professional membership
2009 Featured Members
Americans for the Arts members are truly diverse – from large arts organizations to small ones; from funders to presenters; from urban centers to rural outposts. Despite their differences, they share the common goal of advancing and promoting the arts in their communities. Featured Member Projects highlights some of the many interesting and innovative means our members are using to strengthen their communities through the arts.Are you an Americans for the Arts member who would like to see your organization and project featured on this page? If so, email your story to membership@artsusa.org.
Granville Studio of Visual Arts
Teaching Creative Thinking Skills through Visual ArtsGranville Studio of Visual Arts (GSVA) in Granville, OH is only two years old, but it’s already making an impressive impact on its community and beyond the greater Columbus area. Granville is a suburb northeast of Columbus and it was just named “Best Hometown of 2009” by Ohio Magazine, and GSVA is without a doubt an important part of the community. Read more »
ACTivating art in Seattle
Sound Transit is the public transit system for the Central Puget Sound that opened this past summer and it’s not just providing transportation. With it has come a great temporary art program called STart that is aimed at mitigating the grit, noise, and chaotic impact of the stations ongoing construction in Seattle neighborhoods by incorporating temporary public art in the ongoing construction sites. Many communities nationwide are looking for creative solutions to ride out the transition period of construction. Sound Transit has been leading the field with model temporary art programming that creates artworks collaboratively with the community that benefits both residents and businesses throughout Seattle’s neighborhoods.
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Technology = Access in Memphis
Innovation and new technology is keeping ArtsMemphis on the cutting edge and helping the community access the arts with the touch of a finger.
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St. Augustine in St. Johns County Florida is one of the oldest cities in the country and as such has a lot to offer in terms of cultural and historic attractions. Like many other destination cities, St. Augustine has a hotel/motel bed tax that helps to support the local arts/cultural organizations and tourism. The three-cent tax was initiated when voted on by Florida citizens in the early 1980s. The tax was set up to distribute 40 percent of revenue collected to tourism marketing promotion, 30 percent to arts and cultural programming/organizations, and 30 percent for parks and recreation.
Read more »Kennedy Center Alliance for Arts Education Network
In the for-profit world, like-minded businesses generally become competitors for consumer dollars. Nonprofit organizations have a unique ability to recognize commonalities within organizational missions and combine efforts, leverage connections, and provide deeper resources and stronger outcomes than one organization could accomplish on their own. Perhaps it is the creative nature of the arts that inspires these connections and partnerships within arts organizations, or maybe it comes from the nonprofit need to make every dollar do the job of two or more.
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Numerous studies have presented support for the claims that the arts are a critical component to students' education and that students exposed to the arts are more likely to excel in other academic subjects. For example, the Conference Board released a report indicating that business and school leaders see the arts as key to preparing students to be creative workers for the global marketplace. Eighty-five percent of surveyed business executives indicated that they are currently having difficulty recruiting individuals who possess creative ability. Yet, arts programs are still often the first on the chopping block, especially in times of national and global financial stress. Promoting the arts in our educational system is a key part in keeping our students competitive as they enter the ever-increasing global workforce. Read more »
Burien/Interim Arts Space (B/ IAS)
The recent economy has affected the nation in many ways. Some of the visible signs can be seen on city blocks where development has begun on new high rise offices or condos. But once the ground has been cleared and in some cases building begins, then the money and funding runs out. The block is left as an eye sore in a community until the developer can raise enough money, or get the loans to continue building, or sells it to someone else.
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An arts organization in Oregon is making a lasting impression on teens and contributing to the future creative workforce. Caldera started 13 years ago by ad executive Dan Wieden to build up the pool of creative talent in Oregon and has turned into a year-long mentoring program for transforming the lives of underserved and at-risk youth.
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Engaging a Community and Providing Access to Arts
The Madison Arts Commission (MAC) in Madison, WI, has created a new program called Bus Lines that engages students in its community through poetry. The program encourages high school students to submit up to three original poems between three to five lines “of any subject affirming poetry and life” and is then displayed inside Metro Transit buses.
Read more »St. Louis Regional Arts Commission
Special Partnership Creates Arts Colony in Suburban Mall
For a company that’s been producing plays in a church basement, owning a theater seemed beyond its wildest dreams. But thanks to ArtSpace, an unusual new arts colony found in the most unlikely environment of a suburban mall in St. Louis, MO, Avalon Theater Company has a beautiful 100-seat black box stage that makes you think you’re at an off-Broadway production.
Read more »Maryland Citizens for the Arts
Maryland Citizens for the Arts and arts organizations across the state of Maryland are stepping up to support state employees being affected by budget revenue shortfalls which have caused statewide furlough orders from Governor Martin O'Malley. Read more »