding field or just want a refresher on what NASAA can do for you, you’ll learn about NASAA’s services and resources for members—from state arts agency data and programs to arts advocacy activity to opportunities to connect with your state arts agency peers across the country.

Join us on for a special web seminar on the 2012 elections and their possible ramifications for state arts agencies and federal arts funding. Isaac Brown, NASAA’s Legislative Counsel, will provide analysis and insight on the outcomes of the elections and the subsequent changes in the political landscape.

Join NASAA’s CEO Pam Breaux and Legislative Counsel Isaac Brown for a post-election look at the year ahead on Tuesday, December 13, from 3:00 – 4:00 p.m. Eastern. During the session Isaac and Pam will take a look at the results of November’s election and discuss what steps NASAA is taking regarding contact with the transition teams of the newly elected President and members of the House and Senate. Register for this web seminar to get a state arts agency perspective on the election results and find out how NASAA is engaging with the new administration.

Tune in to this session to hear how state arts agencies can create “sticking power” for an idea, support policy change, or alter public behaviors and expectations. Featuring the public will-building framework used by Metropolitan Group for its public and private sector clients, the seminar explores how arts councils can build public will by tapping into closely held personal values and blending grass-roots outreach and social marketing tactics with traditional media tools. The building public will framework challenges us to think strategically about how we can tap into the public’s needs and values over time, and not just for advocacy, but in other communications—our planning and our program design, too.

Speakers:

• Eric Friedenwald-Fishman, Creative Director and President, Metropolitan Group
• Sherilyn Brown, Director, Education Program, Rhode Island State Council on the Arts
• Christine D’Arcy, Executive Director, Oregon Arts Commission
• Terry Scrogum, Executive Director, Illinois Arts Council
• Jonathan Katz, Chief Executive Officer, National Assembly of State Arts Agencies

Engaging Millennials: Creating Young Arts Advocates

The ability to meaningfully engage young adults in arts advocacy is a necessity for the continuing vibrancy of our field. But in order to do so it is necessary to understand the unique values and expectations of the largest generation since the baby boomers. Join us on August 19 for an overview of millennial participation trends and take a look at some strategies and programs that have successfully empowered young advocates.

Presenters

• John Schratwieser, Executive Director, Maryland Citizens for the Arts
• Tracie Konopinski, Senior Campaign Organizer, MASSCreative
• W. Omari Rush, Curator of Public Programs, Ann Arbor Art Center, Michigan Council for the Arts and Cultural Affairs

REGISTER

When speaking to decision-makers, particularly public sector officials, the subject of return of investment in public dollars frequently arises, along for the need for easy-to-read data from reputable sources as evidence. The Arts and Cultural Production Satellite Account (ACPSA) was developed through a partnership with the Bureau of Economic Analysis of the United States Department of Commerce (BEA) and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) in a concerted effort to illustrate the economic impact of the arts and culture sector. ACPSA allows users to track economic activity, as well as the overall impact of arts and culture on U.S. and state economies. Using the 2015 ACPSA data, the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies (NASAA) then developed an interactive dashboard that allows you to explore state-level ACPSA data through visually impactful charts and figures.

After delving deeper into the impactful ACPSA data and resources from the NEA and NASAA, state arts leaders will discuss how they are already using the tools in their programmatic, policy, and outreach work.

Learning Objectives:

• Attendees will learn about the Arts and Cultural Production Satellite Account methodology and results
• Attendees will explore the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies dashboard
• Attendees will receive examples of how to apply research in policy and outreach work

This presentation is jointly curated by Americans for the Arts and the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies, with special remarks from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Join NASAA CEO Jonathan Katz and Legislative Counsel Isaac Brown for a briefing on the federal policy and budget landscape following the release of the president’s fiscal year 2015 budget request. Gain in-depth perspective on federal funding for the arts, the impact on state arts agencies and what kind of advocacy can make a difference.

Join us for a look at the 2010 mid-term elections and their possible ramifications for state arts agencies and federal arts funding. This seminar features NASAA’s Legislative Counsel Tom Birch, who briefs us on the outcomes of the elections and the changes in the federal and state political landscape. After his briefing, Tom leads a discussion with a panel of NASAA members on how the elections affected their states and how they plan on handling the impending changes in their states.

