Blog Posts for community engagement

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.

The arts have the power to transform counties

Three people sit at a table and one stands at a podium as panelists or hosts for a meeting.
NACo’s Arts and Culture Commission heard from three different counties about their experiences with the arts
Monday, February 13, 2023
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Art can be more than “just art.” It can help counties handle recovery in a variety of ways, according to Larry Nelson, Waukesha County, Wis. supervisor and chair of the National Association of Counties’ (NACo) Arts and Culture Commission.

Americans for the Arts Awards G. Peter Jemison 2023 Johnson Fellowship for Artists Transforming Communities

Person leaning against a building with wooden siding, arms crossed, wearing a black hat, blue pattered short-sleeved shirt, necklace with a white bird pendant, and a turquoise ring.
Wednesday, January 11, 2023
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Americans for the Arts today announced visual artist G. Peter Jemison (Heron Clan, Seneca Nation) as the recipient of the 2023 Johnson Fellowship for Artists Transforming Communities. This year’s $70,000 award honors an individual artist or culture bearer who does their creative work in and with rural communities with the purpose of building community, fostering participation in community life, advancing cultural and/or racial equity, and/or addressing specific issues that affect the well-being of rural communities.

Americans for the Arts and rootoftwo Publish Resource Bank on Cultural Asset Mapping

Screenshot of an online database showing images and descriptions of resources.
Thursday, December 15, 2022

As a key strategy in supporting the development of inclusive creative economies across the nation, this database provides a distilled jumping off point for learning and growth related to community- and asset-based approaches for equitable development. 


Mr. John W. Haworth

Building a Foundation for Native Arts & Culture Councils

Posted by Mr. John W. Haworth, Dec 06, 2022 0 comments


Mr. John W. Haworth

Native Arts & Culture Councils, a two-year pilot project funded by the Ford Foundation, is designed to help Native communities develop Arts and Culture Councils similar to existing local arts agencies across the United States. In the initial stages of this initiative, this group of tribal-led, community-based organizations is making important contributions to our national cultural discourse and paving the way for broader participation by other tribes. The Native cultural field has changed dramatically in the last thirty or so years. There is broader acceptance that there should be no “speaking about us without us,” and Native leaders, artists, and cultural organizations want their cultural perspectives recognized, documented, understood, and celebrated. Community-anchored and community-informed work includes a variety of approaches: Some of the tribal organizations are committed to advancing tourism to strengthen the local economy; others focus on supporting local artists (including artist directories, organizing local art markets, and commissioning public art projects); still others seek to develop programmatic capacities related to public events, classes and workshops, film screenings, youth projects, ceremonial activities, and heritage preservation and oral history projects. There is value in having input from people living in tribal communities and having their perspective on how best to develop local cultural assets that suit their community’s needs.

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Oliver Nell

Recognizing the Value of the Arts in Oxford, Mississippi

Posted by Oliver Nell, Nov 28, 2022 0 comments


Oliver Nell

Only a few years ago, the business community in Oxford skewed heavily toward traditional notions of economic growth and profitability, which inevitably bred a bias toward large manufacturing businesses, insurance, finance, and healthcare. A smaller-scale entrepreneur community, particularly more creative and artistic entrepreneurs, was not cultivated to the degree it should have been. This community didn’t attract attention because it wasn’t necessarily seen as vital to the health of the local economy. In 2015, Oxford’s local arts agency, the Yoknapatawpha Arts Council (YAC), recognized this was an issue for the community. They saw that a major part of the local economy—the arts sector—was not being taken seriously as an economic driver. The numbers, they found, were on their side, demonstrating that the arts made up more than a negligible portion of the local economy. The YAC began strategizing with the Oxford-Lafayette County Chamber of Commerce on how they could best capitalize on the arts ecosystem in town, which was finding a way to survive even without the necessary value placed on it. Together they began looking for ways to integrate the separate arts and business communities such that their complementary skill-sets and capacities could meet their mutual goals and needs.

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Arts in Juvenile Justice Working Group Provides Advocacy and Services

Photo looking through large glass windows into an art gallery. Text on the glass reads: Can you see me?
Tuesday, November 15, 2022
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The Arts in Juvenile Justice Working Group is a conglomerate of organizations and stakeholders that are passionate about the Juvenile Justice system, as it relates to the integration of creative arts therapies. Working Group member SkyArt in Chicago provides visual art programming to young people ages 5 to 24 and is currently featuring an exhibition focused on artwork from incarcerated youth and explores the impact that incarceration has on the youth population.

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