CAA News Today

On September 29, 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act into law. The act called for the creation of the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Endowment for the Arts as separate, independent agencies.

The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) will award more than $63 million in grants to arts organizations nationwide in its second major round of funding for fiscal year 2006. The NEA will provide a total of $21,509,500 to 970 nonprofit arts organizations through its categories of Access to Artistic Excellence, Learning in the Arts, Arts on Radio and Television, and Folk Arts Infrastructure. In addition, the endowment will distribute $42,230,200 to state and jurisdictional arts agencies and regional arts agencies in keeping with its mandate to allocate 40 percent of its grant-making budget to these partners.

The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) has given $700,000 in grants to support arts organizations in the Gulf Coast region that were affected by hurricanes Katrina and Rita last year. These grants include $500,000 in support of individual organizations and state and local arts agencies in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, and Texas. Additionally, the NEA is funding $200,000 for regional participation in the Mayors’ Institute on City Design and Your Town, two of the country’s most established city planning and design programs.

The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) has given $700,000 in grants to support arts organizations in the Gulf Coast region that were affected by hurricanes Katrina and Rita last year. These grants include $500,000 in support of individual organizations and state and local arts agencies in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, and Texas. Additionally, the NEA is funding $200,000 for regional participation in the Mayors’ Institute on City Design and Your Town, two of the country’s most established city planning and design programs.

On April 6, 2006, Congressmen David Price (D-NC) and Jim Leach (R-IA) submitted a “Dear Colleague” letter in support of increased funding for National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) with the signatures of 117 representatives to Chairman Charles Taylor and Ranking Member Norman Dicks of the House Appropriations Subcommittee. The letter requests an additional $15 million for the NEH in fiscal year 2007. This would bring total funding for the agency to $156 million. Price and Leach expressed concern about the erosion of funding for core programs and commended the state humanities councils and the agency’s We the People initiative. Humanities advocates were integral in gaining the impressive amount of signatures (an increase of nine signatories from the previous year) through phone calls and letters to representatives via the Humanities Advocacy Network.