Information aboutGovernment Funding for the Arts

in the United States

April Younglove LI838XO: Information Transfer and Government Resources

Fall 2008, Emporia University

Photos Creative Commons fromhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/toddmecklem/2812460359/, http://www.flickr.com/photos/ocva/2674751399/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/ahyatt/2838826892/

National Endowment for the Arts (NEA)

S. 1483, Title 20. Chapter 26. Subchapter I. § 951. Declaration of findings and purposes

The Congress finds and declares the following: (1) The arts and the humanities belong to all the people of the United

States. (2) The encouragement and support of national progress and

scholarship in the humanities and the arts, while primarily a matter for private and local initiative, are also appropriate matters of concern to the Federal Government.

Read the entire law that establishes the NEA at

http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/20/951.shtml

Case: United States Supreme Court in National Endowment for the Arts v. Finley.Audio: http://www.oyez.org/cases/1990-1999/1997/1997_97_371/argument/

In response, Congress voted to phase out the NEA, eliminated most individual artist grants, and stopped distribution of general operating support grants, allowing only project support to organizations.

The “NEA Four”Karen Finley, Tim Miller, John Fleck, and Holly Hughes

Images left to right Creative Commons from:http://www.flickr.com/photos/neatnessdotcom/285279687/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/feastoffools/112485668/ http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/conlaw/govdollars.html http://www.flickr.com/photos/emilymills/271127140/

Funding Process:decentralized, dynamic

& indirect

• The NEA is not an arts agency

• Congress votes regularly on NEA budget; this can cause dramatic increases or decreases

• NEA distributes Basic States Grants to over 50 State Arts Agencies (SAAs)

• Money is distributed based on population & state matching funds

Oregon State Arts Budget

NEA $600 KState Leg. $1.8

mil.Cult. Trust (Champ) ----Approx. Annual total $2.4 mil.

Figures from a lecture by Brian Wagner, Oregon Arts Commission. Community Development Coordinator. At Marylhurst University. October 2008.

Picture Creative Commons http://www.flickr.com/photos/lance_mountain/227304698/

Connecting artists toOregon arts agency

Current news about federal arts funding

• Americans for the Arts http://www.artsusa.org/get_involved/advocate.asp

• Oregon Arts Commission News and Affairs http://www.oregonartscommission.org/public_news/

• NEA press releases http://www.nea.org/presscenter/index.html

Government Documents• Oregon Blue Book

http://bluebook.state.or.us/search/index.htm

• USASearch.gov http://usasearch.gov/

• Catalog of US Gov't Publications http://catalog.gpo.gov

Grant Records

* Grant application materials

* Grant award letters

* Successful grant applications

* Names of Grantee Board and staff

* Revised Grantee budgets

* Grantee staff biographies

* Statements of artistic intent

* Labor assurance forms

* Requests for approval of project changes

* Correspondence between grantees and the NEA

* Project descriptions

* Progress, interim, and final reports

Agency Operations

* NEA staff lists

* Congressional correspondence

* Contract solicitations

* Successful contract bids

* Cooperative agreements

* Lists of panelists subsequent to the panel meeting

* Summary panel minutes

Read More:

How the United States Funds the Arts. (2007)http://www.nea.gov/pub/how.pdf

NEA State and Regional Partners.

http://www.nea.gov/partner/state/SAA_RAO_list.html

A Brief Chronology of Federal Support for the Arts: 1965-2000. http://www.nea.gov/about/Chronology/NEAChronWeb.pdf