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.

ArtsU is an online education forum for arts professionals to gain new skills, knowledge, and connections to further their personal and organizational goals.

ArtsU seeks to expand and organize Americans for the Arts' existing professional development and educational resources under one umbrella to provide our stakeholders with:

  • centralized and standardized learning opportunities across Americans for the Arts subject areas, providing users with a one-stop shop for all their learning needs;
     
  • a new structure to allow for the expansion and testing of new learning opportunities to serve different learning styles across an array of venues from in-person to online;
     
  • easily accessible online training opportunities from a mobile-ready site.

With Americans for the Arts membership, individuals gain access to every upcoming webinar, the complete archive of on-demand webinars, the National Arts Administration and Policy Publications Database, interactive digital lessons, and discounts to Digital Classrooms.'

Launched in the summer of 2015, ArtsU has continued to expand over the years with a new speaker's bureau, new online-learning formats, expert-led regional workshops, multimedia research, and new partnerships.

Vist the ArtsU site at ArtsU.AmericansForTheArts.org.