NEA $ INCLUDED IN STIMULUS BILL

Members of the House and Senate conference committee completed their negotiations of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act last Friday with $50 million designated to assist the nation’s arts and cultural workforce through funding to the National Endowment for the Arts.

NEA Acting Chairman Patrice Walker Powell said,

“On behalf of the National Endowment for the Arts, I am pleased that the agency has garnered the confidence of members of Congress to participate in addressing this national economic crisis. With the enactment of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the agency is honored to serve the American people by supporting its cultural workforce and businesses.

“The arts and culture industry is a viable sector of the economy. Its employees pay taxes and mortgages as members of the American workforce and are being profoundly impacted by the economic downturn.”