Dear Americans for the Arts members,

I hope you’re all well. I’m writing to encourage you to visit http://www.americansforthearts.org/GardAward, login with your membership information, and vote for which of the ten finalists for the annual Robert E. Gard Award you think is the most exciting, innovative, and impactful arts-based community development project of the bunch.

We received over 80 submissions this year, and a panel drawn from the field has narrowed them down to just ten—ten amazing projects incorporating the arts into projects about the environment, arts and health, arts and the economy or arts and social change—and more!

Which one is, in your mind, the most impactful of the year?

Vote by midnight May 1, 2017 to let us know which projects you feel best exemplify the role of the arts in the creation and maintenance of healthy, vibrant and equitable communities. The project with the most votes will receive the Robert E. Gard Award at the 2017 Annual Convention in San Francisco!

Projects include (you must be logged in to see and vote):

• ·         Seeing Spartanburg In a New Light
  Spartanburg, SC [read more]
• ·         The Somewhere Project: A Citywide Exploration of West Side Story
  Queens, NY [read more]
• ·         AS IS by Nick Cave
  Shreveport, LA [read more]
• ·         RedCan Graffiti Jam
  Eagle Butte, SD [read more]
• ·         Prisons Today: Questions in the Age of Mass Incarceration
  Philadelphia, PA [read more]
• ·         O+ Festival
  Kingston, NY [read more]
• ·         San Francisco Chinatown Alleyways Project
  San Francisco, CA [read more]
• ·         Winston-Salem Community Innovation Lab
  Winston-Salem, NC [read more]
• ·         The Unified Players
  Charleston, SC [read more]
• ·         Out of the Box
  Atlanta, GA [read more]

The Robert E. Gard Award celebrates exemplary work completed in the previous calendar year at the intersection of the arts and community life. It honors one the founding fathers of the local arts movement. The Gard Award is one of seven national awards given out each year by Americans for the Arts recognizing excellence by individuals, organizations and programs throughout the arts field.

In voting, you can select up to 3 projects, but can only vote once! The winner will be announced to the public during the 2017 Annual Convention on Saturday, June 17, 2017. You must login to your account atwww.artsusa.org to vote. Questions? Email [email protected] or call (202)371-2830.

Happy Voting!

Clay Lord
Vice President of Local Arts Advancement
Americans for the Arts
202.371.2830
[email protected]