WELCOME The US Regional Arts Organizations are six non-profit entities created to encourage development of the arts and to support arts programs on a regional basis. Funded by the NEA, these organizations, which include Arts Midwest, Mid-America Arts Alliance, Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, New England Foundation for the Arts, Southern Arts Federation, and Western States Arts Federation, provide technical assistance to their member state arts agencies, support and promote artists and arts organizations, and develop and manage arts initiatives on local, regional, national and international levels. GPS Global Positioning Strategy for the Arts Recommitting America to International Cultural Exchange Technology and commerce have made the globe a smaller place, yet U.S. international cultural exchange programs have not kept pace with this “flattening” of the world. Cultural exchange can have a positive impact on everything from U.S. foreign policy to commerce to our growth as individual participants in a global society—if there is more innovative programming, better coordination and greater investment. The U.S. Regional Arts Organizations (RAOs) urge that the United States reinvigorate cultural exchange and offer this report as a resource to the Obama administration. Also informed by “voices from the field,” the report focuses on areas in which we have been actively involved internationally: performing and visual arts, literature and media. The U.S. RAOs are prepared to play a leading role as America recommits itself to international cultural exchange. Global Positioning for the Arts [PDF]