The National Guild supports and advances access to lifelong learning opportunities in the arts. In 2011, we:

• Convened 650 representatives from more than 370 organizations in 42 states and three Canadian provinces at the National Guild's 74th annual Conference for Community Arts Education in Boston: our biggest conference ever.
• Presented the inaugural “Powerful Partnerships: Sustaining Arts Education through Collaboration.” This training program, held January 18 & 19 in New York City, is designed to help nonprofit arts education providers more deeply engage their communities and increase sustainability through internal and external collaboration.
• Released a key resource as part of our Engaging Adolescents Initiative. Engaging Adolescents: Building Youth Participation in the Arts describes a holistic approach that integrates arts learning with principles of youth development. Also as part of the initiative, we presented the second Engaging Adolescents Institute to share effective methods to engage teens in high quality arts education programs and set them on a path toward lifelong participation in the arts.
• Provided technical assistance and grants through the MetLife Foundation Creative Aging Program, totaling $80,000 to 12 member organizations to foster the development of arts education for older adults.
• Distributed grants totaling $215,000 through the MetLife Foundation Partners in Arts Education Grant Program to 12 members to strengthen arts education partnerships with public schools.
• Presented the second annual Community Arts Education Leadership Institute. The Institute, made possible with major support from the American Express Foundation, provides an intensive, transformative experience through which 25 current and aspiring leaders advance their skills by engaging with top leadership trainers and nationally-renowned practitioners. The program includes a five-day seminar, advanced assignments, 360-degree feedback processes and follow-up coaching.
• Published the bi-annual Benchmarking Data Report. The Benchmarking Data Report: Academic Year 2009-2010 provides the community arts education field with quantitative data on faculty pay rates, instructional fees, administrative staffing and salaries, financial aid, enrollment demographics, program offerings, organizational finances and more. It is an essential tool for program and organizational planning and is available as a free download to member organizations that completed the survey.
• Launched a new capacity building initiative. The Guild has received a grant from the William Penn Foundation to assess the organizational capacity needs of place-based, out-of-school arts education providers (e.g. arts centers, community arts schools) in the Greater Philadelphia region. The purpose is to inform the design of a potential capacity building initiative to support these organizations’ effectiveness. The report is expected in early 2012. The findings will deepen our understanding of the field and inform the development of our programs and services for community arts education providers nationwide.

Looking forward to 2012…

In 2012, we will continue all of our major grantmaking, professional development and networking programs, and carry on our research and information services to support the development of organizations across the country.

We’ll bring the Engaging Adolescents Institute to the West Coast for the first time: February 17th at the Music Center of Los Angeles County. Also in 2012, the Guild will publish a new monograph, co-authored by Tom Wolf and Gigi Antoni, on collaboration and sustainability for community arts education organizations. We also look forward to presenting the second Powerful Partnerships Institute. And, we invite you to save the dates for the 2012 Conference for Community Arts Education in Dallas, November 14-17.