Thank you to the many people who have been blog contributors to, and readers of ArtsBlog over the years. ArtsBlog has long been a space where we uplifted stories from the field that demonstrated how the arts strengthen our communities socially, educationally, and economically; where trends and issues and controversies were called out; and advocacy tools were provided to help you make the case for more arts funding and favorable arts policies.

As part of Americans for the Arts’ recent Strategic Realignment Process, we were asked to evaluate our storytelling communications platforms and evolve the way we share content. As a result, we launched the Designing Our Destiny portal to explore new ways of telling stories and sharing information, one that is consistent with our longtime practice of, “No numbers without a story, and no stories without a number.”

As we put our energy into developing this platform and reevaluate our communications strategies, we have put ArtsBlog on hold. That is, you can read past blog posts, but we are not posting new ones. You can look to the Designing Our Destiny portal and our news items feed on the Americans for the Arts website for stories you would have seen in ArtsBlog in the past.

ArtsBlog will remain online through this year as we determine the best way to archive this valuable resource and the knowledge you’ve shared here.

As ever, we are grateful for your participation in ArtsBlog and thank you for your work in advancing the arts. It is important, and you are important for doing it.


Brieahn DeMeo

Arts Managers in a Globalized World (An EALS Blog)

Posted by Brieahn DeMeo, Feb 18, 2011 1 comment


Brieahn DeMeo

The second panel of the Emerging Arts Leaders Symposium at American University will discuss the issues arts managers face in a globalized world. For example, what do foreign arts organizations/arts managers seek to learn from the U.S. arts manager’s experience?

When I first read this topic, I was struck by how one-sided it appears to be. What can foreign arts organizations learn from the United States? Why not the other way around? The strategies of arts organizations in the United States are in need of reevaluation and conversations that have surfaced of late only make that fact more clear. But we won’t develop new strategies without first taking a good look at the methods we  currently use. So, by evaluating our practices from the perspective of our counterparts abroad we can develop a better picture of how arts organizations function in this country, and how they differ from others.

For better or worse, we live in a globalized world (I, for one, lean towards the side of better) and the arts continue to be an indicator of this. For centuries the art of civilizations have traveled the world (sometimes in a less than ideal manner) but a constant reminder that it’s not just us, our society is not the only one; there are others in the world, with different views, ideas, customs, ways of living. Art does that for us; it allows us to see humanity in variety of different lights. The arts travel across boundaries, linking communities that might never have come together otherwise.

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Tim Mikulski

House Cuts FY11 NEA Budget by $20.5 Million

Posted by Tim Mikulski, Feb 18, 2011 0 comments


Tim Mikulski

Tim Mikulski

Tim Mikulski

By a mere 8 votes in the House of Representatives, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) FY2011 budget was cut down to $124.5 million yesterday-the same level of funding as FY2007.

Rep. Tim Walberg’s (R-MI) amendment passed 217-209, but it wasn’t a case of party line politics as 23 Republicans voted against the measure and 3 Democrats voted in favor of it.

The good news is that the two amendments to eliminate the NEA altogether were introduced, but never offered up for a vote by the sponsors on Thursday. That is a testament to the advocacy efforts  of the arts community and the strong supporters for the arts in the Congress, including Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-NY), who gamely handed our Creative Industries maps out to House members on the floor before the vote.

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Nora Koerner

Five Lessons for Writing Effective Job Descriptions

Posted by Nora Koerner, Feb 17, 2011 0 comments


Nora Koerner

Nora Koerner MacDonald

Nora Koerner MacDonald

As manager of Americans for the Arts Job Bank, I often receive interesting tidbits and articles for employers and for job seekers.  Here are 5 Lessons for Employers to Write Effective Job Descriptions that I just received from our Job Bank’s provider that I think you'll find helpful.

The devil is in the details. Things to include:

  • Job title
  • Department
  • Location of the position (if there are multiple locations)
  • Title of supervisor
  • Pay grade or level (if your company has this)
  • Type of employment, such as full-time versus part-time
  • FLSA status (exempt versus non-exempt)
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Valerie Beaman

Q&A: Starting A New Business Committee for the Arts (from Arts Watch)

Posted by Valerie Beaman, Feb 16, 2011 2 comments


Valerie Beaman

Valerie Beaman

Kate Marquez, executive director of the Southern Arizona Arts & Cultural Alliance (SAACA), answered a few questions for me regarding her organization becoming the newest Business Committee for the Arts and her experiences working with the local business community to date.

Question
: Your organization is a slightly different model from a lot of our local arts agencies. Can you share the work you do with festivals and business sponsorships?

Answer
: SAACA is unique from other arts organizations, in that collaboration and partnerships stand at the forefront of all festivals and events. We also value and understand the link between the preservation of culture and art. If there’s a way to promote the arts, we do. Whether it’s through car shows, business partnerships or any other creative way, SAACA encompasses all forms of art and recognizes the subtle ways to bring art to the foreground in all we do.

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Victoria J. Plettner-Saunders

Don't Be the Dance Band on the Titanic

Posted by Victoria J. Plettner-Saunders, Feb 15, 2011 5 comments


Victoria J. Plettner-Saunders

Victoria Plettner-Saunders

I recently sat in a room with Americans for the Arts President & CEO Bob Lynch and more than a dozen San Diego arts advocates. We were talking about how to collaborate better on behalf of arts and arts education funding in San Diego.

By the end of the meeting we had a lot of good ideas to work with in the coming months. But the phrase Bob used that I can’t get out of my head as I work on arts education advocacy is, “Don’t be the dance band on the Titanic.”

What does that mean? Well, if you’ve seen the movie you know that eight British musicians went down with the ship because they insisted on playing music for the mostly doomed passengers trying to get on lifeboats. Our image of the dance band is that they kept playing as if it could fend off the inevitable, even though they were doing nothing to get people to safety.

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