Featuring:

• Tom Birch, Legislative Counsel, NASAA
• Philip Horn, Executive Director, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts
• Peggy Baggett, Executive Director, Virginia Commission for the Arts

This session focuses on strengthening relationships with elected officials on a year-round basis. Learn how to:

• Deepen legislators’ appreciation for the value of the arts and your agency
• Establish relationships that you can count on during troubled times
• Build a solid foundation for long-term advocacy success

Speakers:

• Tom Birch, Legislative Counsel, National Assembly of State Arts Agencies
• Tim Deratany, Chair, Florida Division of Cultural Affairs
• Arlynn Fishbaugh, Executive Director, Montana Arts Council

Public art contributes significantly to the cultural and economic vitality of a community, providing and creating distinct character that attracts new businesses and retains artistic talent. One of the ways state arts agencies support their public arts programs is through percent for art legislation that dedicates approximately one percent of public building funding for public art. While one percent doesn’t sound like a lot, even that funding stream can come under attack. Join NASAA and members from the Connecticut Office of the Arts, the Oklahoma Arts Council and ArtsWA to learn how these agencies have successfully defended and even grown their programs through strategic advocacy and messaging.

Please join us in a special web seminar focusing on the latest findings from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). In 2008 the NAEP was administered to students across the country in music and visual art. This is the first time in 11 years that students have been assessed in the arts. Tune in to hear major findings from the assessment, what the results mean to state arts agencies and their constituents, and how this information can be used.

Speakers:

• Mary Crovo, Interim Executive Director, National Assessment Governing Board
• Doug Herbert, Special Assistant, Office of Innovation and Improvement, U.S. Department of Education
• Jim Hull, Center for Public Education, National School Boards Association
• Kim Leavitt, Director of Arts Education, Tennessee Arts Commission
• Angela Han, Director of Research, National Assembly of State Arts Agencies

Please join us for NASAA’s April 13, 2011, web seminar on Teaching Artists. This session shares new research that sheds light on the varied roles of teaching artists and the unique contributions they make to arts education. Whether your agency provides artist residencies�directly or facilitates other kinds of collaborations between educators and arts organizations, this session will provide useful insights for you as it reviews the career paths, needs and perceptions of teaching artists from around the nation. The session will include:

• Remarks from Nick Rabkin, senior research scientist from the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago, who shares key findings from the Teaching Artists Research Project
• Time for questions and discussion

Join NASAA and the National Endowment for the Arts for a look at the Arts Endowment’s most recent report, Living Traditions, the first-ever analysis of its Folk & Traditional Arts awards program. Arts Endowment Research & Analysis Director Sunil Iyengar and Folk and Traditional Arts Director Clifford Murphy discuss the program’s impact, especially in rural, high-poverty and historically marginalized communities. They also review the recommendations included in the report. State arts agencies play a pivotal role in sustaining and celebrating our nation’s cultural roots and living traditions, making this research especially relevant to our network.

This NASAA web seminar highlights work that the California Arts Council is doing to advance diversity, equity and inclusion in its state. Interim Programs Officer Jason Jong presents on the programs, policies and partnerships being used to move this work forward.

State arts agencies have been addressing diversity, equity and inclusion throughout their history through a wide assortment of strategies and programs. As the change in our nation’s demographics has accelerated many state arts agencies have engaged in their diversity efforts with a greater urgency. Join NASAA and members from the California Arts Council, the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts and the Wisconsin Arts Board for a look at three different ways in which state arts agencies are revisiting their work and its scope.

You are invited to join us on Tuesday, November 19, for a web seminar offering a global perspective on cultural policy and government support for the arts. This session explores how different nations are framing the public value of arts and culture. It also reviews how the International Federation of Arts Councils and Culture Agencies (IFACCA) facilitates the exchange of cultural policy news, research and best practices among ministries of arts and culture around the world. Our featured presenter is Sarah Gardner, executive director of IFACCA; our moderator is Jonathan Katz, NASAA CEO. Take advantage of this special occasion to put your state’s work in a global context and to learn how other countries are making a case for public support.

