ARTS, CULTURE AND RECREATION 

SUPPORTING THE NEA’S ARTSREACH PROJECT

WHEREAS, the United States Conference of Mayors supports the National Endowment for the Arts’ efforts to make the arts accessible to all Americans throughout the nation and to build a strong cultural infrastructure for public support of the arts at the federal, state and local levels; and

WHEREAS, the National Endowment for the Arts has established a new grants programs entitled ArtsREACH, which will be administered in cooperation with Americans for the Arts. ArtsREACH is a direct outcome of the NEA’s American Canvas project, previously endorsed by the United States Conference of Mayors in 1996; and

WHEREAS, the ArtsREACH project will encourage the long-term development, availability, and preservation of artistic and cultural resources in targeted states that have been under represented in the profile of the Arts Endowment’s direct grants over the last three years, which directly responds to previous Congressional concerns to a broader distribution of funds among various states and communities. The targeted states for 1998 include: Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming; and

WHEREAS, the purpose of this ArtsREACH initiative is to provide funding to new and existing partnerships of cultural, government, business, social, religious and civic organizations to work together to integrate the arts more fully into all aspects of community life; and

WHEREAS, the ArtsREACH project will help community-based coalitions in the targeted states to develop community cultural plans or undertake cultural assessments involving the partnerships groups mentioned above; and

WHEREAS, Americans for the Arts’ field research clearly demonstrates that 35% of the nation’s local arts agencies have conducted community cultural plans and implemented planned activities with the community’s broad support. Furthermore, between 1993 and 1997, the budget growth of organizations with cultural plans has exceeded those without a plan by 33 percent; and

WHEREAS, the ArtsREACH project will also help strengthen the capacity of participating arts organizations in the targeted states to seek and receive future support from private and public funding sources,

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the United States Conference of Mayors endorses the National Endowment for the Arts’ ArtsREACH project and urges mayors in the designated targeted states for 1998 to fully participate in the cultural planning activities within their communities. Additionally, communities that are not within the 20 targeted states for ArtsREACH are encouraged to apply for cultural planning and assessment grants through the NEA’s Planning and Stabilization grant category.