Art Works Blog

photo of David Tomas Martinez with his quote

#FlashbackFriday: David Tomas Martinez

August 16, 2019
"The poems and the poets that I'm most attracted to are the ones that, at the end, I feel as if I've learned something about them. And by learning something about them, I learn something about myself." — David Tomas Martinez , Poet, NEA Creative Writing Fellow, and NEA Big Read author Read our Art...
A woman in 1940s dress sings before a microphone while a man behind her conducts unseen musicians

A New Exhibit Pays Tribute to Marian Anderson

August 15, 2019
The image is iconic: Marian Anderson, one of the most celebrated contraltos of her day, wrapped in a fur coat, singing on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on Easter Sunday 1939 before 75,000 people. With the help of Eleanor Roosevelt, the concert had been arranged after Anderson was barred from...
grid collage of photos of Holland Taylor, Phil Klay, Ramona Emerson, Justin Torres, Whit Taylor, George Lucas

Advice For Artists From Artists (3rd edition)

August 14, 2019
We don't mean to boast, but let's face it—one of the best parts of writing for the National Endowment for the Arts Art Works blog is that we get to talk to some really cool people. Talented people. Smart people. People who—whether they're musicians or designers or writers or actors or artists of...
an allegorical lithograph featuring the head of a woman wearing a winged helmed

Five Questions on the National Portrait Gallery exhibit "Votes for Women: A Portrait of Persistence"

August 13, 2019
On view through January 5, 2020, the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery (NPG) exhibit Votes for Women: A Portrait of Persistence examines the history of women's suffrage in the U.S. from 1832-1965. Comprising more than 120 portraits and objects, the exhibit is the centerpiece of the...
author Ray Bradbury posing with a cat

#FlashbackFriday: For the NEA Big Read, Ray Bradbury Ruminates on the Power of Libraries and Becoming a Writer

August 9, 2019
Did you know that Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 was one of the original books for the NEA Big Read ? In this short film— created expressly for the program—Bradbury, who received the National Medal of Arts in 2004, enthuses about his enduring love of libraries, reveals how an encounter with a...
Six covers of past issues of the National Endowment for the Arts magazine

#ThrowbackThursday: A Look Back at NEA Arts

August 8, 2019
When our blog editor assigned me the task of rounding up a few of my favorite reads from past issues of NEA Arts , the agency’s quarterly magazine, I thought “Easy!” As the magazine’s editor, there were, of course, a few that already stood out in my mind. But after going through issue after issue,...
cover of paper program for convening with text and photo of a young man watching a performance

Envisioning the Future of Theater for Young Audiences: Notes from a Convening

August 7, 2019
When we look for reasons for why we do what we do here at the National Endowment for the Arts, one of the most powerful examples comes from observing the impact that Theater for Young Audiences (TYA) has on the young people who experience it. In the course of my time here, I’ve seen firsthand and...
quote by Renee Elise Goldsberry

#TuesdayThought: Renée Elise Goldsberry

August 6, 2019
"There’s a new Mozart, a new Miles Davis, a new Misty Copeland, a new Matisse potentially languishing in a math class somewhere. If we fail to introduce them to art, we fail humanity." — Renée Elise Goldsberry Revisit our interview with Tony Award-winning actress Renée Elise Goldsberry, who...
a man and a woman holding a child talk to each other against a background of colorful paintings

How Blue Star Museums is Making A Difference: One Military Family's Story

August 2, 2019
In the Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens in Jacksonville, Florida, Rachel Snyder and her children wander around the Stein Gallery taking in the artwork. She and her family have been here before, but this time they are helping to celebrate the 10th summer of the National Endowment for the Arts’...
Graphs and coffee

Taking Note: A Tribute to the Nation’s First Statistical Report on the State of the Arts

August 1, 2019
The systematic collection and analysis of federal statistics about the arts can be traced to the mid-1970s, when the National Endowment for the Arts established a research function. Among core measurements we routinely take are: the breadth and frequency of arts participation in the U.S.; the...

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