In the arts and culture sector’s endeavor to advance diversity, equity and inclusion, an important step is to examine the locations and beneficiaries of arts funding. Data describing where grants are going, where grant activities are taking place and which populations benefit can all help inform state art agency practices in distributing services and funds. In this web seminar, NASAA research director Ryan Stubbs presents a new resource for state arts agencies: Visualizing Grant Diversity: The Demographics of State Arts Agency Grants. This new NASAA resource uses data visualizations to better understand how state arts agencies serve diverse populations.

Federal Resources for Creative Community Development explores the Creative Placemaking Public Resources Guide, highlighting a curated selection of federal funding programs relevant to arts based community development. In addition to offering a live demonstration of the guide’s powerful search tools, this seminar includes practical application tips and conversation with leaders of exemplary placemaking efforts that have tapped public funds to empower their work. This free one-hour session is designed for arts nonprofits, community development groups, state and local government agencies, arts advocates, cultural district managers, and creative placemaking practitioners. All organizations that are pursuing arts based community development initiatives are welcome to participate. This session is brought to you by the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies, the National Alliance of Community Economic Development Associations and Metris Arts Consulting.

Join NASAA and the National Endowment for the Arts for a look at the Arts Endowment’s most recent report, Living Traditions, the first-ever analysis of its Folk & Traditional Arts awards program. Arts Endowment Research & Analysis Director Sunil Iyengar and Folk and Traditional Arts Director Clifford Murphy discuss the program’s impact, especially in rural, high-poverty and historically marginalized communities. They also review the recommendations included in the report. State arts agencies play a pivotal role in sustaining and celebrating our nation’s cultural roots and living traditions, making this research especially relevant to our network.

State arts agencies award more than 20,000 grants to arts projects and cultural organizations each year. These grants have the potential to transform the future, but many are awarded using policies and procedures developed decades ago.

To make the most of limited funding—and to harness the power of broad community involvement—some public agencies are experimenting with new grant-making models. Strategies like crowdsourcing, evidence based awards and prize-backed challenges have the potential to increase the agility and impact of government grants while engaging diverse constituents throughout the process.

Join NASAA and a team of experts from the Foundation Center and GovLab for a discussion of innovative approaches to designing and awarding grants. Learn about a variety of strategies used elsewhere in government and see if they inspire new thinking about your own agency’s options!

In an effort to contend with new fiscal and political realities, some state arts agencies (SAAs) are retooling their grants programs, altering their grants policies to bring the benefits of arts investments to the foreground and maximize the impact of limited resources. NASAA�s next web seminar, New Directions in SAA Grant Making, features the changes made by three state arts agencies: the Texas Commission on the Arts, the Georgia Council for the Arts and the Arizona Commission on the Arts. Tune into this roundtable discussion to hear how these agencies have altered their grant making portfolios, how they have managed those transitions with constituents, and what they are learning that may be of value to other states.

NASAA’s January web seminar, offered cooperatively with Grantmakers in the Arts (GIA), explores how the economic downturn continues to affect arts grant makers and their grantees. GIA recently commissioned Helicon Collaborativeto conduct an update of “Arts Funders and the Recession,” a qualitative study of private foundations, community foundations, corporate arts funders and public arts agencies. Interviews with a cross section of grant makers probed questions such as:

• How is the recession affecting your grant making?
• How have your focus, priorities or strategies changed?
• What impact do you think this economic downturn will have on the arts over the long term?

Join us for a discussion of this study’s 2010 findings with GIA and Helicon Collaborative. The seminar also includes observations from NASAA about state arts agency grant trends and suggests strategic questions that can help public arts agencies consider how to invest their resources in the future. Featured speakers include:

• Tommer Peterson, Deputy Director, Grantmakers in the Arts
• Holly Sidford, President, Helicon Collaborative
• Kelly Barsdate, Chief Program and Planning Officer, NASAA

The public sector is at a crossroads as its work force is getting older and lags behind the private sector in attracting younger employees. State arts agencies and other government agencies face staff attrition as about 10,000 baby boomers retire every day. Compounding this challenge is the fact that 10% more millennials work in the private sector than in civil service.

