National Endowment for the Arts

The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is a public agency dedicated to supporting excellence in the arts, both new and established; bringing the arts to all Americans; and providing leadership in arts education. Established by Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government, the Arts Endowment is the largest annual national funder of the arts, bringing great art to all 50 states, including rural areas, inner cities, and military bases.

The NEA is the largest annual national funder of the arts in the United States. While the NEA's budget ($155 million for FY 2009) represents less than one percent of total arts philanthropy in the U.S., NEA grants have a powerful multiplying effect, with each grant dollar typically generating up to seven times more money in matching grants.

Since 1965, the NEA has awarded more than 130,000 grants totaling more than $4 billion. With the mission to bring the arts to all Americans, the NEA has supported arts activities in every Congressional district in the United States, including rural areas, inner cities, and military bases. Projects include artist residencies in schools, museum exhibitions, Internet initiatives, literary fellowships, national tours, international exchanges, theater festivals, design competitions, folk arts, historic preservation, and much more. The NEA has provided critical seed funds to arts organizations across the country. Organizations that received early support include Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre Company and Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston, South Carolina.

Since its inception, the NEA has provided leadership to create and sustain an agenda for arts education:

• NEA Direct Grants: The NEA Learning in the Arts for Children and Youth category provides direct grants for standards-based arts education programs;
• Partnerships: The NEA collaborates in federal, state, and public-private partnerships. For instance, the Department of Justice Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention provides additional support to the NEA national initiative Shakespeare in American Communities to provide disadvantaged youth with high-quality theater education opportunities and access to professional productions of works by Shakespeare;
• NEA Arts Education Leadership Initiatives: The NEA Education Leaders Institute convenes key decision makers to enhance the quality and quantity of arts education at the state level;
• Arts Education Research: NEA research on arts education includes Improving the Assessment of Student Learning in the Arts, the first nationwide effort to examine current practices in the assessment of K-12 student learning in the arts both in and out of the classroom.