Founders Award for Civic Leadership

The Founders Award for Civic Leadership acknowledges groups and individuals of national stature for his or her contributions to the stewardship of communities.

Robert L. Lynch is being honored for more than 50 years of work to advance the arts in schools and communities across the United States. His work has resulted in public policy that recognizes the value of the arts in our society and his successes have promoted and protected access to the arts for the whole population. Lynch is the president of Americans for the Arts.

A true leader in the field of arts advocacy, Robert L. Lynch became the executive director of the National Assembly of Local Arts Agencies in 1985. He oversaw its successful merger with the American Council for the Arts twelve years later, creating the nationally-renowned advocacy group Americans for the Arts. Under Lynch’s leadership, the organization has grown to 50 times its original size, with a permanent staff of more than 60 individuals working in offices in New York and D.C. and an annual budget greater than $11 million.

Americans for the Arts has become the defining leadership group for arts advocacy in America in terms of membership and advocacy. Outside of his work with the organization, Lynch has served as counsel to the President of the United States on matters concerning the arts and has lent his expertise to the boards of a number of influential arts organizations, including the Craft Emergency Relief Fund and the Arts Extension Institute. Lynch’s admirable history of arts advocacy has allowed countless communities to enjoy the benefits that the arts can bring, and the creation of this leadership group is a truly great achievement for the arts in America today.