Join NASAA and representatives from the Center for State and Local Government Excellence for a discussion about public-sector work-force trends and strategies for attracting younger people to civil service and supporting their growth as public servants. NASAA will present the findings from its latest State Arts Agency (SAA) Staffing Trends Report and highlight SAA initiatives designed to recruit and develop future SAA leaders. The Center for State and Local Government Excellence will discuss its recent report, Workforce of the Future: Strategies to Manage Change, and its recommendations for building a robust pipeline for government service.

Evaluation has always been a challenge for the arts, but in these days of tight budgets and competing demands, concerns about evaluation are on the rise. Artists, arts managers and funders are all asking: How can we document the civic impact of our work? What kinds of indicators are meaningful to measure? What are some practical ways to collect information about the difference that an arts activity makes in its community?

To explore these questions, this Web seminar taps into lessons learned from the Art At Work initiative. Art At Work aims to strengthen municipal government through art-making projects with government employees, elected officials, local artists and community members. The initiative includes Thin Blue Lines , a poetry project with the Portland, Maine police department, as well as other projects designed to foster pride and mutual understanding between local governments and the public.

During the past two years, Art At Work has been evaluating the impact of its activities on city workers, civic leaders and the Portland community. This web seminar reviews the evaluation strategy used for Thin Blue Lines, emphasizing how an “evaluative thinking” approach has supported positive program outcomes. The session points participants to on-line tools that can help arts providers, evaluators and grant makers show how the arts contribute to civic life.

This seminar is a collaborative offering from NASAA and Animating Democracy , a program of Americans for the Arts. Art At Work participated in Animating Democracy’s Arts & Civic Engagement Impact Initiative.

Speakers:

• Marty Pottenger, Director, Art At Work/Arts & Equity Initiative and Terra Moto, Inc.
• M. Christine Dwyer, Senior Vice President, RMC Research Corporation
• Barbara Shaffer Bacon, Codirector, Animating Democracy
• Pam Korza, Codirector, Animating Democracy

NASAA Web Seminar: Strategic Planning Surveys

One way state arts agencies create strategic plans is by surveying their stakeholders. Survey questions reflect unique agency goals and state context, and survey responses help to advance agency goals, to better understand constituents and to assess public perception of the arts. On Thursday, April 9, from 3:00 – 4:00 p.m. Eastern, join representatives from three state arts agencies to find out how they are using planning surveys and their results to help move their agencies forward:

• Ben Watters, Grants and Operations Coordinator, Arizona Commission on the Arts
• Marty Skomal, Director of Programs, Nebraska Arts Council
• Liz McAleer, Executive Assistant, Executive Director, New York State Council on the Arts

All states and regions collect grants data and federal reporting statistics. How can we communicate that information effectively? How can we bring all those numbers and codes to life? On June 26 join Ryan Stubbs, NASAA’s Research Director, as he explores some visually compelling and informative infographics created with state arts agency data and looks “under the hood” at what makes a good visualization.

Crosstown Arts exhibition space. Photo courtesy of Crosstown Concourse

This webinar is designed to help you access federal funds and harness the power of the arts and culture to achieve your community development goals:

Thursday, December 9, 2021
3:00 – 4:00 p.m. Eastern

Brought to you by the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies (NASAA) and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Section 108 Loan Guarantee Program, this seminar will feature NASAA’s Creative Placemaking Public Resources Guide and highlight how HUD’s Section 108 Loan Guarantee Program has helped enable large-scale creative placemaking projects. Get inspired by the story of Crosstown Concourse in Memphis and learn about the partnerships and financing that went into this incredible community revitalization project that centers the arts in building community vibrancy.

In just one hour you’ll gain valuable insights about federal funding programs that can be used for creative placemaking projects, including HUD’s Section 108 Loan Guarantee Program. You’ll receive a brief demonstration of the Creative Placemaking Public Resources Guide and hear from practitioners about how the arts and creative placemaking can be a central driver for successful community and economic development projects. You’ll also learn about the resources and opportunities that can turn project aspirations into reality.

