May 2008 –NASSAA’s 2008 awards: Celebrate Your Agency’s Outstanding Leadership!
Does your executive director inspire? Is your chair a tireless advocate? Has your agency developed innovative programs that make the arts accessible to individuals with disabilities? If so, nominate them for one of NASAA’s 2008 Awards! NASAA’s award program recognizes exemplary leadership and promotes the best practices of state and regional arts organizations.  The awards provide a wonderful opportunity to showcase the excellent work and leadership of your agency.
National Accessibility Leadership Award—The National Endowment for the Arts and NASAA co-sponsor this award that honors exceptional and effective initiatives or programs that make the arts accessible and inclusive to individuals with disabilities and/or older adults. The $30,000 award is jointly supported through this partnership and is administered as a matching, one-year grant from the NEA. The grant must be used to advance the recipient's accessibility work for older adults and/or people with disabilities.
Distinguished Public Service Award—This award honors a chair or council member whose outstanding service, creative thinking and leadership significantly impacts public support for the arts in his/her state or region.
Gary Young Award—This award recognizes an executive director who makes an extraordinary contribution to public support for the arts in his/her state or region.  The ideal candidate will exhibit exemplary leadership, innovative thinking and dedication to diverse artistic expression.
Award winners will be recognized at the Leadership Luncheon on September12 during Assembly 2008 in Chattanooga, TN.  All nominations are due by June 30, 2008. Please visit http://www.nasaa-arts.org/2008-awards-main.shtml for more information and to download the nomination forms. Questions? Please contact Dora Shick at dora.shick@nasaa-arts.org or (202) 347-6352 x108.

May 2008 - NALAC Leadership Institute
Don’t miss the opportunity to apply for the 2008 NALAC Leadership Institute, which takes place in San Antonio, Texas, from July 14-19, 2008.  The NALAC Leadership Institute is the premier professional development program for the Latino arts field, providing valuable administrative skills and leadership training to the next generation of Latino arts leaders.  The deadline to apply for this year’s training is Friday, May 9. Now in its 8^th year, the NALAC Leadership Institute brings emerging Latino artists and key staff of community based Latino arts and cultural organizations from across the nation for intensive training in nonprofit arts management and leadership development.  Fifteen to twenty applicants are selected to attend each year.  The NALAC Leadership Institute has created a powerful national network of Latino arts leaders, whose creative intellect is shaping the future of Latino arts and culture.  The application for the NALAC Leadership Institute is short and straightforward and is available online at www.nalac.org.

May 2008 – NEA Grants Opportunity: Improving the Assessment of Student Learning in the Arts
With the creation of national standards for arts learning in the 1990s, assessment of student learning in the arts has become critical for providers of arts instruction throughout the country. Through the Learning in the Arts for Children and Youth category, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) awards millions of dollars each year to support arts education projects that include many forms of assessment designed to measure student learning and program effectiveness. Applicants are required to describe their assessment plans in their proposed projects. However, creating, identifying, and implementing effective assessment tools that support quality arts instruction can be a challenge. Arts educators who provide instruction in schools and communities are looking for models of assessment in all art forms. Through this project, the Arts Endowment seeks to collect and analyze information on current practices and trends in the assessment of K-12 student learning in the arts and to identify models that might be most effective in various learning environments. Deadline for applications is May 30.
 www.arts.gov/grants/apply/RFP/LITAAssessment.html; www.communityarts.net/apinews/archivefiles/2008/04/grants_for_arts.php 

April 2008 – Free Workshops from ASU Lodestar Center for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Innovation
If your organization has an annual operating budget under $500,000, then you are eligible to register for free capacity building workshops through the Arizona Compassion Initiative. Workshop topics include: Diversified Resource Development, Strategic Planning, Annual Fundraising, and many more. Presented by ASU’s Nonprofit Management Institute (NMI).
Visit http://www.asu.edu/copp/nonprofit/aci/registration.html to view schedule and register for workshops

April 2008 – Organization Opportunity for Accessibility Coordinators
We are pleased to announce new guidelines for grants on Creativity and Aging in America that target projects which actively engage older Americans in ongoing programming in the disciplines of literature and/ or music.  Through this initiative, the Arts Endowment will support exemplary projects and partnerships that employ professional artists and involve older adults as creators. We would appreciate your selecting and forwarding the attached guidelines to select grantees
that are doing exemplary programming in music or literature -- that might be interested in developing a new project to involve older adults in the arts; as well as grantees that are already involving older adults in these disciplines. Because of limited funding, and only a two-month window of opportunity to make application, we want to be sure that organizations in your state, which you feel would develop projects that demonstrate artistic excellence in these areas, are aware of this effort. 
The application deadline is May 23, 2008.  Access guidelines and application information by going to: http://www.nea.gov/grants/apply/CreativityAging.html

April 2008 - Save the Date! Mountain West Conference on the Arts
Mark your calendars! May 8-9, 2008. The Utah Arts Council Presents the Mountain West Conference on the Arts. Imagination - Innovation - Action. Join us for networking, workshops, performances, speakers, the Governor's Awards Luncheon, and more! For more information visit arts.utah.gov or contact Jason Bowcutt at (801) 236-7554, jbowcutt@utah.gov.

Christine Henry
Institute of Museum and Library Services
Phone: 202/653-4641
E-mail: chenry@imls.gov
Web: www.imls.gov 

March 2008 – Tucson Pima Arts Council Travel Grants Available
Tucson Pima Arts Council Travel Grants are available for individual artists, arts administrators, or arts organizations, from all of Arizona, traveling to the NALAC Regional Arts Training Workshop in Tucson, Arizona. For more details: TPAC Travel Grant

March 2008 - New NEA Guidelines
Application guidelines for the next round of Grants for Arts Projects are now available on the NEA's website. Organizations may apply under the following categories:
Access to Artistic Excellence: To encourage and support artistic excellence, preserve our cultural heritage, and provide access to the arts for all Americans. An organization may request a grant amount from $5,000 to $150,000. (Two deadlines: March 10 and August 11, 2008)Challenge America: Reaching Every Community Fast-Track Review Grants: To support projects that extend the reach of the arts to underserved populations. Grants are for $10,000. (Deadline: June 2, 2008)
Learning in the Arts for Children and Youth: To advance arts education for children and youth in school-based or community-based settings. An organization may request a grant amount from $5,000 to $150,000. (Deadline: June 9, 2008)
To view the guidelines, go to www.arts.gov/grants/apply, select the field or discipline most relevant to your project, and Grants for Arts Projects will be the first funding opportunity listed.

March 2008 - 2009 NEA Challenge America Fast-Track Grants. This $10,000 grant is designed to enable small or mid-sized organizations to extend the reach of the arts to underserved populations. The postmark deadline is June 2, 2008.