THOUGHT LEADERSHIP AND REACH            2021 Creative Vitality™ Summit Concludes On Monday, September 20 and Tuesday, September 21, WESTAF’s inaugural Creative Vitality™ Summit brought together 40 creative economy experts, arts and culture leaders, and equity champions across the field to discuss the future of the creative sector. With nearly 500 registered participants, this year’s Summit will go down as one of the largest convenings in WESTAF’s history. To learn more about the Summit, please visit the event website and be sure to check out the pre-conference paper to learn more about some of the topics covered...

INCLUSION & EQUITY                                         WESTAF ELC Alumna Joins Social Responsibility and Inclusion Team We are thrilled to welcome Ashanti McGee as WESTAF’s new Grants and Access Manager. Ashanti is an artist and arts advocate who has called Las Vegas, Nevada home for over 25 years. She began her arts administrative work assisting local grassroots and nonprofits with grant writing and management and continued working in this area for over a decade. In 2014, she was selected as the Nevada representative for WESTAF's...

ARP INTENT TO APPLY NOW OPEN                   American Rescue Plan Fund for Organizations Now Accepting Intents to Apply With support from the National Endowment for the Arts (Arts Endowment), WESTAF will manage the American Rescue Plan (ARP) Fund for Organizations. WESTAF ARP is a competitive grant program that provides general operating support to arts and cultural organizations in the West that are most impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. In alignment with Arts Endowment priorities, WESTAF ARP will focus on funding to organizations that serve and/or are led by Black, Indigenous, and People of...

SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY & INCLUSION            2021 Emerging Leaders of Color Program Virtual Convening Since 2010, WESTAF's Emerging Leaders of Color program has convened nearly 100 racially and ethnically diverse leaders working in the arts in the western United States for high-level leadership seminars that have impacted the field of arts administration. Due to the pandemic and necessary modifications, the 2021 ELC program was moved to an online format. The virtual convening took place March 18-19 and 22-24, 2021, with 17 participants representing all 13 states in the region, our largest ever cohort. The program, led by...

SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY & INCLUSION            South Arts Emerging Leaders of Color Program Wraps Wednesday, December 9th saw the successful close of the first cohort of the South Arts Emerging Leaders of Color Program (ELC). This program was reimagined for online delivery by the faculty, Salvador Acevedo, Margie Johnson Reese, and WESTAF Inclusion & Equity Division staff members Madalena Salazar and David Holland, in partnership with the program manager, Ethan Messere of South Arts. In this revised program, we were able to add new elements to the program, like the online resource guide (designed by 2015 Colorado...