This FREE seminar is designed for arts groups, public agencies, community development placemakers and affordable housing networks. All stakeholders in local or state creative placemaking efforts are welcome to participate.

Featured Speakers

Learn more about these featured speakers:

Robin Keegan, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Economic Development, HUD
Paul Webster, Director, Financial Management Division, HUD Office of Community Planning and Development
Seema Thomas, Deputy Director, Financial Management Division HUD Office of Community Planning and Development
Mairi Albertson, Deputy Director, City of Memphis Division of Housing and Community Development
Dr. Todd Richardson, President, Crosstown Concourse and Cofounder, Crosstown Arts
Ryan Stubbs, Senior Director of Research, National Assembly of State Arts Agencies

Federal Resources for Creative Community Development explores the Creative Placemaking Public Resources Guide, highlighting a curated selection of federal funding programs relevant to arts based community development. In addition to offering a live demonstration of the guide’s powerful search tools, this seminar includes practical application tips and conversation with leaders of exemplary placemaking efforts that have tapped public funds to empower their work. This free one-hour session is designed for arts nonprofits, community development groups, state and local government agencies, arts advocates, cultural district managers, and creative placemaking practitioners. All organizations that are pursuing arts based community development initiatives are welcome to participate. This session is brought to you by the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies, the National Alliance of Community Economic Development Associations and Metris Arts Consulting.

If you are new to your state arts agency, are becoming familiar with the public arts funding field or just want a refresher on what NASAA can do for you, you’ll learn about NASAA’s services and resources for members—from state arts agency data and programs to arts advocacy activity to opportunities to connect with your state arts agency peers across the country.

Join NASAA and the National Endowment for the Arts for a look at the Arts Endowment’s most recent report, Living Traditions, the first-ever analysis of its Folk & Traditional Arts awards program. Arts Endowment Research & Analysis Director Sunil Iyengar and Folk and Traditional Arts Director Clifford Murphy discuss the program’s impact, especially in rural, high-poverty and historically marginalized communities. They also review the recommendations included in the report. State arts agencies play a pivotal role in sustaining and celebrating our nation’s cultural roots and living traditions, making this research especially relevant to our network.

There is a growing body of research demonstrating how the arts and the creative sector help rural communities thrive. A new action guide for governors and states from the National Governors Association summarizes this evidence and highlights exemplary efforts by state arts agencies, other state agencies and nonprofit organizations to strengthen rural communities and economies through the arts. NASAA and representatives from the National Governors Association, the National Endowment for the Arts, Colorado Creative Industries, Rural LISC and First Peoples Fund discuss rural creative economic development and ways your agency can better support constituents living in small and remote communities throughout your state.

Much of the current research about the arts and the recession emphasizes the effects of the economy on cultural organizations. But what about artists? How is the recession affecting the livelihoods and attitudes of individual creators?  A national study, commissioned by Leveraging Investments in Creativity, sheds some light on these questions. Join in the web seminar to hear the findings of this new research and to learn more about:

• artist employment and income levels;
• challenges and opportunities artists perceive in today’s economy;
• the kinds of services artists find most helpful during hard times.

This seminar also offers an update on trends in state arts agency grant funding to artists, plus a review of non-grant services designed to support artists’ development and success.

Speakers:

• Judilee Reed, Executive Director, Leveraging Investments in Creativity (LINC)
• Angela Han, Director of Research, National Assembly of State Arts Agencies
• Jesse Rye, Policy and Program Associate, National Assembly of State Arts Agencies

Join NASAA, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the U.S. Department of Commerce Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) for an in-depth look at new state level data on arts and cultural employment. The Arts and Cultural Production Satellite Account (ACPSA), a collaboration between the NEA and BEA, is the first federal effort to provide in-depth analysis of the arts and cultural sector’s contributions to the U.S. economy. Newly published tools and resources from the NEA and NASAA showcasing this data are now available to state arts agencies. This webinar walks through these interactive tools and resources and provides an overview of the data from BEA.

