Voices from the Field Blog

This past November 3, Jersey City voted to create an Arts and Culture Trust Fund, becoming the first municipality in New Jersey to create a dedicated tax to support the arts. The trust will create funding sources for arts organizations in the city, and will support arts organizations and artists that benefit the culture, well-being, and economy of Jersey City, as well as provide increased...

As I walked into my classroom at Columbia High School the morning of January 28th of this year, I noticed a call notification on my phone: NJSCA. I knew I wouldn’t be able to answer it until after my morning classes, but I had an oddly positive feeling. I tried to tamp down expectations, and got absorbed in my teaching. In that way, I got to enjoy the tremble of excitement a second time when I...

I recently had the opportunity to plan and co-host a Council of New Jersey Grantmakers (CNJG) funder briefing in collaboration with New Jersey State Council on the Arts. The session featured nationally recognized philanthropy thought-leaders Holly Sidford and Edwin Torres. They spoke about inequities in philanthropic giving to arts and culture organizations, and although the session focused on the...

Did you attend an arts event last year? A performance, exhibit, music festival, or poetry reading? If you did, you are in great company. New Jersey nonprofit arts groups drew more than 7.5 million people to their programs in 2015—that’s four times more than all New Jersey professional sports events! And those same groups and audiences generated a half billion dollars for the state’s economy. When...

According to Arts & Economic Prosperity 5 – a national economic impact study released June 17 by Americans for the Arts– the nonprofit arts and culture sector in New Jersey is a $519.8 million industry, supporting 14,342 full-time equivalent jobs and yielding $41 million in local and state government revenue. ArtPride worked with Americans for the Arts and five local partners–Cape May, Cumberland...

What You Can Do NOW to Protect NEA Funding Thank you if you’ve already signed a petition to support federal funding for the arts, but make sure you sign THIS Arts Action Fund petition now and invite friends to do the same. This action helps arts advocates organize, and Americans for the Arts CEO Bob Lynch plans to present this Arts Action Fund petition to the President. If you do not currently...

For nearly 60 years, Americans for the Arts has convened an annual convention for arts and community leaders to network and discuss strategies for building stronger towns, counties, and cities through the arts. As our professional field has grown, so has this gathering. This year's Annual Convention explored the role of the arts in creating and sustaining healthy, vibrant, equitable communities...

As arts organizations, it's important to stay connected to our New Jersey tourism partners. After all, we share the same dedicated revenue source (NJ Hotel/Motel Occupancy Fee) and we know that cultural tourism is critical to our state’s tourism industry. The NJ Travel Industry Association's Conference on Tourism is a great opportunity to network with colleagues in the tourism industry and...

In 2013, we launched a new way to support ArtPride NJ and grow tomorrow’s advocates by honoring Jane Burgio and Berda Rittenhouse, two exceptional women who are remembered dearly as ardent and leading advocates. We are pleased to report that through the generosity of 32 inaugural friends, the Burgio/Rittenhouse Memorial Fund raised $12,000 to advance this cause. Support for the Burgio/Rittenhouse...

From Arts Education to the Country Music Hall of Fame, from Big Data and Advocacy to Ben Folds, from Creative Placemaking to Hatch Show Prints, the Americans for the Arts Annual Convention was designed to inspire arts leaders from all across the country ... and inspire it did! For nearly 60 years, Americans for the Arts has convened an annual convention for arts and community leaders to network...