Hi Guys! Sorry this post is making it up a day late, but better late than never right? On Tuesday we met with Randy Cohen from the Americans for the Arts Organization who was absolutely full of information! I’ll touch more on the meeting itself in the next reflection blog post.
For this blog post, I hope to just refresh the basic information (similar to my introduction video which is linked at the bottom of the post) about the history of the Americans for the Arts as well as some info about our incredible and well spoken Speaker Randy (and speaker who was not present at the meeting but I did research on so you’re going to get that info too).
I wanted to first take a look at their Mission as stated on their website (which is very informational I must add and if you have some time you should take a look at it!) Their mission statement is as follows “To build recognition and support for the extraordinary and dynamic value of the arts and to lead, serve, and advance the diverse networks of organizations and individuals who cultivate the arts in America. Connecting your best ideas and leaders from the arts, communities, and business, together we can work to ensure that every American has access to the transformative power of the arts.”
I also wanted to take a brief look at Americans for the Arts’s history as the organization went through many mergers and break offs as well as name changes to become the organization that it is today. The organization was founded in 1960 originally as the Community Arts Councils inc. which served both Canada and the United States. In 1964 the name changed to Arts Councils of America and opened headquarters in NYC. In 1968 National Endowment for the Arts (which we learned about last week with Arden) awarded its first grant to Arts Councils of America in the amount of $75K. And then in 1996 American Council for the Arts & National Assembly of Local Arts Agencies merged to create Americans for the Arts with the goal to increase access to & participation in the arts & culture for all Americans by fostering leadership, resources, strong agencies on every level & support for arts education.
All of this info and more can be found on this super cool timeline that I found on their website that was created for their 50 year anniversary. (In 2010 they hit 50 years which means now they are 62 years old!) it actually includes a lot of history of policy and the arts not only just in the Americans for the Arts organization but in the United States starting back in 1960. Lots of cool information that I probably spent an hour looking at and helped me understand a lot of the info we have talked about in class both with guest speakers as well as Professor Epstein. If there’s one thing I want you to take away from this blog post its this timeline. I seriously think its a super cool resource to access more of the historical aspects of policy and the arts. So GO LOOK AT IT:)
A little bit more about the organization itself: Americans for the Arts is the nation’s leading nonprofit organization for advancing the arts and arts education. They are dedicated to representing and serving local communities and creating opportunities for every American to participate in and appreciate all forms of the arts. They have offices in Washington D.C. as well as New York City, and their president and CEO is Nolen V. Bivens! (I state that it is someone else in the video but ignore that as this is the correct president of the org).
Americans for the Arts serves more than 150,000 organizational and individual members and stakeholders. And through national visibility campaigns and local outreach, Americans for the Arts strives to motivate and mobilize opinion leaders and decision-makers who can ensure the arts thrive in America. This is an infographic found on the About Us page of their website which I thought was super insightful.
And the final thing I wanted to touch on before talking about our guests is their goals listed under their 2018-2020 strategic plan.
Let’s now take a look at our guests for class on tuesday. Randy Cohen is the Vice President of Research at Americans for the Arts and has been since 1991. He is an expert in the field of arts funding, research, and using the arts to address community development issues. Cohen has been a policy specialist for the National Endowment for the Arts, founded the San Diego Theater for Young Audiences, and worked in medical research for Stanford University. He is a sought-after speaker, Randy has given speeches in all 50 states, and regularly appears in the news media—including the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and on CNN, CNBC, and NPR. He also publishes Americans Speak Out About the Arts, the nation’s largest public opinion study about the arts, and produces the two premier economic studies of the arts—Arts & Economic Prosperity, the national economic impact study of nonprofit arts organizations and their audiences; and Creative Industries, a mapping study of the nation’s 675,000 arts businesses and their employees. So this guy does a LOT.
Our second speaker is Lauren Cohen who is the Government Affairs and Grassroots Manager at Americans for the Arts. She earned her Master of Arts degree in Public History from James Madison University and her Bachelor of Arts degree in History from the University of Tennessee. Lauren worked for a Member of Congress in the US House of Representatives for 2+ yrs where she researched legislation related to the arts, humanities, and museums. Before coming to Washington, DC, she also worked for the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation in Williamsburg, Virginia where she held positions in the Education Outreach, Historical Interpretations, and Curatorial departments. (we didn’t actually get to meet her but I’m sure she would have been great if we did)
I know this post came a little late, but I hope you found it informative nonetheless! Here is my intro video link (which pretty much says the same thing as this but you can hear it from my voice and a presentation if you prefer that form of introduction instead) I do have to say that my google slides are very pretty and I probably spent too much time designing them so plz watch the video and at least appreciate that. I can’t wait to hear more about your thoughts on Americans for the Arts and our meeting with them!