Tune for a national overview of changes in arts participation. This seminar includes highlights from the National Endowment for the Arts’ latest Survey of Public Participation in the Arts. A panel of experts elaborates on current trends, barriers and opportunities, as well as strategies that arts organizations and grant makers can use to strengthen participation.

Speakers:

• Sunil Iyengar, Director of Research and Analysis, National Endowment for the Arts
• Tom Kaiden, Chief Operating Officer, Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance
• Rory MacPherson, Senior Program Officer, The Wallace Foundation
• Vicki Vitiello, Senior Program Director for Arts Participation and Learning, North Carolina Arts Council

We are happy to announce NASAA’s June 22 web seminar on Boosting State Economic Growth: Five Roles for Arts, Culture and Design.

The National Governors Association Center for Best Practices (NGA) will share a preview of the findings of a new report from the National Governor’s Association (NGA), Boosting State Economic Growth: Five Roles for Arts, Culture and Design. The report, due to be released later this summer, demonstrates how creative industries, creative place-making and arts education can help states address their most pressing economic challenges. Presenters will include:

• Laura Scanlan, Director of State and Regional Partnerships at the NEA
• Mary Jo Waits, Director of the Economic, Human Services and Workforce Division at the NGA Center for Best Practices
• Kelly Barsdate, Chief Program and Planning Officer, National Assembly of State Arts Agencies

The one-hour session will include highlights of the research findings, time for Q∓A and tips for using the material in your own state.

Choosing the right strategy from a virtual sea of technology options can be a big challenge. This seminar shares how two state arts agencies have tackled that challenge by combining a thoughtful mix of tech tools to empower their communications and public outreach. Two tech experts discuss trends and best practices as well as answer your questions on how to leverage technology most effectively.

Speakers:

• Gaye McElwain, Director of Marketing and Communications, Texas Commission on the Arts
• Darrell Bulmer, Communications Associate, Maine Arts Commission
• David Dombrosky, Executive Director, Center for Arts Management and Technology
• Rachel Wiedinger, Senior Manager of Marketing and Communications, Tech Soup

NASAA’s next web seminar—How Strong Is Your Social Net?—will focus field utilization and satisfaction with marketing efforts in digital and social media. A national research project led by Trudel | MacPherson, How Strong is Your Social Net? has surveyed more than 1,500 arts organizations to date in order to learn:

• How are arts organizations using new communications tools?
• What results and “return on investment” are apparent?
• What factors help—or hinder—success?
• How should social media efforts be evaluated?

NASAA’s September 15 web seminar will share a preview of the survey results and their implications. The findings will help arts conveners and grant makers—including state arts agencies—to learn more about the communications needs, attitudes and practices of cultural organizations. (And you may pick up some useful principles to apply to your own agency’s communications strategies, too!)

Presenters for this one-hour seminar are Rory MacPherson and Mary Trudel (Principals with Trudel | MacPherson) and Jai Sen (Digital Media Strategist with Sen Associates). The one-hour session will include time for audience Q&A. More details, including a special offer to invite up to two guests to log into the session, are provided below. We hope you can join us.

A new entity, the L3C (low-profit limited liability company), is making inroads into a variety of areas usually reserved for nonprofit organizations. NASAA’s next web seminar will take a look at L3Cs are and how they are evolving in the arts sector. Guest speakers will include:

• Bob Lang, L3C creator and founder, Americans for Community Development
• Michael Martin, Attorney at Law, Martin & Stilwell, LLP
• R. Bernard Hall, Jr., Arts administration graduate student, Savannah College of Art & Design

The one-hour session will introduce you to the L3C business model and discuss how state agencies can interact with L3C organizations. Time will be included for audience Q&A. More details are provided below. We hope you can join us.

Join NASAA and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) on Wednesday, January 22, for a look at preliminary results from a joint initiative between the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) and the NEA. The results focus on the arts and cultural sector’s contribution to current gross domestic product using the new Arts and Cultural Production Satellite Account (ACPSA). Our featured presenter, NEA Research and Analysis Director Sunil Iyengar, provides an overview of the data uncovered within ACPSA and discusses what is new and relevant about these data and how they relate to other ongoing efforts to measure the creative output of the arts.

