A new award will spotlight and reward one fine arts teacher in Arkansas with $1,000.
“We are excited to announce the inaugural initiative – The Arkansas Fine Arts Teacher of the Year program – to recognize, celebrate, and support arts teachers statewide,” said Jean Lacefield, chairwoman for Arkansans for the Arts. “This program aims to highlight the importance of the arts in education and tell the stories of the heroes who show up every day to improve our children’s lives through art.”
The Arkansas Fine Arts Teacher of the Year program, created through Arkansans for the Arts, annually will recognize one full-time arts teacher who lives and works in Arkansas. Nominations are open from Dec. 1 through Jan. 15 and will reward teachers and educators for the 2023-2024 school year. Anyone can make a nomination.
To be considered for the award, teachers must be full-time fine art educators in one of the content areas of art history, dance, literary arts, music, theatre, or visual art. Educators may teach public, public-private, private, or homeschool in any grade or combination of grades, kindergarten through 12th.
Nominees will be contacted to complete an application packet for consideration. The final recipient will be chosen by an independent panel via Arkansans for the Arts.
The Arkansans for the Arts Education Committee will announce the final candidate in late spring of 2024. The Arkansas Fine Arts Educator of the Year will receive a certificate and $1,000.
Arts & Economic Prosperity 6 (AEP6) is an economic and social impact study of the nation’s nonprofit arts and culture industry. Nationally, the sector generated $151.7 billion of economic activity in 2022—$73.3 billion in spending by arts and culture organizations and an additional $78.4 billion in event-related expenditures by their audiences. This report includes information about Arkansas.
Our work is important because the arts in Arkansas
represents over 8% of its workforce
and $3 Billion annually in GDP.
It is vital to tourism, revitalizes communities,
and is the primary pipeline for talent and our future workforce.
A careful analysis of data from Arkansas's arts and culture institutions showed a total of roughly $306 million in total industry expenditures. The report used data collected statewide over 2022 and revealed the creative economy is a significant contributor to the state's quality of life and overall economic vitality. Surveys also show Arkansans feel the arts contribute to their overall communities and inspire a sense of pride. Click the button below to read the summary report.
Hana Mariah Hatta, our newly hired executive director of Arkansans for the Arts, has comprehensive experience in relationship building, public affairs and communications.
She has worked with and for nonprofit organizations, in the government and on campaigns from school board to President of the United States.
Mariah is an outstanding addition as Arkansans for the Arts is the only statewide advocacy organization dedicated to advancing the arts and creative economy. The creative economy is vital to tourism, revitalizes communities and is the primary pipeline for talent and our future workforce.
Mariah’s freelance consultant services for over two decades have ranged from strategic communications, press relations, and general campaign management to fundraising and advocacy.
Born and raised in the Midwest, Mariah has lived on both coasts and in her father’s hometown of Tokyo, Japan. She moved to Little Rock twenty years ago. A volunteer with many local nonprofit organizations and events, Mariah passions are the arts and arts education. The arts and art education have always played a role in Mariah’s life. Her previously mentioned father is a retired public high school art teacher and an artist. She is proud of her service on the Arkansas Arts Council from 2014 – 2019 and her inclusion in the inaugural cohort Artspace Immersion.
Arkansans for the Arts was founded in 2014. Seed funding for the organization was provided by the Windgate Foundation and a grant from Governor Mike Beebe. Since inception, Arkansans for the Arts has raised awareness about the Creative Economy through data compilation, communication, and advocacy leadership training. Arkansans for the Arts serves eight Arkansas arts districts that coincide with the established districts of the Arkansas Arts Council and the Arkansas State Economic Development: Planning Districts. For more information on Arkansans for the Arts, please follow us on https://arkansansforthearts.org
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