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.


John Abodeely

What Arts Education Leadership Sounds Like

Posted by John Abodeely, Oct 15, 2008 0 comments


John Abodeely

The following is a passionate and eloquent call-to-action that summarizes much of the working conditions of arts education advocates. It comes from the conference brochure (pdf, 1.5 MB) of the Vermont Alliance for Arts Education (VAAE). VAAE and its director, Thomas Stevens, is hosting a one-day conference and a town hall meeting on arts education, workforce development, and making change. They call it Leap of Faith: The Future of Arts Education.

We have the dream.

Are the arts in your school considered a luxury, either by your administration or, worse, your school board? Is your morale lowered when you hear rumors of a so-called “half position” being cut, either because it’s your job or a friend’s? How am I, after all, half a position? Or less?

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Ms. Lex Leifheit

Dual-Career Relationships: Tips and Traps

Posted by Ms. Lex Leifheit, Oct 15, 2008 0 comments


Ms. Lex Leifheit

An emerging leader listserv post by John Abodeely tapped into a subject that has been on my mind lately. Namely, how to navigate job decisions as part of a dual-career couple. Abodeely linked to a post on GeekDad about a nonprofit arts couple who made the decision to move to Kansas, only to see the wife’s job fall through, leaving the couple with limited options that could satisfy their mortgage obligations. Small towns are more affordable, but big cities (as Richard Florida points out in his latest book) offer the long-term security of suitable employers for both people in a relationship, even when something doesn’t work out as expected.

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Natalie Shoop

Summary of 2008 Presidential Candidates Arts Positions

Posted by Natalie Shoop, Oct 06, 2008 1 comment


Natalie Shoop

Last Friday ArtsVote2008 released a Summary of 2008 Presidential Candidates Arts Positions. Information about Senator Barack Obama’s comprehensive arts policy proposal that he issued in February 2008 has been on the ArtsVote2008 website, along with those from other former candidates like Governor Huckabee, Governor Richardson, and Senators Clinton and Edwards. Last week Senator McCain issued a short statement on his position on arts education which is now also featured at ArtsVote.org. It was initially reported in an article in the Salt Lake Tribune.

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John Abodeely

Creating Change in Education

Posted by John Abodeely, Sep 29, 2008 3 comments


John Abodeely

Creating change in education is not only a function of affecting classroom practice. To impact education, one must know and then act upon the network of decision-makers that determine what a child experiences each day in the classroom. The first step is to understand the way these decisions are made and revised within the entire network of decision-makers.

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Jamie Boese

Emergency Relief for the Arts

Posted by Jamie Boese, Sep 26, 2008 1 comment


Jamie Boese

In response to the devastation in Texas and Louisiana due to recent hurricane activity, Americans for the Arts is collecting donations to its Emergency Relief Fund.

We received an update from Jonathon Glus of the Houston Arts Alliance with an overview of the damage that he is aware of from Hurricane Ike. This update is both enlightening and hopeful, though it is obvious that the impact of these storms will not fully be known or understood for some time. If you are among those affected by the recent hurricanes, please share your updates in the comments. Please also join us in sending good thoughts to our arts colleagues in Texas and Louisiana by contributing to the comments below.

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