NASAA’s research team highlights the fiscal year 2018 State Arts Agency Revenues report and provides a tour of our new suite of interactive visualizations featuring FY2018 appropriations and revenue data. This instructional webinar helps participants use state arts agency revenue data through new data visualization tools from NASAA. Learn the current and ongoing trends, see where your state fits within national and regional rankings, and get the most accurate national data for your advocacy and communications. Participants learn how to easily use this new resource to find top-line appropriations figures, trends over time, funding sources and regional comparisons.

Featured speakers:

Ryan Stubbs, Research Director
Patricia Mullaney-Loss, Research Associate

Join NASAA and the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) for an update on state fiscal conditions and how they will affect appropriations for the arts. The session begins with a brand new analysis—released to lawmakers just days earlier—of state revenue and spending projections. Presented by Todd Haggerty from NCSL, this briefing provides a concise summary of state revenue expectations and budget trends for fiscal years 2011-2013. Then Angela Han from NASAA shares new estimates of arts appropriations for the upcoming fiscal year, highlighting how state arts agencies are faring in the changing state fiscal climate. Tune in to this session to get the latest information on arts appropriations and to learn how your agency’s funding compares to the rest of the nation.

Speakers:

• Todd Haggerty, Research Analyst, National Conference of State Legislatures
• Angela Han, Director of Research, National Assembly of State Arts Agencies

Register now for NASAA’s next web seminar, featuring findings from the Nonprofit Finance Fund (NFF) 2012 State of the Nonprofit Sector survey. Researchers from NFF share a special report on the financial condition of arts organizations. The seminar also explores the composition of arts organization funding, including public sector support from state arts agencies, financial health indicators that speak to the stability of sector and how nonprofit organizations are adapting to a tight economy. NFF guest speakers include:

• Anjali Deshmukh, Associate Director, Knowledge & Communications
• Emily Guthman, Associate Director, National Services

Earlier this year, the National League of Cities and the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies (NASAA) convened local and state leaders from Rhode Island to discuss how artists, in collaboration with government, can meaningfully impact health outcomes in communities. Building on this initial effort, this webinar frames the connections between the arts, public health and community well-being and offers a conversation about how to build partnerships to implement arts and health programming. The discussion should be especially pertinent to state and local officials looking for innovative community health solutions.

The conversation is framed and moderated by Dr. Tasha Golden, director of research at the International Arts + Mind Lab at Johns Hopkins University, and a national leader and consultant in arts and public health. The webinar features the Health and Human Service’s Artist in Residence program, a collaboration between Rhode Island State Council on the Arts and Rhode Island Department of Health and the City of Providence’s Creative Community Health Worker program, which is a collaboration between Providence’s Department of Art, Culture + Tourism and Healthy Communities Office.

• Steven Boudreau is the chief administrative officer for the Rhode Island Department of Health and cochair of Rhode Island Arts and Health.
• Tasha Golden is director of research at the International Arts + Mind Lab at Johns Hopkins University, and a national leader and consultant in arts and public health.
• Lynne McCormack is the executive director at the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts.
• Anisa Raoof is the grants management fellow and the Arts and Health Coordinator at the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts. She is cochair of the Rhode Island Arts Health Initiative.
• Gina Rodríguez-Drix is the deputy director for the Department of Art, Culture + Tourism, City of Providence.
• Valeri Tutson is an artist, is a founding member and the executive director of the Rhode Island Black Storytellers, and is festival director of FUNDA FEST: An Annual Celebration of Black Storytelling.

State arts agencies play a central role in supporting our nation’s arts infrastructure. Part of that responsibility is engaging the next generation of the creative sector and helping them develop the skills and knowledge they need. Tune in February 19 from 3:00 – 4:00 p.m. Eastern to learn about how the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs and Rhode Island State Council on the Arts are developing the creative workforce in their states.

