REGIONAL ARTS ORGANIZATIONS

The US Regional Arts Organizations (RAOs) are a national collective of six place-based, nonprofit arts service organizations committed to strengthening America’s infrastructure by increasing access to creativity for all Americans.

Together, the RAOs work across the United States to activate and operate national arts initiatives; encourage and support field collaboration across regions, states, and communities; and maximize the coordination of public and private resources invested in arts programs. The US RAOs have a deep connection to their regions, knowledge of their arts and culture ecosystems and organizations, and longstanding partnerships with state arts agencies, the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and other public and private funders and service organizations. They are intermediaries and service providers, with track records of innovation, research, leadership, and responsiveness. These organizations increase access to the arts and work collaboratively within and outside their regions with an ever-growing commitment to equity and inclusion in their practices.

The Western States Arts Federation (WESTAF) is dedicated to the creative advancement and preservation of the arts. The organization serves the largest constituent territory of the six U.S. regional arts organizations that includes the state arts agencies, artists, and arts organizations of Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawai‘i, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.

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Mid-America Arts Alliance (M-AAA) works in partnership with the state arts agencies of Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Texas. The organization strengthens and supports artists, cultural organizations, and communities throughout their region and beyond.

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South Arts creates partnerships and collaborations; assists in the professional development of artists, arts organizations, and arts professionals; presents, promotes, and produces southern arts and cultural programming; and advocates for the arts and arts education. The organization works in partnership with the nine state arts agencies of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee, from their headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia.

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Mid Atlantic (MAAF) promotes and supports multi-state arts programming in a region that includes Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Virginia, and West Virginia. MAAF distinguishes itself through its work in international cultural exchange, model programs in performing arts touring, its knowledge and presence in the jazz field, and its support of Folk and Traditional Arts.

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Arts Midwest serves audiences, arts organizations, and artists throughout the nine states of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, Wisconsin, and beyond. Headquartered in Minneapolis, Arts Midwest’s portfolio of programs includes performing, visual, and literary arts and leadership development initiatives that provide opportunities for communities large and small to engage with arts and culture.

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New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA) cultivates and promotes the arts in New England and beyond. Its programs support artists across many forms of expression and many geographies, connecting them with collaborators and communities, fueling creative exchange and public discourse, and strengthening the creative economy. Based in Boston, Massachusetts, NEFA’s region includes Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont.

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