The International Art Materials Association (NAMTA) recently released their third edition of the Artists and Art Materials Study in 2015. This survey covers both the United States and Canadian arts markets and includes the results of authoritative surveys of more than 6,000 active artists and specialty art materials retailers. It serves as a summary of market size and trends.

The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) with the National Endowment for the Arts released a report today measuring the arts and culture sector’s contributions to U.S. gross domestic product (GDP), for the second year in a row. This year’s report finds the arts and culture sector representing 4.32 percent of the GDP – a higher percentage than transportation and construction – at $698.7 billion! These numbers are the result of the BEA refining and improving their methodology to create this new baseline that will be updated annually.

At the Council on Foundations 2014 Fall Conference for Community Foundations in Cleveland this October, Robert Lynch was joined by Edgar Smith, a BCA Executive Board member and CEO of World Pac Paper; Jennifer Dowley, President of the Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation; and Carla Dirlikov, an opera singer and a member of the Americans for the Art

The NABE Foundation, a partner of Americans for the Arts and the charitable arm of the National Association for Business Economics (NABE) is awarding its seventh annual Americans for the Arts scholarship to encourage the integration of the arts into the economic education process.

It's that time again: Americans for the Arts is seeking at least 200 partners to make this Arts and Economic Prosperity Study larger and more comprehensive than ever before--and we invite YOU to be a part of it!

NYC Mayor, Bill De Blasio, recently announced a $23 million increase to the city’s education budget specifically for arts education. The allocation is in response to the report by city Comptroller, Scott Stringer, which found 28 percent of city schools lack even one full-time certified arts teacher, especially with the South Bronx and Central Brooklyn.

Last month, Beaumont, TX students took to the state capitol in Austin to fight for their right to quality arts education.  Throughout June, the Beaumont Independent School District (BISD) in Texas has been under some unique pressure to fix a budget problem. 

On Monday, Detroit's three automakers, Chrysler, General Motors, and Ford, donated a total of $26 million to help save the Detroit Institute of Arts. The $26 million is part of the Detroit Institute of Art's commitment to raise $100 million as part of the "grand bargain," an effort by the city, state, and other groups to raise $800 million to help the city emerge from bankruptcy later this year.

American for the Arts CEO and President Robert L. Lynch wrote an article in The Tennessean on May 31 highlighting the recent Periscope: Arts Entrepreneur Training in Nashville as well as the economic impact of arts-related businesses, specifically in Tennessee. Lynch writes that Nashville is a perfect of example of how arts nonprofits, for-profit organizations, and the local government can work together to create a rich environment and a strong economy.

Consumers spend nearly $150 billion annually on entertainment and the arts. How does this breakdown to spending on the arts in your individual community?

CEO and President of the Aspen Institute and acclaimed author, Walter Isaacson, delivered the 43rd Annual Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities on May 12, 2014 at the Kennedy Center. The Jefferson Lecture is sponsored annually by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Our President and CEO, Bob Lynch, will be in Columbus, Ohio this week to participate in a series of events, site visits, and meetings hosted by the Cultural Arts Center (CAC) and Greater Columbus Arts Council.

Since the onset of the euro crisis, Portugal’s government has shrunk in size and sold various assets amounting to about $11 billion. However, the plan to sell off a collection of works by Catalan artist Joan Miró faced much opposition and intense conversation. The debate about how much the state should be allowed to sell led to the question of whether a nation’s cultural heritage is out of bounds.

Today, the Obama Administration released its FY 2015 budget request to Congress, which includes funding for the nation's cultural agencies and programs, such as the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), the Office of Museum Services, and the Department of Education's Arts In Education program.

Robert L. Lynch, president and CEO of Americans for the Arts stated the following:

According to a new plan, the National Gallery of Art and George Washington University (GWU) would take over The Corcoran Gallery of Art.  As Washington’s oldest private art museum and a revered college of art and design, ceasing to exist as an independent institution would come with both a financial and emotional cost. The Corcoran’s 17,000 pieces of artwork that are worth an estimated $2 billion would be the National Gallery’s responsibility. They would most likely acquire a large fraction of the art and donate the rest to museums throughout the U.S.

