President Biden signed a package of budget bills into law on Saturday, avoiding the shutdown of many federal agencies – including the National Endowment for the Arts.
Five months into the current Fiscal Year, and after a series of continuing resolutions, the House and Senate finally reached an agreement on a package of spending bills totaling $460 billion. On Saturday, March 9, the President signed these bills into law, officially funding the National Endowment for the Arts for FY2024. This minibus package, which includes 6 of the usual 12 spending bills, came just in time to avoid the shutdown of a number of federal agencies, and will allow them to continue normal operations.
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The House and Senate had previously failed to reach an agreement on the NEA budget (among other items), when the House version set the agencies budget at a level 10% below the recommendations in the Senate. Arts Advocates are thrilled to see that both chambers eventually settled on the Senate recommendations of $207 million to the agency. Although significantly delayed, the budget cycle for this agency is finally complete.
About the NEA
In addition to being an important fiscal partner of the South Carolina Arts Commission, the NEA:
- Annually recommends, on average, 2,300 grants across every Congressional District in the country. Most grants go to small- and medium-sized organizations (budgets less than $2 million), and support projects that increase audience access to arts programming.
- Sends 35% of Arts Endowment grants to programs taking place in high-poverty neighborhoods.
- Utilizes 35% of grants to reach low-income audiences of under-resourced populations such as people with disabilities, people in institutions, and Veterans.
- Partners with Federal agencies and nonprofit organizations on national initiatives, using the arts as a platform for enhancing the quality of life for all. Such partnership examples include Creative Forces, Poetry Out Loud, Musical Theater Songwriting Challenge, NEA Big Read, Blue Star Museums, and the Citizens’ Institute on Rural Design.
- Serves approximately 4,000 communities each year through NEA grants. Around 41 million Americans annually attend a live arts event supported by the NEA, including approximately 36,000 concerts, readings, and performances, and 6,000 exhibitions.
The budget process has already begun for next fiscal year with the release of the President’s Executive Budget.
