More Americans Able To Benefit From Arts

Wednesday, June 6, 2018

Dear Arts Advocate,

Earlier today, the full U.S House Appropriations Committee voted to approve last month’s Interior Subcommittee vote to increase funding by $2 million each to the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), bringing them up to $155 million for FY 2019. New Congressional Arts Caucus Co-Chair Chellie Pingree (D-ME) was also successful in adding the following report language to the arts funding bill:

“The Committee acknowledges and appreciates decades of arts and humanities advocacy by the late Rep. Louise M. Slaughter. In her memory, the Committee encourages NEA and NEH to expand grant-making activities in a manner that honors her advocacy, especially in rural and under-served areas, so more Americans are able to benefit from the economic, social, and educational impacts of the arts and humanities.”

Next, the bill will move on to be reviewed and voted on by the U.S. Senate Interior Appropriations Subcommittee. As the bill moves to the Senate, we have invited three grassroots arts leaders to “Fly-In” from Missouri, Montana and West Virginia to meet with their Senators and advocate for this increased funding bill. Senators Roy Blunt (R-MO), Steve Daines (R-MT), Jon Tester (D-MT), and Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), are all members of the Senate Interior Appropriations Subcommittee. We hope this advocacy strategy will continue to be effective throughout the appropriations process.

Help us keep pressure on the Senate and provide support to pro-arts leaders by contributing to our Campaign to Increase Funding for the Arts in America.

Nina Ozlu Tunceli
Executive Director

P.S. Thank you for your support. Please keep checking back to our blog post for more information. We’ll be posting a detailed table of the FY’19 House and Senate appropriation allocations for each of the federal cultural agencies.