The opening session of 2021 National Arts Action Summit will welcome attendees to the series of Summit webinars and provide a key federal, legislative, and political updates -- Introducing the key players on arts policy on Capitol Hill and how to best make the urgent case for support of the arts and culture sector. Presenters will also review the 2021 Congressional Arts Handbook and explain how to use it for advocacy efforts this year.

Exploring tax policy for artists, organizations, and philanthropy in the 117th Congress. The discussion in this advocacy briefing session will include how the universal charitable deduction, Legacy IRA Act, Artist-Museum Partnership Act, Performing Artists Tax Deduction, and other potential policies address tax inequities impacting the cultural sector.

In this session, advocates will learn how specific legislative changes will strengthen access and affordability of higher education in the arts. Our main advocacy ask is to urge Congress to strengthen access to higher education in the arts and ensure financial aid options, especially for students from historically and intentionally marginalized communities.

Reviewing the grantmaking and initiatives of the NEA, we will examine the bipartisan support for the agency, and learn about the consensus policy asks to strengthen this key federal agency. Session discussion will include perspectives on the NEA’s focus on access, its reach into every congressional district and providing resources to communities in need, including high-poverty neighborhoods and historically underserved populations such as people with disabilities and veterans.

Attendees will learn the nuances of how the arts and tech policy intersect and how to effectively urge Congress to support key policy areas: music licensing, Net Neutrality and wireless microphones. Congress plays a key role in music licensing, and how platforms compensate—or don’t compensate—music makers. Net Neutrality would help ensure equity and access to customers and culture. The FCC needs to protect wireless microphones and other devices used by performing arts entities that provide valuable public service.

Take a deep dive into the COVID-19 relief packages passed by Congress and with special focus on increased access for all in the arts and culture sector. We will review how organizations, artists, and small businesses in the creative economy are accessing resources and pursuing additional relief legislation that Congress is considering.

During this session, advocates will gain an understanding about funding for creative and expressive arts therapies research, as well as the increase of access to arts-based programming for Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries, telehealth access, mental health services, and strengthening Affordable Care Act (ACA) provisions for artists and other creative occupations. During our discussion, we will also review creative and expressive arts therapies and arts-based programming provided in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Advocates will dive deeper into the potential expansion of the use of creative arts therapies (CATs), increased funding through the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Defense for CATs, expressive arts therapy, and arts-based programming. This session will provide talking points to encourage lawmakers to support legislation that improves access to evidence-based complementary and integrative treatments and telehealth.

This advocacy briefing session focuses on urging Congress to appropriate $61.5 million for Title V Juvenile Justice Delinquency Prevention Initiative Grants at the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) and include report language instructing OJJDP to include the arts as an eligible component of its prevention, diversion, reentry, and residential juvenile justice grant programs. This session will discuss youth engagement, historically and intentionally marginalized communities, and juvenile justice reform policies.

In this Mainstage Session, panelists will review the major equity proposal from the Biden Administration; national diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in the arts sector; and how recovery can address inequities revealed and magnified by the pandemic. Advocates will gain a deeper understanding about how DEI policies and pro-arts legislation work hand-in-hand.

This advocacy briefing session will focus on two aspects of creative economy policy: first, on advancing the for-profit and nonprofit creative economy through federal legislation with a special focus on intentionally underserved communities. Our main advocacy asks are to urge Congress to cosponsor the CREATE and PLACE Acts; and proposals such as the Putting Creative Workers to Work to rebuild, reimagine, unify, and heal communities in every state and territory, as well as within tribal lands through a comprehensive national recovery strategy. The second policy aspect will review policy asks to support creative workers in disaster relief and recovery and to integrate the arts in our national emergency management system.

This advocacy briefing session focuses on urging Congress to support the Office of Citizen Exchanges within the State Department's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, and to reintroduce and enact the Arts Require Timely Service (ARTS) provision. This discussion will center on the importance of international artists and culture and the value of the arts to facilitate cooperation and collaboration between the U.S. and other countries.

This advocacy briefing session focuses on K-12 education policy to help children achieve success in school, work, and life. Our main advocacy ask is to urge Congress to strengthen equitable access to arts education through the Well-Rounded Education provisions of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) with a special focus on the federal Title I program for disadvantaged students.

Each year, our advocacy is strengthened by high quality research - Join Americans for the Arts’ Vice President of Research, Randy Cohen to learn the latest data from throughout the sector to make your case with decisionmakers on the arts, the creative economy, pandemic repercussions, arts education, and more.