Imagining America is currently accepting applications for fellowship programs designed for graduate and undergraduate students from IA member institutions. 

Applications are open for the following graduate and undergraduate student fellowship programs:

PAGE Fellows Program (Publicly Active Graduate Education)

PAGE Fellows participate in a yearlong working group for collaborative art-making, teaching, writing, storytelling and co-creating knowledge within and for community

JGS Fellows Program

Selected fellows will commit to a year-long learning exchange that includes tuition support, project support, and opportunities for professional development. 

In commemoration of its 20th anniversary, Creative Capital is moving to an annual cycle of awards and retreats, which will allow them to support more artists across all disciplines. Awardees receive $50,000 in project funding as well as career development services for artists. 

Creative Capital says, "this new award cycle is a natural extension of our mission to advocate for artists who explore and push boundaries. It will allow prospective awardees more clarity and flexibility in the application process, and ensure that Creative Capital is available for cutting-edge projects when that assistance is most critical."

Creative Capital supports innovative and adventurous artists across the country through funding, counsel, gatherings, and career development services.

Read the full release here.

Pulling from survey data of over 4,000 respondents, a new report from Race to Lead explores the differences in experiences between white executives and executive leaders of color. They share a number of key findings, including: 

1. Although there certainly are advantages to being in the top leadership role of an organization, the data shows that people of color in executive positions report higher rates of common challenges and frustrations than white EDs/ CEOs

2. Organizational financial sustainability is a particularly acute burden for EDs/CEOs of color.

3. Nonprofit EDs/CEOs of color report more challenges in their relationships with boards of directors when the boards are predominantly white. 

4. Both EDs/CEOs of color and white leaders are taking similar steps to make their organizations more equitable, inclusive and diverse.

Read the full report here. 

The Education Commission of the States recently released "The Arts in Schools of Choice," a resource for understanding how charter, magnet, open enrollment, private and home-schools interact with arts education policy. 

ESC writes, "since the Every Student Succeeds Act became law, states have taken advantage of opportunities to engage the arts more broadly in education policy…at the same time, many states’ policy agendas address school choice, with ongoing discussion by champions and critics alike. However, many states have yet to consider the policy landscape for the intersection of arts education and school choice."

Read the full report here.

The Local Arts Agency Salaries 2018 research report is AFTA's most recent effort to benchmark the vast and varied compensation practices of the local arts agency field in America today, which compiled 117 anonymous survey responses.

Some of the key findings, from AFTA: 

"In general, local arts agency employees are educated white women. Eighty-two percent of the respondents identify their race/ethnicity as white or Caucasian or European American only. Seventy-eight percent identify as female (cisgender). Ninety-one percent have at least a four-year college degree, including 45 percent who have at least one graduate degree. Sixty-five percent of LAA employees report that they are satisfied with their cash compensation. While 38 percent of LAA employees agree with the statement, "I have a clear path for job advancement," another 30 percent disagree (including 14 percent who strongly disagree).

The overall average salary for the executive director position is $81,476 (the average for public/government LAAs is $110,946, while the average for private/nonprofit LAAs is $73,114)."

Read the full report here>>

The Cleveland Foundation announced a $2 million grant to Karamu House, the nation’s oldest black theater organization. The funds, part of a multi-year fundraising campaign, will go towards revamping the theater as well as supportint education and community engagement. 

CEO Tony Sias says he "hopes new investments in Karamu can help Fairfax become the first black neighborhood in Cleveland to enjoy an art-based rebirth like those launched by theaters, galleries and other attractions."

Read the full release here >>

The Education Commission on the States has released its 50-State Comparison, which assesses the capacity of all 50 states and the District of Columbia to aggregate and report on arts education data already housed in statewide education data systems. It focuses on key arts education questions identified in Using State Data Systems to Report Information on Arts Education.

You can use the tool to see how your state measures up in the collected data points compared to other states, as well as see each state profile in detail. 

This 50-State Comparison is one in a suite of tools created by the State Data Infrastructure Project in the Arts — a partnership between the National Endowment for the Arts and Education Commission of the States — to build states’ capacity to extract, analyze and report on data about arts education. The project aims to empower policymakers, communities and families with the information they need to ensure that every American student has the opportunity to excel in and through the arts.

Read more and explore the tool here.

Writing a guest blog post in Education Weekly, Kate Walker, University of Minnesota Extension professor and specialist in youth work practice, describes the process the Extension Center for Youth Development used to create consensus around barriers to, and strategies for, advancing equity in youth programs. 

Using the work of the Extension Center, Kate shares a framework for advancing equity, as well as strategies, recommendations, and next steps for organizations. She defines equity as "promoting just and fair inclusion and creating the conditions in which all young people can participate, prosper, and reach their full potential. In other words, equity is everyone having what they need to be successful." 

Read the full post on the Education Weekly Website.

AEP invites partner organizations and leaders in the field to share their exemplary work supporting the role and contribution of the arts in preparing all students for success in school, work and life.

The AEP Annual Convening provides a valuable platform for examining rigorous research, promising education policy and effective practices designed to significantly improve student outcomes, both during the school day and in out-of-school time. Leaders from the arts, business, cultural, education, government and philanthropic sectors attend AEP Annual Convenings. They are administrators, advanced practitioners, consultants, directors and researchers engaged in and committed to arts learning and education improvement.

The 2019 AEP Annual Convening will focus on the role and contribution of the arts in addressing the following priority areas as outlined in The Arts Leading the Way to Student Success:

A 2020 Action Agenda for Advancing the Arts in Education:

• Priority Area 1: Raise Student Achievement and Success.

• Priority Area 2: Support Effective Educators and School Leaders.

• Priority Area 3: Transform the Teaching and Learning Environment.

• Priority Area 4: Build Leadership Capacity and Knowledge.

Proposals must address one of these priority areas. Learn more and submit a proposal. 

artEquity has announced its inaugural Beyond Diversity National Board Training that will take place in Denver, CO from Wednesday, June 12 – Friday, June 14, 2019. 

Recognizing and responding to the need for in-depth analysis-building through the lens of board governance, a national cohort of trustees from cultural arts institutions across the country will come together to address issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion related to board culture and practices.

For more information about the program, please visit artEquity’s website or contact artEquity’s Program Manager for Organizational Consulting Carmen Samuel at csamuel@artEquity.org.