Blog Posts for Social Change

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.


Ms. Donna Walker-Kuhne

Answering the Call to Be the New Dawn

Posted by Ms. Donna Walker-Kuhne, Feb 09, 2021 0 comments


Ms. Donna Walker-Kuhne

In addition to the elevation of Vice President Harris, a woman of both Black and South Asian descent, to the highest position in U.S. government history, the highlight of Inauguration Day for me was the recitation of the poem “The Hill We Climb” by Amanda Gorman. At the age of 22, the nation’s first Youth Poet Laureate called to us to “rebuild, reconcile and recover” as we, “diverse people,” work to emerge “battered and beautiful” from the weight of all the pandemics. I have tremendous and unlimited faith in young warriors like Amanda. One thing I know for sure is that it is imperative for all of us to listen to our youth; to give them the platforms to be heard, and allow them the opportunities to lead the way. Let’s support and encourage our young artists. Let’s make sure we make available the resources to mentor and foster their development. Let’s be bold enough to run side-by-side with them, and humble enough to stand behind them.

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Isaac Fitzsimons

The Financial Impact of COVID-19 on Intentionally Marginalized Artists and Creative Workers

Posted by Isaac Fitzsimons, Feb 09, 2021 0 comments


Isaac Fitzsimons

It’s been almost a year since the coronavirus put the U.S. arts and culture sector in lockdown. At Americans for the Arts, we spent the last year surveying artists and arts organizations across the country. There can be no doubt that artists are suffering financially due to the coronavirus pandemic. Disabled and BIPOC artists especially are feeling the strain. While weekly research updates are available on our website, this new blog series on the impact of COVID-19 on intentionally marginalized artists and creative workers does a deeper dive into the data that we’ve collected from April 2020 through now. The results are clear: artists in the United States are hurting, and those who are intentionally marginalized have been hit harder, likely because of inequities that have long existed prior to the pandemic. 

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Juyoun Han

AI Generated Art: Copyright Critique

Posted by Juyoun Han, Jan 28, 2021 0 comments


Juyoun Han

News about Beethoven’s unfinished Tenth Symphony being written by a computer; the debut of the robot-composer who writes in the style of Bach; and the computerized protégé of the Master of Light and Shadow “New Rembrandt.” The artificial intelligence revolution has entered the sphere of art and music, a creative domain. In 2018, when the AI-generated portrait Edmond de Belamy, from La Famille de Belamy (Belamy Portrait) sold for $432,500, it attracted significant attention from the art community. Developers of the Belamy Portrait have created AI-art generation algorithms using Generative Adversarial Network framework in machine learning. Critics have taken issue with the originality of the AI generated artwork on grounds that the computer codes written to produce the images are borrowed. In fact, the creators of the Belamy Portrait—a French art collective called “Obvious”—acknowledged that the algorithm was a modified version of a code first developed by Robbie Barrat (a 19-year-old artist and programmer) who had openly shared his “modified DCGAN algorithm” on github. These concerns have raised questions about how copyright protection would apply in the context of AI-generated art. 

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Mr. Clayton W. Lord

Creativity Drove the Inauguration—It Should Drive the Recovery, Too

Posted by Mr. Clayton W. Lord, Jan 26, 2021 0 comments


Mr. Clayton W. Lord

On Inauguration Day, we witnessed an explosion of arts, culture, and creativity in Washington, DC. Arts and culture were the backbone of the entire day—they carried the symbols of a broken country knitting itself back together, they celebrated our history and articulated visions of our shared future, they consolidated in striking images and economical language the whole complex ethos of a new presidential administration dedicated to unity, hope, and an American Renaissance. It was an inspiring thing to see, and hopefully bodes well for the position, and support of, arts, culture and the creative economy in the Biden/Harris Administration. In the days and weeks to come, President Biden will step into complex negotiations to build and then pass first the American Rescue Plan, a $2 trillion relief package, and then a subsequent large-scale workforce and infrastructure recovery bill—and this is where the rubber meets the road when it comes to how much, and in what ways, the new administration thinks about the centrality of arts, culture, and the creative economy. There can be no national recovery, no American Rescue, without the creative economy, and the 5.1 million creative workers who make it up. 

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Isaac Fitzsimons

Announcing New Blog Series Highlighting the Impact of COVID-19 on Intentionally Marginalized Artists

Posted by Isaac Fitzsimons, Jan 19, 2021 0 comments


Isaac Fitzsimons

2020 reinforced just how much we depend on data and storytelling to drive conversation, make decisions, and take action. Throughout 2020, Americans for the Arts collected data and stories from over 20,000 artists and creative workers across the country whose personal and professional lives were upended by the coronavirus pandemic. What we've found has been sobering, such as 95 percent have experienced a loss of income and over 60 percent are unemployed. Though the crisis rages on, it is important to reflect on how artists and creative workers fared in 2020, and especially emphasize the experiences of those who are and have been intentionally marginalized. Over the next few months, I will share research highlights in a blog series called The Impact of COVID-19 on Intentionally Marginalized Artists and Creative Workers. 

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Ms. Ann Marie Watson

The 10 most read ARTSblog posts of 2020

Posted by Ms. Ann Marie Watson, Jan 13, 2021 0 comments


Ms. Ann Marie Watson

“How do you measure … measure a year?” I won’t even try to measure the sum total of the dumpster fire that was 2020. But looking back on one of the most difficult years of our lifetime through the readers of ARTSblog paints an illuminating—if not entirely unexpected—picture. In a year when social media was often loud and angry (though also entertaining—if only our blog could skateboard to Fleetwood Mac while drinking cranberry juice!), ARTSblog remained a steadfast space for our members and the arts & culture sector to learn from each other, share our struggles and successes, and most of all stay connected in an unbelievably isolating time. The year’s most read blogs reflect how 2020 shaped the field’s fears and furies, but also our hopes and optimism for the present and future of the arts.

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