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From the Executive Director
Dear Friends,
As you can see on the screen in front of you, Arizona Citizens for the Arts is launching the new fiscal year a new, fresh and dynamic "look." That means sharper graphics in our newsletter and e-communications, a website that is easier to navigate, and more timely information than ever on the issues that impact arts, culture and arts education in Arizona.
All of these changes are designed with the sole objective of enabling us to be an even more effective voice as we carry forward our campaign to earn Arizona arts and culture the respect and community investment it deserves.
We invite you to recall how active we were in Fiscal Year 2015 by reviewing our newly-published "Year in Review". Read the articles online or download the PDF. I think you'll agree that Arizona Citizens for the Arts is prepared in Fiscal Year 2016 to build on a solid foundation of advocacy, outreach and relationship-building.
This year, we will return to the Arizona State Legislature and, despite the challenges we faced in FY15, we'll be working even harder with our legislative friends to restore funding for the Arizona Commission on the Arts.
We'll keep building our relationship with the business community in search of new ways to encourage support for arts and culture. And we will activate our Arts Education and Advocacy Outreach Initiative to support a number of local school districts that will take bond issues and override requests to the ballot this fall.
By next summer, we will launch our voter and candidate education efforts for the 2016 elections, focusing on the State Legislature, but also monitoring local and federal elections. All year long we also will be in the community and the media vigorously promoting the public value of arts, culture and arts education in the economy and community life in Arizona.
Over the next several months we'll also be refining our new "communications" look, and we welcome your suggestions for improvements.
Most importantly, we appreciate your continued involvement in our advocacy efforts and, as always, we also appreciate your financial support which does so much to sustain us.
Sincerely,
Catherine "Rusty" Foley
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Early voting has begun for the August 2015 Mayor and City Council election. Phoenix voters will elect a Mayor and council members representing Districts 1, 3, 5 and 7. Voters in Phoenix will head to the polls on August 25. If needed, a runoff election is scheduled Nov. 3.
Those up for reelection include Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton, who is being opposed by Anna Maria Brennan and Matt Jette.
Council candidates running for reelection are Thelda Williams (District 1), Bill Gates (District 2), Daniel Valenzuela (District 5) and Michael Nowakowski (District 7. Running against them are Sabrina Price (District 1), Michelle Lombino (District 3); Felix Garcia and Michael Aaron Gidwani (District 5); and Barbara A. Hunt and Sean N. Shields (District 7)...
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Arts and culture venues as well as parks and recreation facilities stand to be huge beneficiaries if Pima County voters approve three of the seven County Bond propositions on the Nov. 3 ballot.
Supporters also project that voter approval of the entire bond package will create thousands of new construction jobs,and provide significant economic benefits for Pima County whose population is projected to grow by 11 percent over the next 10 years.
Key ballot propositions for arts and culture supporters are:
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Every Child Achieves Act (ECAA)
preserves arts education as "core subject"
Teachers and students moved a step closer to the end of the No Child Left Behind era when the Senate passed the Every Child Achieves Act (ECAA) in June. Contained in the bipartisan legislation crafted by Sens. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and Patty Murray (D-WA) are 11 arts-friendly provisions, according to Americans for the Arts.
The Senate will now need to work with the U. S. House of Representatives on a final bill that can be signed into law. The House passed its own bill (H.R.5) earlier in June, but without any Democratic support. That version contained two "pro-arts" provisions, but does not retain arts as a core academic subject...
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"Artistic literacy" -- the ability of students to create art, perform and present art, respond or critique art and connect art to their lives and the world around them - is at the heart of the Revised Arizona Academic Standards in the Arts for K-12 schools.
Adopted this spring by the Arizona State Board of Education, the new standards are being introduced to Arizona schools during the 2015-16 school year with full implementation the following year. Trainings and webinars will be offered by the Arizona Department of Education...
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Arizona groups win grants to support
nationwide Latino history project
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 That the Phoenix Center for the Arts made it to its 40th anniversary is a milestone on its own. In 2011, City of Phoenix budget cuts put the Center on the list to be closed.
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Members
Allan Affeldt, Winslow Arts Trust
Representative Kate Brophy McGee, Arizona House of Representatives
Jennifer Burns, Consulting and Policy Development
Sam Campana, Chair Emeritus
Tom Chapman, Arts Advocate
Andrea Dillenburg, Tucson Symphony
Senator Steve Farley, Arizona State Senate
Mark Feldman, Miller-Russell & Associates, LLC
Chuck Goldstein, EMCARE
Laurie Goldstein, Freescale Semiconductor
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Members
Cindy Gresser, Smoki Museum
Joel Hiller, Yavapai Indian Cultural Center
Anne Kleindienst, Polsinelli P.C.
Robert Knight, Tucson Museum of Art
Steve Martin, Childsplay
Bernadette Mills, West Valley Arts Council
Yvonne Montoya, SAFOS Dance Theatre
Maureen O'Brien, Musical Instrument Museum
Jeff Rich, Rich-Gillis Law Group
Leah Fregulia Roberts, Arizona School for the Arts
Lynn Tuttle, Arizona Department of Education
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Pima County voters will decide fate 
New Arizona arts standards adopted 