Support Funding the Arts

Congress has begun its work on the FY 2015 funding bills, starting with House action first, and then Senate consideration later in the year. Your input is critical.

On Wednesday, July 9, the U.S. House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee approved its FY 2015 spending bill and made a 5% cut, or $8 million, to the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). A 5% cut would threaten the ability to support the arts in all communities and would set back federal support to the level last seen in 2007.

As you may know, Congress passed a spending package for FY 2014 this January that included all 12 appropriations bills rolled together. Passing by large margins, the legislation helps to restore previous cuts caused by the sequester. When the U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations Committee began consideration of the FY 2014 funding bill last time, they called for a 49% cut to the NEA which would have brought funding of the NEA down to $75 million, a level not seen since 1974!

The NEA funds grants in every congressional district in the country. The NEA supports funding in dance, design, folk & traditional arts, literature, local arts agencies, media arts, multidisciplinary, museums, music, musical theater, opera, presenting, theater, and visual arts.

Please take a few minutes to write to your Members of Congress to urge them to support the NEA in widening citizen access to the cultural, educational, and economic benefits of the arts, and advancing creativity and innovation in communities across the United States.

Sign the petition here! 

To learn more about the programs of the National Endowment for the Arts, click here.