The National Assembly of State Arts Agencies (NASAA) is the professional association of America’s 56 state and jurisdictional arts councils. NASAA is a networking hub for state arts agency peer groups—groups of staff or council members who share similar roles or job responsibilities. These peer groups are a key part of the NASAA family, providing a welcoming and rewarding professional community that is a year-round source of information and insight. Active participation in a peer group builds your job knowledge, strengthens you as a leader, and provides valuable opportunities for you to compare strategies and perspectives with a savvy and supportive national network of colleagues. NASAA’s Folk & Traditional Arts Peer Group is made up of the designated managers for the NEA’s Folk Arts Partnership programs. Ongoing and selected past activities of the peer group are collected here. Explore the NASAA website.
Folk Arts Partnerships is one of four primary areas through which the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) supports folk and traditional arts. Funding is awarded to support activities that promote awareness of heritage arts and to assist communities in documenting and sustaining living traditions, including through direct grants, apprenticeship grants, or public programs (Living Traditions 2019). The grant program is uniquely structured as an NEA Partnership Agreement awarded to all 50 state arts agencies, six US jurisdictional arts agencies (SAAs), and six regional arts organizations (RAOs). Each jurisdiction may conduct its activities in-house at the SAA or RAO, or in partnership with nonprofit, humanities, or university entities. About 20 percent of Folk Arts Partnerships programs are conducted in collaboration with nonprofit organizations. Additionally, the NEA provides convening support to folk and traditional arts program managers, administrators, and state folklorists to plan and attend a peer-led pre-conference at the biennial National Assembly of State Arts Agencies (NASAA) conference. In 2022, the NEA collaborated with NASAA and the American Folklore Society to develop a professional development institute (PDI) for emerging programs, and to provide workshops and aggregate practices and resources on outreach and fieldwork, public programming, and grant-making. Explore the National Endowment for the Arts website.