Laurel Lawson, a white woman with short cropped teal hair, is flying in the air with arms spread wide, wheels spinning, and supported by Alice Sheppard. Alice, a multiracial Black woman with coffee-colored hair, is lifting from the ground below. They are making eye contact and smiling. A burst of white light appears in a dark blue sky.

Alice Sheppard and Laurel Lawson perform in Kinetic Light's dance work Descent. Photo by Jay Newman/BRITT Festival

Man wearing glasses sitting in.wheelchair in front of a wall of paintings.

Visual artist and disability rights advocate Gordon Sasaki talked to us in a July 2020 NEA podcast about his work to increase accessibility to the arts for practitioners and audiences. Photo courtesy of Gordon Sasaki

Four sculptures in a gallery set up for people to touch.

Artwork in the Art Institute of Chicago’s Elizabeth Morse Touch Gallery comprises European, American, and Asian works from the permanent collection that visitors can explore with their hands. Photo courtesy of Art Institute of Chicago

Stage production of two women in colorful clothing, one kneeling wearing fake moustache and shaking fist at sky and the other watching her.

Rina Mehta and Cimeron Ahluwalia in Leela Dance Collective’s performance of Son of the Wind. An interview with Mehta is featured in the new issue of American Artscape. Photo by Margo Moritz

Three students in a school art room , two of the students looking at a portrait of one of the students.

Students participate in arts programming at Deep Center, a creative writing and arts center in Savannah, Georgia, supported by the National Endowment for the Arts. Photo by Laura Mulder

Man and woman wearing colorful clothing sitting on stage with black and white floor.

Ariel Texidó and Soraya Padrao in GALA Hispanic Theatre’s production of El perro del hortelano, supported by the National Endowment for the Arts. Photo by Daniel Martinez

Two children, dressed in flamenco clothing, in a dance pose.

Flamenco students in Ballet Hispánico’s School of Dance. Photo by Paula Lobo

Three dances, one spread out with legs on dancers on each side of him sitting in wheelchairs

The Dancing Wheels dance company, a National Endowment for the Arts grantee in FY 2019. Photo by Dale Dong

Black man in African garb with no legs dancing on stage surrounded by women in African garb also dancing

2007 NEA National Heritage Fellow Sidiki Conde. Photo by Tom Pich

Supporting the Arts in Your Community

The National Endowment for the Arts supports exemplary arts projects in communities nationwide through grantmaking, initiatives, partnerships, and events.
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Dr. Maria Rosario Jackson Nominated to be Chair of the National Endowment for the Arts

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Check out the newest NEA report on Disability Design!

Three images - a black and white photo of a woman singing in front of the Lincoln Memorial, next to a photo of dancers, next to a photo looking down at a museum gallery. Text reads: National Arts and Humanities Month #NAHM2021

Celebrate the 35th Anniversary of National Arts and Humanities Month in October with America’s Cultural Agencies.

Cover of American Artscape magazine. Yellow background with detail of two Asian-American faces surrounded with colorful flowers. Text says Showing Strength Through Creativity

Check out the new issue of American Artscape looking at the arts in Asian American/Pacific Islander communities!

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Find a location near you, then call or visit their website to make an appointment.

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ARP Part 2 deadline update for applicants affected by severe weather interruptions

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New BEA/NEA report shows arts & culture add 4.3 percent/$919.7 billion to nation's GDP.

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General Operating Support Waivers for FY2019-2021 Grantees

Grants

The National Endowment for the Arts awards grants to nonprofit organizations, creative writers and translators, state arts agencies, and regional arts organizations in support of arts projects across the country.
Go to the Grants section »

Impact

See the impact of the Arts Endowment on your state, and how the agency's work in research, accessibility, and other areas has had a major impact in the arts and culture of the country.
Go to the Impact section »

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Blog

Q & A on Disability and Equity with the NEA’s Beth Bienvenu and Darrell Bogan

A smiling woman at the front of a class point to a picture on the wall.
Podcast

Conversations about Disability Design

Joshua Halstead, researcher for the NEA’s report Disability Design, and Grace Jun, CEO of Open Style Lab
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From Law to Libretto

