Check back often for the latest updates and reports on what the Guild is doing to advocate for community arts education. Learn about our active efforts to build coalitions, create policies, and support legislation to advance the common values and missions of a variety of Guild constituencies nationwide.

As a National CoSponsor of Arts Advocacy Day 2012, the Guild sent a letter to Members of Congress asking them to help ensure all Americans have access to lifelong learning opportunities in the arts. The letter makes the case for the benefits of arts instruction for individuals and communities. It also addresses how these benefits accrue over time and demand long-term partnerships, professional development for staff and teaching artists, and financial resources. Please feel free to use this letter as a template for your own communications with Members of Congress, and to personalize it with stories and examples from your organization and programs.

Executive Jonathan Herman participated as one of 20 bloggers for Grantmakers for the Arts' dynamic Forum on Equity in Arts Funding. Bloggers represented an exciting cross section of the country's arts funding, service and equity thought leaders, including: Lynn Stern, Surdna Foundation; Barbara Schaffer Bacon, Americans for the Arts; Maria Rosario Jackson, Urban Institute; and others. In his post, "Equity and Community Arts Education," Jonathan discusses how current funding challenges pose serious threats to our sector while also driving organizations to develop new ways of doing business and maintaining their ability to serve the public.

The National Guild has joined forces with our colleagues in the music education field to create a unified response to U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan's open letter to America's teachers, which he released during Teacher Appreciation Week (May 2-6, 2011). Our letter speaks to the needs of the music and arts education cause nationally, and asks the Secretary for his assistance in making our dream of access for all students a reality.

Guild Executive Director Jonathan Herman participated in “The Arts and Human Development: Learning across the Lifespan,” a forum sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts, in partnership with the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services in March in Washington. He presented an overview of the Guild's membership, history and values, describing ways in which our constituents address critical human development and social welfare goals.

The event consisted of a series of presentations and discussions about the role of the arts in fostering cognitive, social, and behavioral outcomes to support creativity and lifelong learning. Also presenting were Guild members Paul Babcock, President & COO of MacPhail Center for Music in Minneapolis; Arnold Aprill, Founding and Creative Director of Chicago Arts Partnerships Education; Maria Genne, Director or Kairos Dance Theatre in Minneapolis; and Janine Tursini, Executive Director of Arts for the Aging in Bethesda, MD. In addition, research findings about Philadelphia Settlement Music School’s Kaleidoscope Pre-School Arts Enrichment Program were presented by Dr. Eleanor Brown of West Chester University.

Rocco Landesman, Chairman, National Endowment for the Arts and Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services were featured speakers.

A white paper based on the forum will be published.

The Guild has joined the Policy Council of the California Alliance for Arts Education, the leading policy and advocacy organization working to strengthen arts education in the state. The Alliance's Policy Council is composed of allied partners from education, business, arts and parent organizations, and meets twice annually. Guild trustee and California resident Jeffry Walker represented the Guild at the Council's meeting on June 3 in Costa Mesa, CA.