How to Find Your State Arts Agency Through NASAA's Directory

NASAA (the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies) maintains a State Arts Agency Directory that lists the official arts agency for each U.S. state and jurisdiction. Use it when you need to confirm which organization is your state's recognized arts agency, get its contact information, or verify its official status before applying for a grant or partnership. The directory lives under the "About State Arts Agencies" section of nasaa-arts.org.

What the directory is for

State arts agencies are the public bodies that fund and support arts activity in each state and jurisdiction. NASAA describes their role this way: they "help people and places to thrive by strengthening our economy, our schools, our communities and our connection to each other."

The directory is the fastest way to answer three practical questions:

• Which agency serves my state? Each state and jurisdiction has one designated arts agency.
• How do I reach it? Entries give you the official contact route rather than a third-party listing.
• Is this the official body? Because NASAA is the membership organization of these agencies, its directory is a reliable way to confirm official identity.

How to reach the directory

1. Go to nasaa-arts.org.
2. Open the About State Arts Agencies section (it appears in the main navigation and is grouped with related pages such as "All About State Arts Agencies" and "State Arts Agency Innovations").
3. Select State Arts Agency Directory.
4. Find your state or jurisdiction in the list and open its entry.

Expected result: you land on your state's agency listing with the information needed to contact it or verify it.

How the directory is organized

The directory is organized by state and jurisdiction, so you navigate by location rather than by program or topic. This matters because NASAA's other resources — research areas like Arts and Health, Creative Aging, Creative Economy, Grant Making, and Federal Reporting — are topic-based, while the directory is the location-based entry point.

If you are not sure which agency covers you (for example, if you live in a state whose agency has a name that doesn't include "arts"), start from the directory rather than searching the site, since the directory is the authoritative location index.

What to do with an entry

Once you have your state's agency, typical next steps are:

• Contact them directly about grants, programs, or eligibility questions.
• Cross-check official status if you received a solicitation and want to confirm the sender is the recognized state agency.
• Follow their funding cycle — NASAA's own materials track state arts agency revenues and legislative appropriations, which is useful context when you want to understand your agency's budget environment.

Common snags

• Confusing NASAA with your state agency. NASAA is the national membership organization; it does not award your state's arts grants. The directory points you to the agency that does.
• Looking for the directory under Research or Advocacy. Those sections hold topic resources and federal updates. The directory sits under "About State Arts Agencies."
• Assuming one entry covers a region. The directory is organized by state and jurisdiction, so find your specific location rather than a nearby one.

Related NASAA resources

If your goal goes beyond contact information, NASAA publishes material that pairs well with the directory:

For staying current, NASAA offers a subscription to NASAA Notes, its news channel, via the "Subscribe to NASAA Notes" page.