The coronavirus has had a devastating impact on America’s arts sector. Nationally, financial losses to nonprofit arts and cultural organizations are an estimated $9.1 billion as of July 13, 2020, and 62% of artists have become unemployed. An analysis by Americans for the Arts reveals the how the arts and creative economy sector performed in securing Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans. 

“Without the arts, without music, without dance, without drama, without photography, the civil rights movement would have been like a bird without wings.” These were the words the late Representative John Lewis of Georgia shared the many times he addressed crowds of arts advocates of all ages at Americans for the Arts’ annual Arts Advocacy Day in Washington, D.C. Americans for the Arts feels deep loss at the passing of Rep. John Lewis, a civil rights hero and a true champion for the arts, and we celebrate the vast contributions he made to our country.

This week: read up on pay equity, community-focused public art, performance art as a catalyst for change, national partnerships that bring about local advocacy, and more. Plus, check out the brand-new Arts Education Action Kit, a free resource that provides tools so that anyone can become an arts education advocate.

The kit features information on advocacy strategies, messaging, and research to improve the availability and quality of arts education in schools and communities. With these resources, anyone can become an arts education advocate and make the case for why arts education is essential.

Thanks to the July 4th holiday weekend, our Weekly Web Roundup is super-sized this week! Catch up now on two weeks’ worth of news and blogs, and don’t miss the next DIAL.studio webinar series for young professionals: a “101” education on the history of arts administration and organizations. 

Creative Forces®, an initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts, presents “Advances in Creative Forces Clinical Research,” a virtual panel discussion and demonstration of the new online National Resource Center (NRC) on July 15, 2020, at 3:00 p.m. ET. This online resource will feature public materials for researchers and practitioners in the arts, health, and military and veteran care settings.

Americans for the Arts remembers arts leader and Chicago native Joan Small, who passed away last week. Joan served nearly two decades with the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and was an Americans for the Arts Board Member from 1994 to 2008.

The theme of this week is the Annual Convention + Public Art & Civic Design Conference! More than 850 of you attended our first-ever virtual convening June 23-25, which featured 100 panelists speaking in 50 breakout sessions and four keynotes, plus presentations of our Annual Leadership Awards and the announcement of a brand-new public art prize.

Rick Lowe is a Houston-based artist and professor of art at the University of Houston, best known for his Project Row Houses community-based art project that he started in Houston in 1993. President Barack Obama appointed Rick to the National Council on the Arts in 2013; in 2014 he was named a MacArthur Fellow. 

Christen Boone is the President & CEO of the Fund for the Arts in Louisville, Kentucky, one of the country’s largest privately funded regional arts agencies. She has developed thousands of unique partnerships between the creative and private sectors, driving workplace culture, client cultivation, project innovation, DEI initiatives, and social impact. 

Ann S. Graham brings a strong set of leadership skills to her work as the Executive Director of Texans for the Arts and she has demonstrated a deep passion for the arts and the role that they play in building and strengthening our communities. 

This week: As we pause today to celebrate and reflect on the history of Juneteenth, read the next entry in our ARTSblog series on the incredible musicians who were finalists for this year's Johnson Fellowship. We’re also looking forward to the first-ever virtual Annual Convention and Public Art & Civic Design conference, including the Nancy Hanks Lecture.

Helen Eaton has served as Settlement Music School’s CEO since 2010. One of the largest community schools of the arts in the country, Settlement has a 112-year history of arts education without barriers, providing over $2.6 million in financial aid every year to its students. 

The 33rd Annual Nancy Hanks Lecture on Arts & Public Policy will be presented live as the opening keynote presentation of the Americans for the Arts Annual Convention and Public Art & Civic Design Conference on Tuesday, June 23, 2020 at 11:30 a.m. ET. Americans for the Arts is pleased to welcome as its speaker Vijay Gupta, acclaimed violinist, social justice advocate, 2018 MacArthur Fellow, and Americans for the Arts board member. The lecture is free and attendees can register online. Gupta will be introduced by the Honorable Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi.

Americans for the Arts’ offices will be closed this Friday in recognition of Juneteenth, and staff will be using this day to better inform ourselves of the historical significance of Juneteenth and to reflect on the systems of racial injustice that have been set in this country for centuries. We urge you and your organizations to also use this day to learn, reflect, and take action.