"Art strengthens communities," David N. Cicilline, Providence's mayor, told us at Saturday morning's keynote address, "and helps build civil societies." While this may sound like a cliché, my mind keeps returning to this phrase.

Because it's true.

We talk about the struggling economy. We talk about ways to market our products and raise revenue for our programs—that is, after all, why we're here at NAMP. But lost in the mad dash after attention and cash is, sometimes, the very reason our organizations came into being in the first place: the arts we cultivate.

Of course, we don't lose track of the art our organizations cultivate; we're neck-deep in it every day. We've even given up our weekend to travel to Providence to ply our trade. (Not just any weekend, either. Halloween weekend! How many of you had to check sorry, can't make it on at least one friend's Halloween party Evite? I did on two.)

How lovely of Americans for the Arts to coordinate a fire installation for us along the Providence River in Rhode Island for the opening reception of the National Arts Marketing Project conference. OK, maybe it was already scheduled for Halloween. It certainly capped a fantastic day of sharing Arts Marketing Tips and Tricks.

FireWater, Providence Rhode Island

A few memorable take-aways from Friday's presentations:
Command the Cultural Marketplace: Building a Brand for Customer Fascination:
"In addition to your elevator speech you need the foyer speech. Think of it as your over-arching messaging, the more time you have with the person, the more detail you can get into. Start with the top most message and then work your way down into the details."

--Tamsen McMahon, Sametz Blackstone Associates

Just got back from the opening ceremony held at the RISD museum of art. Their art collection was very impressive. The evening started off  at the museum by being lead up to a narrow escalator when I got off  the escalator I was hit by a cerulean blue wall  with 3 high school  students playing in a quartet. I entered the contemporary gallery and  right away I knew I was in for a treat. They had a Calder, Twonmbly,  Catlett, Pollock, Hoffman, Agnes Martin, and Philip Guston just to name a few. It was wonderful and it was only the first room.  I went  on to see a wonderful print exhibition with a few Albect Durer what an  amazing artist he was so before his time.

Today brings great news for the arts from Washington. Yesterday, the House and Senate each approved $12.5 million increases for the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities. The FY 2010 Interior Appropriations Bill sets budgets for the two federal grant-making cultural agencies at $167.5 million each. President Obama will sign the bill into law by October 31. With the President's signature, the NEA will be funded at its highest level in 16 years.

The bill also includes increases for other national arts and culture institutions such as the National Gallery of Art, the Smithsonian, and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Overall, federal cultural funding continues to see incremental, but significant, increases.