Blog Posts for Public Art

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.


Tessa Gaffney

Turning Your Community into a Classroom

Posted by Tessa Gaffney, Oct 31, 2019 0 comments


Tessa Gaffney

Inspired by Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, a nationally recognized speaker and early childhood expert, Summit Education Initiative has started an Akron Play Book of its own. In collaboration with ArtsNow and The University of Akron’s EX[L] Center, SEI established an internship in which students were to design and implement simple, educational art installations that families with young children could interact with as they go about their daily activities. They would be installed in North Hill, a racially and ethnically diverse community, on September 8, 2019 during First Serve, an event that brings together over 800 individuals of different faiths and backgrounds to volunteer on service projects across the city alongside each other. Art doesn’t have to take place on a stage or in a gallery, with a clear boundary between art and audience. It can be an interruption from everyday life. It can instill lessons and develop skills. It can be a Laundromat theatre, or a grocery store card game, or even a bench.

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Randy Cohen

UPDATED! Top 10 Reasons to Support the Arts for National Arts & Humanities Month

Posted by Randy Cohen, Oct 02, 2019 0 comments


Randy Cohen

October is National Arts & Humanities Month, a time to celebrate and champion the arts locally and nationally. The arts are fundamental to our humanity. They ennoble and inspire us—fostering creativity, goodness, and beauty. The arts bring us joy, help us express our values, and build bridges between cultures. The arts are also a fundamental component of a healthy community—strengthening them socially, educationally, and economically—benefits that persist even in difficult social and economic times. The effective arts advocate needs a full quiver of case-making arrows to articulate the value of the arts in as many ways as possible—from the passionately inherent to the functionally pragmatic. To help fill your quiver, I offer an updated Top 10 Reasons to Support the Arts.

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Cristyn Johnson

Welcome to National Arts & Humanities Month!

Posted by Cristyn Johnson, Oct 01, 2019 0 comments


Cristyn Johnson

It’s officially October, which means National Arts and Humanities Month has arrived! We’re excited to have you with us for the largest annual celebration of the arts and humanities in the nation. NAHM is coast-to-coast recognition of the importance of arts and culture in the United States. Launched by Americans for the Arts more than 30 years ago as National Arts Week, this celebration began in honor of the 20th anniversary of the National Endowment for the Arts and the tremendous work that they have done in every congressional district across the country. In 1993, the week was reestablished as a month-long celebration, and we want you to get involved! We’ve worked hard to make participating in NAHM easy for you. Read on for ways that you can be involved as an individual, an organization, or a community, including joining in our special NAHM events, and for inspiration from communities across the country that are celebrating. 

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Elysian McNiff Koglmeier

How Hospital Art Collections Became Very Personal

Posted by Elysian McNiff Koglmeier, Sep 19, 2019 0 comments


Elysian McNiff Koglmeier

My son, Odin, surprised me and my husband at birth with a rare genetic syndrome—Treacher Collins Syndrome (TCS). It affects the development of the bones and soft tissues in the face. Most affected individuals have underdeveloped facial bones, very small jaws, cleft palates, and no outer ears. Odin was rushed to Children’s Hospital Colorado on his 3rd day of life; his stay lasted for three months. I am not going to sugarcoat it—those three months were hard. I witnessed my son undergo two intrusive surgeries. For days I couldn’t pick him up and hold him. I had to put away his layette and my going-home outfit I had packed before his arrival. I gave away my nursing clothes. His nursery at home sat empty. Our own home became a truckstop—a pass-through for us to rest and eat. We practically lived at the hospital. Pablo Picasso once said, “Art washes from the soul the dust of everyday life.” If that’s true, my soul during those three months was covered with the thickest mud. 

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McKenzie L Shelton

Public Art, Gentrification, and Annual Convention: A Photo Essay

Posted by McKenzie L Shelton, Sep 17, 2019 0 comments


McKenzie L Shelton

When I was awarded a Practicing Artist Scholarship to attend this year’s Americans for the Arts Annual Convention in the Twin Cities, I was eager to find myself surrounded by other fervent promoters of the arts in individual localities from around our nation. I did find impassioned people, but I also found that an inner conflict of mine has deepened: As an artist, I’m not sure that I should be involved in this effort to fund and execute public art. This notion has danced in and out of my mind for the last few years, particularly regarding the role of artists and public art on the negative effects of gentrification and the affordable housing crisis. During the conference, I felt the tension between my excitement about increased federal spending on the arts and my skepticism that those monies will be used on careful, conscientious policymaking that allows for neighborhood improvement without giving in to the seemingly ubiquitous phenomenon of displacement. Rather than answers, I have come away with more questions. How is public art involved, whether inadvertently or directly, in the pushing out of low-income residents, minoritized groups, and even artists themselves? And how are artists implicated in this process?

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Ms. Barbara Schaffer Bacon


Ms. E. San San Wong

Artists, Funders, and Disruption in the Public Realm

Posted by Ms. Barbara Schaffer Bacon, Ms. E. San San Wong, Aug 22, 2019 0 comments


Ms. Barbara Schaffer Bacon


Ms. E. San San Wong

When artists activate the social imagination and cultural practices bring people together, when new images and events claim or create public space, and when cultural organizing mobilizes people to action, art disrupts and influences social and political dynamics and discourse in the public realm. And, when funders shape programs to support this work, they too are influencers and activists in the public realm. As definitions of public art broaden to include social and civic practice, art in the public realm continues to recur as a central idea and practice. The concept of the “public realm” recognizes public space as more than physical places for locating art. They are connectors that support or facilitate public life and social interaction. In April, Americans for the Arts and The Barr Foundation released Programs Supporting Art in the Public Realm: A National Field Scan with snapshots of 28 programs supporting and building capacity for artists working in the public realm. The scan highlights how funders and cultural agencies are shaping programs to support artists for more place-specific and issue-specific work as well as cross-sector collaborations.

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