According to Jennifer DeChant - executive director of the Chocolate Church Arts Center in Bath, Maine - arts and culture are underrated and understated contributors to the economy in Southern Maine. She believes community arts organizations are a place to display local talent, but also offer teaching opportunities for young students.

The significance of arts and culture to American life makes the vitality of the arts a matter of pressing interest. After all, the nation's nonprofit arts and culture organizations generates billions in economic activity every year. Further, the arts contribute not only to aesthetics and creativity, but also to prosperity, innovation, and social capital. Because it is important to understand the breadth, depth, and character of this industry, Americans for the Arts created the National Arts Index. And today, Americans for the Arts issued the Index’s latest findings.

Americans for the Arts, the nation’s leading nonprofit organization for advancing the arts and arts education, today announced the results of the National Arts Index , the annual measure of the health and vitality of the arts industries in the United States. The 2013 Index reveals that the arts industry effectively leveled off in 2011 with a score of 97.0, down just a fraction from the revised 2010 score of 97.2.

The NABE Foundation, the charitable arm of the National Association for Business Economics (NABE), and Americans for the Arts, the nation's leading nonprofit organization for advancing the arts and arts education, jointly announced that Amy Serrano has won the 2011 NABE Foundation Americans for the Arts Scholarship Award on Monday, March 26 during a luncheon at the NABE Policy Conference in Arlington, VA.

Americans for the Arts, the nation's leading nonprofit organization for advancing the arts and arts education, today announced the results of the National Arts Index, the annual measure of the health and vitality of the arts industries in the United States. The 2012 Index reveals that the arts industry began to recover from the effects of the Great Recession in 2010.

Americans for the Arts, the nation’s leading nonprofit organization for advancing the arts and arts education, will hold its 2012 Annual Convention in San Antonio, TX from June 8-11, 2012. Americans for the Arts is also holding both a Public Art Preconference and Emerging Leaders Preconference in San Antonio on June 7, 2012. During the convention, Americans for the Arts will announce the findings of its Arts and Economic Prosperity IV study, the most comprehensive economic impact study of the nonprofit arts and culture industry ever conducted in the United States.

Americans for the Arts, the nation’s leading nonprofit organization for advancing the arts and arts education, announced today that it will hold its 2012 Annual Convention in San Antonio, TX from June 8-10, 2012. It is the largest gathering in the nation of arts leaders and their partners in creative business, education and government.

Americans for the Arts, the nation's leading nonprofit organization for advancing the arts and arts education, will broadcast live the announcement of the results of Arts & Economic Prosperity IV™, the largest and most comprehensive study of its kind ever conducted.

Americans for the Arts, the nation's leading nonprofit organization for advancing the arts and arts education, today announced the findings from Arts & Economic Prosperity IV™,  the fourth economic impact study of the nonprofit arts and culture organizations and their audiences. The largest and most comprehensive of its kind ever conducted, it shows that the arts industry continued to serve as an economic engine, pumping billions of dollars into the nation's economy, despite the economic headwinds the country faced in 2010 when the study was conducted.

The NABE Foundation, the charitable arm of the National Association for Business Economics (NABE), and Americans for the Arts, the nation’s leading nonprofit organization for advancing the arts and arts education, jointly announced that Paul Vancea has won the 2013 NABE Foundation Americans for the Arts Scholarship Award. Vancea will receive the scholarship on Monday, March 4, during a luncheon at the 2013 NABE Economic Policy Conference in Washington, D.C.

Sundance Institute and Americans for the Arts released a report based on findings from the annual National Arts Policy Roundtable (NAPR) led by Robert Redford, Sundance Institute founder and president, and  Robert L. Lynch, president and CEO of Americans for the Arts.