Photograph courtesy American for the Arts
Hundreds of arts leaders and professionals gathered at the Hyatt Regency from June 11 to 14 for the annual convention by Americans for the Arts, AFTACON. This year’s conference had a sense of urgency as the Trump administration’s drastic cuts to the National Endowment for the Arts have threatened the entire industry.
Going into the conference, AFTA identified five primary issues facing the sector that the events would be programmed around—legal challenges, federal education policy developments, library advocacy amid censorship concerns, sustainable community partnerships, and funding losses.
“This isn’t just about protecting cultural experiences—it’s about protecting a vital economic nonprofit arts engine that employs 2.6 million Americans and generates $29.1 billion in government revenue,” says Erin Harkey, Americans for the Arts’s CEO. “When someone calls the arts ‘nice to have,’ we can point to hard data showing they’re absolutely essential to America’s economic vitality.”
Other sessions provided attendees with resources and tools to expand and strengthen their programming through trauma-informed education, accessibility, and diversity and inclusion.
AFTACON also put the city on display as a beacon of what a healthy, fully-funded arts scene can look like. Attendees got to go on special “ARTventures” to places like the Cincinnati Ballet, Taft Museum of Art, Emery Theater, American Sign Museum, Eden Park, Contemporary Arts Center, Mercantile Library, and even around Over-the-Rhine on a mural tour.
“Having the conference in Cincinnati means that everybody gets a chance to see what a huge arts hub the city is and how much the arts are valued in our region,” says Torie Wiggins, artistic associate at Ensemble Theatre and AFTACON attendee. “I feel like we often get lost among the bigger cities and it makes me happy that they can see we’re a contender.”
If you’re interested in attending AFTACON 2026 in Albuquerque, you can sign up for an Americans for the Arts membership here.
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