The Arts & Transportation: New Policies and Partners

You are invited to join us on Thursday, July 11 for a special web seminar exploring opportunities for the arts and transportation. This session, a collaborative offering of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and NASAA, will brief you on new MAP-21 policies and will showcase exemplary efforts integrating the arts and transportation into community livability, sustainability and creative placemaking. Speakers will include representatives from the NEA and the United States Department of Transportation as well as state and local arts and transportation projects.

Join NASAA and five state arts agency community development specialists on May 6, from 3:00 – 4:00 p.m. Eastern, for a lively roundtable discussion about the direction that community arts development and arts-driven community development work is heading. Participants discuss emerging trends and challenges as well as the changing roles of community arts development leaders. Speakers include:

• Jennifer Armstrong, Director, Community Arts Development
  Illinois Arts Council Agency
• Shannon Ford, Director of Community Arts Development
  Tennessee Arts Commission
• Wendi Hassan, Community Arts & Museums
  Utah Division of Arts & Museums
• Elena Calderón Patiño, Director of Community Arts Program
  Rhode Island State Council on the Arts
• Brian Wagner, Community Development Coordinator
  Oregon Arts Commission

Please join us in a special web seminar focusing on how state arts agencies can address today’s challenging economic climate. We explore the following questions:

How are state arts agency budgets faring?

How can state arts agencies help their constituents through these tough times?

How can state arts agencies, themselves, strategically adapt to shrinking budgets?

What advocacy approaches are most effective during recessions?

Speakers:

• Susan Boskoff, Director, Nevada Arts Council
• Susie Surkamer, Executive Director, South Carolina Arts Commission
• Kelly J. Barsdate, Chief Program and Planning Officer, National Assembly of State Arts Agencies
• Thomas L. Birch, Legislative Counsel, National Assembly of State Arts Agencies

NASAA’s 2010 web seminar series continues with a session exploring how state arts agencies can cultivate strong arts leaders at the local level. This seminar features the Oklahoma Arts Council’s Leadership Arts and ONEAL programs as well as the Utah Arts Council’s Change Leader Program. Speakers from each state discuss their leadership development strategies and offer tips for success in designing such programs for state arts agency constituents. Learn more about how these programs are:

• fostering the skills of emerging and veteran arts professionals,
• infusing the arts into other aspects of civic leadership, and
• strengthening arts advocacy at the state and local levels.

Speakers:

• Anna Boulton, Community Development Manager, Utah Arts Council
• Georgia Williams, Cultural Development Director, Oklahoma Arts Council
• Molly O’Connor, Arts Learning in Communities Director, Oklahoma Arts Council

This seminar tells the story of how the state’s creative economy has been promoted through a collaboration of the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation, Regional Technology Strategies, Mt. Auburn Associates, the Arkansas Arts Council, the Arkansas Science & Technology Authority and the Arkansas Association of Two-Year Colleges showcasing a multi-year initiative designed to strengthen Arkansas’ creative industries, which are the third largest economic cluster in the state. Learn how these partners worked together to document the unique composition and impact of the state’s creative assets, then used that information to promote cultural development and foster cultural economic vitality. Don’t miss this virtual event if your state is also interested in rural development strategies, community college collaborations or economic impact research.

Speakers:

• Joy Pennington, Executive Director, Arkansas Arts Council
• Dr. Stuart Rosenfeld, Principal & Founder, Regional Technology Strategies
• Dr. Mark Peterson, Professor – Community Development, University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service

The arts foster vibrant, thriving, healthy communities. Demonstrating this benefit of the arts—and public support for the arts—is easier with empirical evidence, which the Florida Arts & Wellbeing Indicators were designed to collect in a systematic way. Join NASAA and members of the Florida Division of Cultural Affairs and University of Florida Center for Arts in Medicine to learn more about this new paradigm for measuring associations between arts participation and well-being at the community level and how your agency might use the free resource.

When disaster strikes, state arts agencies provide ongoing support and services to their constituents and the community as they recover. You are invited to join NASAA and ArtsReady for a look at state arts agency preparedness and response. This one-hour session features the Connecticut Arts Council and the Mississippi Arts Commission, who share their examples of effective response activities and lessons learned. ArtsReady provides additional expert perspective and highlights useful readiness principles for SAAs to consider. We hope you can join us!