In 2002, the MetLife Foundation partnered with the Arts & Business Council of Americans for the Arts to create a five-year National Arts Forum Series. The goal of the series was to bring together nonprofit and private-sector professionals at sites across the country to examine some of the pressing issues facing their communities, including generational and demographic shifts, workforce development, leadership, and private-sector giving to the arts.

While similar MetLife Foundation Forums had been ongoing in New York since 1998 through the MetLife Foundation Arts Forum Series, this new series had the larger aim of reaching into communities across the United States. In its multi-year run, the National Arts Forum Series offered more than 115 forum meetings in 22 cities from coast to coast.

Communities participating in the Forum Series have seen lasting impacts. In fact, dozens of projects and programs have spun off from these forums, bringing together business, government, and arts leaders with the goal of improving the civic and economic climates of their communities. The five case studies featured in this Monograph are only a sampling of the programs that have been born from community participation in the Forum Series. There are numerous examples of diverse new programs throughout the 10 participating cities, from audience development consultancy and research in Indianapolis to new collaborative efforts to raise money and support for the arts in Portland, OR. The MetLife Foundation National Arts Forum Series has fostered meaningful dialogues that are continuing to benefit businesses, arts organizations, audiences, and communities across the country—and will continue to do so for many years to come.

Americans for the Arts’ Monograph series featured in-depth issue papers on topics that were of the greatest interest to our members and arts professionals at the time. They often still serve as excellent resources for best practices and historic reference for today’s issues. Monographs were produced from 1993–2010. Monographs from 2001-2010 are available for downloadable in PDF format our online store at a nominal fee for nonmembers but free to members. All monographs from 1993-2000 are available for free download via the National Arts Administration and Policy Publications Database.

In 2002, the MetLife Foundation partnered with the Arts & Business Council of Americans for the Arts to create a five-year National Arts Forum Series. The goal of the series was to bring together nonprofit and private-sector professionals at sites across the country to examine some of the pressing issues facing their communities, including generational and demographic shifts, workforce development, leadership, and private-sector giving to the arts. In its multi-year run, the National Arts Forum Series offered more than 115 forum meetings in 22 cities from coast to coast.