PROFILES: Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation www.midatlanticarts.org Alan W. Cooper, Executive Director Lisa Frigand, Chair Member States Delaware District of Columbia Maryland New Jersey New York Pennsylvania Virgin Islands Virginia West Virginia Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation (MAAF) celebrates, promotes and supports the richness and diversity of the region’s arts resources and works to increase access to the arts and cultures of the region and the world. Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation was established in 1979 to promote and support multi-state arts programming. Over the last five years, MAAF has built a core of program initiatives designed to address specific issues of regional arts support. The work of the Foundation has been focused on: Artist issues, services and support Access to arts programs for audiences/participants Developing an infrastructure for touring and presenting Making connections beyond the region Developing partnerships Strengthening existing networks Building new sources of revenue Discovering ways of being of service to the member states Exploring sub-regional initiatives and collaborations with subsets of MAAF state members Serving the diverse constituency of the region Building identity and visibility for MAAF and its programs The mid-Atlantic is a region that is particularly rich in the arts. One-half of the acknowledged “major museums” in the U.S. are located in the region. The region produces significant percentages of U.S. receipts for theatre, other performing arts, and retail arts sales. Twenty-four percent of the artists in the U.S. labor force work in the mid-Atlantic region. There is a fifteen-percent higher rate of artists in the labor force in the region that in the total U.S. population. The wealth of arts resources in the mid-Atlantic helps to differentiate this region from other areas of the country. While the challenges facing the arts community are significant, the opportunities are abundant. Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation will continue to recognize the great wealth of resources of the region and work to strengthen those resources and make them available to the widest possible audience. TOP