The Art Dealers Association of America has announced a drive to collect pledges for 50 works of art — one for each state — in support of the Art Museum Partnership Act currently before the Senate. In an effort to demonstrate to lawmakers how the act could benefit the country, the ADAA has promised to donate the works to museums located in each of the 50 states if and when it is passed.

The act, introduced by Senators Patrick Leahy (D-Vt..) and Robert Bennett (R-Utah), and in the House of Representatives by John Lewis (D-Ga.) and Jim Ramstad (R-Minn.), is a bipartisan effort to address the inequity artists face when donating their works to public institutions. Under current law, a buyer who donates a work to a museum may deduct its fair market value, while the creator of that work may deduct only the cost of supplies.

"For too long, artists have been treated unfairly by the tax code, and our nation's nonprofit arts institutions are suffering because of it," said Robert Lynch, president of Americans for the Arts and a member of the national committee of collectors and art professionals backing the effort. "By not receiving a fair market tax deduction, many artists choose not to donate their works to nonprofit collecting institutions. As a result, a large part of our cultural heritage remains in private collections and out of the public domain."

"When artists are free to donate their works in the same way as art collectors, institutions all across the nation will see their contemporary collections grow," said Roland Augustine, president of the ADAA and co-owner of Luhring Augustine Gallery. "Art lovers of all kinds will find more American art in their local communities."