Advocacy Resources

Arts Education Resources

  • ArtsEdSearch is an online clearinghouse that collects and summarizes high quality research studies on the impacts of arts education and analyzes their implications for educational policy and practice. ArtsEdSearch is managed by the Arts Education Partnership, in which Dance/USA is a national partner.
  • ESSA: Mapping Opportunities for the Arts is a report that highlights the ways that states and districts can engage the arts in the ongoing work of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA).

Arts and the Economy

  • Arts & Economic Prosperity 5 is Americans for the Arts’ fifth study of the nonprofit arts and culture industry’s impact on the economy, providing a quantifiable economic impact of nonprofit arts and culture organizations and their audiences.
  • Arts and Cultural Production Satellite Account, U.S. and States 2021 released in March 2023 by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) that shows that arts and cultural economic activity, adjusted for inflation, grew by 13.7 percent from 2020-2021. Several core arts industries did not return to pre-pandemic production levels. This group includes independent artists (as an industry), performing arts organizations (e.g., theater, dance, and opera companies, music groups; and circuses), and arts-related construction, among many others. Despite setbacks for those industries, the overall arts economy in 2021 represented 4.4 percent of GDP, or just over $1.0 trillion—a new high-water mark
  • Various state arts agencies and state arts councils provide statistics on the impact of the arts on state and local economies. The National Assembly of State Arts Agencies is a great resource for dance artists and dance professionals to find out more about the arts agency or council in their respective states and specific economic data.
  • The National Endowment for the Arts and its partners releases additional economic data at the national and state levels on an annual basis.

Charitable Giving Incentives

  • Independent Sector is the leadership network for nonprofits, foundations, and corporate giving programs comprised of 600 organizations that work in coalition to strengthen and mobilize the nonprofit communities. The IS public policy page provides important talking points on the nonprofit sector (including state-by-state profile on the impact of nonprofits), the charitable deduction, and the IRA charitable rollover.
  • The Charitable Giving Coalition is a coalition dedicated to preserving the charitable deduction in which Dance/USA is a member.
  • The National Council of Nonprofits is a great resource and organization supporting our nation’s charitable nonprofit organization in which Dance/USA partners with on various issues of interest.

International Exchange

  • Artists From Abroad is the most complete and up-to-date online resource for foreign guest artists, their managers, and performing arts organizations, providing guidance and resources needed to steer through the process of engaging guest artists reliably and lawfully. 
  • The Alliance for International Exchange is an association of 90 nongovernmental organizations comprising the international educational and cultural exchange community in the United States. 

U.S. Conference of Mayors

Skip to content