policy and advocacy

Issue Brief: National Endowment for the Arts

Promoting Creativity and Public Access to the Arts

ACTION NEEDED
We urge Congress to support a budget of $176 million for the NEA in the FY08 Interior Appropriations bill to restore funding for the creation, preservation, and presentation of the arts in America through the NEA’s core programs–Access to Artistic Excellence, Challenge America: Reaching Every Community, Federal/State Partnerships, and Learning in the Arts.

Table: NEA Annual Appropriations, FY92 to present (in millions of dollars)

Note:  Figures above are not adjusted for inflation.  Source:  NEA

TALKING POINTS

The NEA supports artistic excellence and improves access to the arts by granting funds to nonprofit arts organizations.

• The NEA awarded 1,744 grants in 435 congressional districts in 2006 through its discipline programs.
• Through programs like Challenge America, the NEA supports artistic programs that reach underserved populations.
• Forty percent of all NEA program funds are re-granted through the state arts agencies, ensuring that federal funding has an even greater reach.
• On average, each NEA grant leverages at least seven dollars from other state, local, and private sources, magnifying the impact of the federal investment. 
• With more funding, the NEA’s core programs could better bring the best in the arts to all Americans:
• Additional funds would allow the size of individual grants to increase, after having declined steadily since the NEA’s budget was cut by 40 percent in FY96.
• Inadequate funding has caused many high-quality grant applications to go unfunded.

The NEA contributes to the development and economic growth of communities nationwide. 

• NEA grants to organizations and local arts agencies help them maximize their economic and social contributions to their communities.
• The nonprofit arts industry generates $134 billion annually in economic activity, supports 4.85 million full-time equivalent jobs, and returns $10.5 billion to the federal government in income taxes.  Measured against direct federal cultural spending of about $1.4 billion, that’s a return of nearly eight to one. (These figures are from a 2002 Americans for the Arts study, and results from the 2007 updated study will be released in May.)
• The arts attract new tourism dollars.  Sixty-five percent of U.S. travelers include cultural events on their trips, spending an average of $38.05 per event in addition to the cost of admission on event-related items such as meals, parking, and retail sales. 
• America’s arts and entertainment are leading exports, with estimates of more than $30 billion annually in overseas sales. Public spending on the arts helps position the United States to compete globally.

The NEA supports lifelong learning in the arts, through grants, partnerships, research, and national initiatives.

• Students with an education rich in the arts have better grade point averages in core academic subjects, score better on standardized tests, and have lower drop-out rates than students without arts education.
• NEA grants support a wide range of projects, including educational programs for adults, collaborations between state arts agencies and state education agencies, and K-12 partnerships between arts institutions and educators.  
• The NEA funds school-based and community-based grant programs that help children and youth acquire knowledge, understanding, and skills in the arts.   Projects must provide participatory learning and engage students with skilled artists, teachers, and excellent art.

BACKGROUND
The arts infrastructure of the United States is critical to the nation’s cultural well-being as well as its economic vitality.  It is supported by a remarkable combination of government, business, foundation, and individual donors.  In a striking example of federal/state partnership, the NEA distributes 40 percent of its program dollars to state arts agencies, conditional on each state devoting its own appropriated funds.  This partnership ensures that each state has a stable source of arts funding and policy.  These grants, combined with state legislative appropriations and other dollars, are distributed widely to strengthen arts infrastructures and ensure broad access to the arts.

The NEA has provided strategic leadership and investment in the arts for over 40 years.  Among its proudest accomplishments is the growth of arts activity in areas of the nation that were previously under-served, or not served at all.  Americans can now see professional productions and exhibitions of high quality in their own home towns, and every congressional district now receives direct NEA grants.

Through its core programs–Access to Artistic Excellence, Challenge America: Reaching Every Community, Federal/State Partnerships, and Learning in the Arts–the NEA funds dance, design, folk & traditional arts, literature, local arts agencies, media arts, multidisciplinary, museums, music, musical theater, opera, presenting, theater, and visual arts.

The American public favors spending federal tax dollars in support of the arts, and has made its feelings known to Congress.  During the 109th Congress, the House approved two amendments to increase NEA appropriations by voice vote.  Further, in 2006, a bipartisan group of 43 Senators signed a “Dear Colleague” letter advocating an increase. 

Unfortunately, the NEA is funded at only $124.4 million under the “continuing resolution” covering FY 2007, the same level at which it was funded in FY 2006 (see chart above).  This amounts to just 41 cents per capita, as compared to 69 cents per capita in FY 1992.  The President has requested an increase of $4 million for FY 2008.

A total appropriation of $176 million for FY08 would restore the agency to its 1992 level.