CAA News Today

On June 26, 2009, the US House of Representatives voted to approve HR 2996, a Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies bill that included significant increases for the budgets of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH).

Both federal agencies should receive $170 million each for fiscal year 2010, a 9.7 percent increase from their current $155 million allotment. The vote was 254 to 173 in favor of the bill, with six not voting. Included in the bill is an additional $3.7 million for the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, raising its FY10 total to $25 million. In addition, the Smithsonian Institution will benefit from $40.8 million more than last year, raising its annual budget to $634.2 million.

The Senate Appropriations Committee’s budget proposal earmarks $161.3 million each for the NEA and NEH—which matches President Obama’s initial budget request of $161.3 million for the arts endowment but is slightly lower than the $171.3 million he asked for the humanities.

CAA encourages you to write to your senators to advocate for NEA and NEH funding. You can do so at the Americans for the Arts E-Advocacy Center—it takes only a couple minutes to draft a letter, based on a template, to mail or email.