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Photos of each of the 2021 NEA National Heritage Fellows are incorporated into an informational square image about The Culture of America film on November 17, 2021 at 8pm ET on arts.gov

2021 National Heritage Fellows Celebrated in Film Debut of "The Culture of America"

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Students Across America Selected as Winners of 2021 Musical Theater Songwriting Challenge

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National Endowment for the Arts Announces New NEA Big Read Books for 2022-23

Some Facts about the National Endowment for the Arts

The National Endowment for the Arts is an independent federal agency that funds, promotes, and strengthens the creative capacity of our communities by providing all Americans with diverse opportunities for arts participation.
40 Percent

Percentage of Arts Endowment funding is awarded directly to the states through their state and regional agencies, reaching millions more people in thousands of communities.

$9

Amount leveraged by private and other public funds for every $1 of direct Arts Endowment funding.

$500 Million

Direct grant-matching support for Arts Endowment projects each year.

Some Facts about the National Endowment for the Arts

The National Endowment for the Arts is an independent federal agency that funds, promotes, and strengthens the creative capacity of our communities by providing all Americans with diverse opportunities for arts participation.
Approximately 2,300 Grants

Recommended for grant awards annually in all 50 states, DC, and U.S. territories.

43 Percent

Percentage of Arts Endowment grants take place in high-poverty neighborhoods.

35 Percent

Percentage of Arts Endowment grants reach low-income audiences or underserved populations.

Some Facts from the National Endowment for the Arts

These facts are based on the most recent data (2019) from the Arts and Cultural Production Satellite Account (ACPSA), which is produced jointly by the National Endowment for the Arts’ Office of Research & Analysis and the Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. Commerce Department. The ACPSA tracks the annual economic impact of arts and cultural production from 35 industries, both commercial and nonprofit.
$919.7 Billion

Amount the arts and cultural industries contribute to the U.S. economy.

4.3 Percent

Percentage of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product is accounted for by arts and cultural industries.

5.2 Million

Americans work in the arts and cultural industries on payroll.

Some Facts about the National Endowment for the Arts

The National Endowment for the Arts is an independent federal agency that funds, promotes, and strengthens the creative capacity of our communities by providing all Americans with diverse opportunities for arts participation.
48 Cents

The Arts Endowment’s annual cost to each American.

0.003 Percent

The Arts Endowment’s percentage of the federal budget.

$5.6 Billion

Amount awarded by the Arts Endowment since its beginning in 1965.

Some Facts about the National Endowment for the Arts

The National Endowment for the Arts is an independent federal agency that funds, promotes, and strengthens the creative capacity of our communities by providing all Americans with diverse opportunities for arts participation.
Around 45 Million Americans

Attend a live arts event supported by the Arts Endowment annually.

More than 39,000

Concerts, readings, and performances are supported annually.

More than 6,000

Exhibitions are supported annually as well.

Some Facts from the National Endowment for the Arts

These facts are based on the most recent data (2017) from the Survey of Public Participation in the Arts (SPPA), a national survey conducted in partnership with the U.S. Census Bureau that has allowed cultural policymakers, arts managers, scholars, and journalists to obtain reliable statistics about American patterns of arts engagement.
North Dakota

The state's residents attend live performing arts events at a higher rate than U.S. adults as a whole—with 62 percent for North Dakota residents versus 48.5 percent of U.S. adults.

Montana

Outperforms the national rate of attending art exhibits, with 33.5 percent of this state’s residents doing this activity versus 23 percent of Americans overall.

Oregon and Washington

Their literary reading rates (upwards of 60 percent) far exceed the U.S. as a whole (44 percent).

Some Facts about the National Endowment for the Arts

The National Endowment for the Arts is an independent federal agency that funds, promotes, and strengthens the creative capacity of our communities by providing all Americans with diverse opportunities for arts participation.
Approximately $8 million

Amount of funding of arts education projects annually.

77.6 Percent

Arts education projects (preK-12) that directly engage with underserved populations.

3 Times More Likely

8- to. 12-grade students from low socioeconomic backgrounds who received arts education to earn a bachelor's degree than those who did not.