About

The Arts Extension Service has teamed up with the National Endowment for the Arts and the UMass Amherst Libraries' Special Collections and University Archives to create the first National Arts Policy Archive and Library. The goal of the NAPAAL project is to assemble key archival collections relating to the history of arts and cultural policy in America and to document and preserve the issues and critical decisions that have shaped the field of arts management, art education, arts policy, and support for the arts.

At present NAPAAL contains an extensive suite of publications from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and thirty-eight years of records from the Arts Extension Service.  These materials will be joined later this fall by the archives of Americans for the Arts and the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies.  Together, this collection will represent the principal institutions that provide funding, set arts policy, and support the arts in America through research, implementation, presentation and advocacy.  With these partners in place, NAPAAL will offer a comprehensive scholarly resource for research into the history of the field of arts management, with the potential to help influence arts policy on the national level.   The Arts Extension Service is seeking additional collections from state arts agencies, nonprofit arts policy organizations, and key individuals, and will accept new materials in perpetuity from partners.

Ultimately, NAPAAL will seek materials in all media, including paper documents, electronic records, oral histories, and audio and video recording. Information on arts policy for all art forms, including but not limited to visual, literary, theater, dance, and performance arts, as well as arts policy and arts administration is welcome.

List of Contributors

  • National Endowment for the Arts;
  • National Assembly of State Arts Agencies;
  • Americans for the Arts;
  • The Association of American Cultures;
  • The Arts Extension Service;
  • The collection of Bill Cleveland;
  • The collection of Nina Gabbans;
  • The collection of Thomas Turk.