In this column, ACA staff members reflect on what we are reading, what we are thinking about, how we address the balance between our work lives and our creative lives (and the points at which those intersect). We asked Rashad T. Bailey, ACA’s Director of Development + Partnerships, to share what he’s been thinking about.

In honor of ACA’s 35th Anniversary, we are sharing 35 stories from field leaders. We asked Jason Kalajainen, who served on the ACA board from 2012-2021, and as ACA Board Chair during that time, to share a short memory, artifact, or reflection that captures what ACA has meant to him—or how he imagines the future of artist support. Jason Kalajainen serves as the Co-Trustee of the Holly Palmer Trust and the Holly Palmer Foundation, which supports arts and culture, human rights, and environmental initiatives. Previously Jason served as Executive Director of the Luminarts Cultural Foundation and Executive Director of Ox-Bow School of Art and Artists’ Residency, one of the Country’s oldest and preeminent residency programs.

As part of ACA’s ongoing reflection on our history and evolution over the past decades, we remain guided and inspired by the leaders who have shaped this field. In this column, we speak with members and colleagues whose perspectives illuminate the past, present, and future of artist communities. For this issue, we talk with Alana Hernandez, Senior Curator at the ASU Art Museum, whose work is dedicated to expanding access, centering Latinx artists, and reimagining what institutional support can look like.

Alerts cover federal arts advocacy (NEA/NEH funding and national policy priorities), field resources (breaking news tracker, artist visa updates), a reflection on equitable Southern grantmaking, a new historic preservation mapping tool, and a free leadership webinar.

Three Rhode Island Artists Receive $30,000 MacColl Johnson Fellowships Finalists also awarded $3,000 stipends and national residency opportunities through Artist Communities Alliance

Artist Communities is no longer a stand-alone category in the NEA’s FY27 Grants for Arts Projects.