Arts Funders Respond

From South Carolina Arts Alliance: On June 12, Governor Henry McMaster issued 41 budgetary vetoes. Veto #24 eliminates $350,000 from the South Carolina Arts Commission. These funds would support grants made to over 150 nonprofit arts organizations around the state, professional development for industry leaders, and help reach underserved and rural areas in South Carolina … Continue reading South Carolina Governor Vetoes Arts Funding →

A recent article on The Washington Post offers a detailed look at projects supported by the National Endowment for the Arts. Author David Montgomery researched and visited several NEA-funded arts projects and community programs around the country to explore how they impact and are supported by the local community. He also interviewed representatives from the … Continue reading What Difference Does the NEA Make? A Look at Programs around the Country →

An article in The Art Newspaper describes how a $25,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts helped launch an initiative that has raised over $1.2 million in private funding: With the $25,000 NEA grant, the St Paul, Minnesota-based arts non-profit, Springboard for the Arts, which calls itself “an economic and community development organization … Continue reading How a $25,000 NEA Grant Became a Springboard for Change in a Rural Minnesota Community →

The Council on Foundations had published an informative update on how potential federal tax reforms affecting the charitable deduction (which allows individuals to write off contributions to nonprofits on their taxes) could negatively impact giving to private foundations. To mitigate consequences of changes to the charitable deduction, the Council encourages funders to advocate for “a … Continue reading The Charitable Deduction: How Tax Reforms Could Affect Foundations →

A recent article on Quartz describes how military service members benefit from arts programming from the National Endowment for the Arts: The benefits of arts therapy are particularly striking at the “resilience” stage, where it is used to combat physical and psychological trauma. Research has shown that arts therapy helps military patients suffering from PTSD and … Continue reading How Military Service Members Benefit from the NEA →

A recent article on Hyperallergic discusses how the National Endowment for the Arts distributes funding across the US, and how important that funding is for rural states in particular: According to the National Association of State Arts Agencies’ Fiscal Year 2017 Revenue Report (the source of many of the funding statistics included here), American Samoa, Georgia, Idaho, … Continue reading Why Eliminating the National Endowment for the Arts Would Hurt Rural Americans the Most →

A report from the National Center for Arts Research examines the economic impacts of nonprofit arts and culture organizations across the country. The report also illustrates the wide geographic distribution of these organizations, stating that “arts and cultural organizations are where people live, not just in big cities or on the coasts.” Read the report.

A recent article on Quartz offers a wealth of data showing how arts impact the economy, public health, and education in America: The numbers pointing to the importance of the arts in America are astounding. For example, from 2006 to 2013, the arts industry consistently outperformed the overall US balance of trade, increasing the national … Continue reading The Data that Proves Why the Arts Are Good for the American Economy →

In a recent article on The Hill, country commissioner and arts leader Natalia D. Macker writes about how funding from the National Endowment for the arts supports rural areas like Wyoming: In a rural state like Wyoming, where I serve as a local elected official and the artistic director of a nonprofit theater, arts funding … Continue reading NEA Funding Cuts Mean More than Starving Artists in American Countryside →

From Education Week: President Donald Trump’s full budget proposal for the U.S. Department of Education, released on Tuesday, includes big shifts in funding priorities and makes cuts to spending for teacher development, after-school enrichment, and career and technical education, while ramping up investments in school choice. A $1 billion cash infusion for Title I’s services … Continue reading How President Trump’s Budget Plan Would Change Spending on Education →