Overview
Americans for the Arts is a nonprofit organization that was established in 1996. It operates in the United States and focuses on advancing the place of the arts in the country on the local, state, and federal levels. According to the nonprofit’s latest strategic plan, it pursues four primary goals. The first one is to help people and organizations in serving communities through the arts and creating a positive environment for the promotion of the arts. The second goal is concerned with the individuals’ awareness of the role of arts in the state of the nation. Americans for the Arts also aim to create and promote effective public policy for arts and arts education in the US. Finally, the fourth goal is to advance the organization to withstand future challenges (Americans for the Arts, 2018).
Funding
As a nonprofit organization, Americans for the Arts relies on the combination of government, corporate, and individual funding channels. Governmental support comes from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), although its focus is on other artists rather than the organization. Americans for the Arts collaborates with Americans for the Arts Action Fund that is supported by several prominent businesses and national funds, including Blick Art Materials and the David Rockefeller Fund (Americans for the Arts Action Fund, n.d.).
A substantial part of all donations comes from local and international foundations, colleges of arts and media, as well as such companies as American Express, Scholastic, Vans Customer Culture, Aetna, and others. The number of patrons of the organization seems to remain undisclosed, but Americans for the Arts offers several ways for both individual and corporate donations.
Target Audience
The target audience of the nonprofit is people engaged in the arts, including students and workers (self-employed and working for other organizations). The sphere of the arts is vast – visual, performing, and literary branches seem to be included in the organization’s plan. Here, it is vital to note the stamen on cultural equity created by the nonprofit several years ago. In it, the organization aims to elevate the voices of vulnerable populations whose access to arts education, career, and livelihood were historically limited. Thus, the policy of Americans for the Arts should positively impact people discriminated on the basis of gender, sexual orientation, race/ethnicity, age, disability, geography, socioeconomic status, religion, and citizenship status (Statement on cultural equity, n.d.).
Strengths and Weaknesses
As is common for most nonprofit organizations, the main weakness of Americans for the Arts is its limited financial capability. The nonprofit depends significantly on its corporate and individual donors, which may impact its advocacy directions. Nonetheless, it seems that many of these companies share the passion for the arts, thus ensuring that the organization advocates for better conditions for future and present artists. Another problem is the decreasing amount of funding offered by the national budget. This issue endangers not only the nonprofit but the position of artists in the country as a whole. A strength of Americans for the Arts is its diverse set of goals, which allow it to not only advocate for better education but also research the current state of the arts in the US. The nonprofit connects artists, leaders, communities, and companies to each other and trains leaders to continue their work on different levels.
Support for Art Education
Americans for the Arts makes the improvement of arts education one of its primary goals. It works to increase the public sector investments in education programs by training advocates and collaborating with national departments. The nonprofit organizes lectures to disseminate knowledge about related policies and provide information about ways to influence it. Moreover, it investigates federal education initiatives with the goal of changing public policy. Apart from governmental work, Americans for the Arts also interacts with corporate entities and arts organizations to teach diversity, equity, and other strategies to ensure equal access to arts education and employment.
Policy around Art Education
Currently, policy around arts education struggles with many hardships internationally. Many countries, including the US, implement massive budget restrictions for federal programs supporting the arts (Matthews, 2018). As a result, the arts disappear from the public-school curriculum, and teachers and artists do not receive high-quality education and support. The nonprofit collects and shows data about the role of the arts for child development. Americans for the Arts also advocates to keep the arts as a part of education and connects leaders and policymakers to drive local legislation – this policy should be effective and feasible since it operates on multiple levels and engages different communities.
References
About Americans for the Arts. (n.d.). Web.
Americans for the Arts Action Fund. (n.d.). National sponsors for the Arts Action Fund. Web.
Americans for the Arts. (2018). Americans for the Arts: 2018-2020 strategic plan. Web.
Arts education. (n.d.). Web.
Matthews, M. (2018). The conflicted other in policy making: Focusing on art education. Journal for Critical Education Policy Studies (JCEPS), 16(1), 175-206.
Statement on cultural equity. (n.d.). Web.