October is National Arts and Humanities Month! National Arts and Humanities Month (NAHM) is a nationwide collective recognition of the importance of culture in America. NAHM was launched over 30 years ago by Americans for the Arts (AFTA), the lead arts advocacy organization in the United States, in order to raise public awareness about the critical role arts and culture play in our communities.
In recognition of National Arts and Humanities Month, Governor Raimondo declared October Arts and Humanities Month in Rhode Island! Check out the video below, and see a electronic copy of the proclamation here at Arts-and-Humanities-Month-2020-Proclamation.
There are a several important ways Rhode Islanders can help elevate arts and culture and amplify its importance throughout the month. You can participate in the #ShowYourArt2020 social media campaign led by AFTA; or take part in the #ArtsCreateHope, another nationwide campaign led by AFTA where you can share – or share about – arts experiences that have created hope either before or during the pandemic.
Much of this builds upon the COVID-related arts initiatives of Governor Raimondo. For the #ArtsCreateHope campaign, RISCA will draw from the wealth of images that have been submitted as part of the #RIArts campaign and use both hashtags. We will also monitor our Facebook and Instagram and see what things you tag us in that we can reshare.
While we all know the arts create hope, we also know many artists and arts & culture organizations have been severely impact by the pandemic. According to the Brookings Institute Study Lost Art: Measuring COVID-19’s Devastating Impact on America’s Creative Economy, they estimate that Rhode Island lost 10,077 jobs and over $436 million in “sales” in the creative sector between April – July 2020. We will use this month as an opportunity to tell those stories as well.
Lastly, we will have some surprise programs later this month! Stay tuned as we will be announcing those in the coming week or so.