16 January 2026

The US Senate has advanced a funding package that includes level funding for Federal arts and culture agencies.

What’s New

Congress has officially passed an FY26 minibus appropriations package that includes level funding from FY25 for many federal cultural agencies including $207 million each for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). The legislation passed the US House of Representatives on Friday, January 8th by a vote 397 to 28 before clearing the US Senate yesterday by a vote of 82 to 15. All but one of our SC Representatives and Senators voted in favor of the bill.

  • The package grouped several funding bills in one including Commerce, Justice, Science; Energy and Water Development; and Interior (where most cultural funding appears) and Environment
  • In addition to the NEA and the NEH, several other cultural agencies such as the National Gallery of Art and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (the name used in this legislation) received level or near-level funding.

The bill now heads to President Trump’s desk for his signature. This is a significant victory for the arts and culture sector. Thank you to all those who advocated over the last year since last spring when the President’s FY26 budget proposal included no funding for the NEA or the NEH.

Take Action!

We now need your help with the final step! Send your legislators a message thanking them for supporting arts and culture during the Appropriations process. This is a crucial step in expressing our gratitude, and building goodwill as they transition to the FY27 budget process.

More Updates

On January 7th President Trump withdrew the United States from the International Federation of Arts Councils and Culture Agencies (IFACCA) and the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Culture (ICCROM) as part of a new memorandum entitled “Withdrawing the United States from International Organizations, Conventions, and Treaties that Are Contrary to the Interests of the United States” which directs the federal executive agencies to withdraw from 66 international organizations and partnerships. This was in response to a report from the US Secretary of State which had been commissioned as part of Executive Order 14199 on February 4, 2025

You can read a full timeline of updates impacting arts and culture here >>