Woman with gray hair playing a guitar outside in front of a staircase.

2020 NEA National Heritage Fellow Suni Paz, nueva canción singer and songwriter from the film The Culture of America: A Cross-Country Visit with the NEA National Heritage Fellows. Photo courtesy of Hypothetical Films

Woman in white dress teaching children to dance outdoors, with men playing drums in background.

Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña’s Cultura Rodante project started in Old San Juan, bringing cultural activities to those affected by the hurricanes in 2017. Photo courtesy of ICP

Man in white with white hat dancing on stage surrounded by musicians and other dancers, also dressed in white.

2017 NEA National Heritage Fellow Modesto Cepeda (center) performing with his ensemble at the annual concert. Photo by Tom Pich

Woman with long dark hair wearing sunglasses dancing on a box with long orange scarf near a field of produce.

Vanessa Sanchez, executive artistic director of La Mezcla, performing on a farm as part of Ayudando Latinos a Soñar (ALAS) Farmworker Friday. Photo Courtesy of ALAS

Woman in red dress and white shawl with hands on hips facing two older woman with red flower in their hair and white shawls over their head on stage.

Laura Virella, Luz Nicolás, and Fran Tapia in the NEA-supported production of Revoltosa (The Troublemaker) by the GALA Hispanic Theatre. Photo by Daniel Martinez, courtesy of GALA Hispanic Theatre

What’s Happening at the NEA

Dr. Maria Rosario Jackson

Celebrating National Hispanic Heritage Month with NEA Chair Maria Rosario Jackson

National Endowment for the Arts logo

Native Art Making in Place

Sep 28, 2023: 03:00 pm ~ 04:30 pm ET
Nat'l Museum of the American Indian

National Endowment for the Arts logo

National Heritage Fellowships Ceremony

05:30 pm ~ 06:30 pm ET
Library of Congress

Featured News

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A collage of photos showing the nine 2023 NEA National Heritage Fellows

Free Events September 28-29 Celebrate NEA National Heritage Fellows

Musical Theater Songwriting Challenge Logo with text that reads Apply Now and NEA and NAMT logos along the bottom

Musical Theater Songwriting Challenge Returns for 2023

Photos of the four honorees with text reading National Endowment for the Arts 2024 Jazz Masters

NEA Announces the 2024 Recipients of NEA Jazz Masters Honors

Featured Stories

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a middle-aged Chicana woman with red glasses and pink lipstick
Blog

The Artful Life Questionnaire: Melanie Cervantes

Headshot of a man.
Podcast

Joe Deleon "Little Joe" Hernández

Tejano Music Performer and 2023 National Heritage Fellow
Portrait of woman with long dark hair wearing black-rimmed glasses and wearing a purple shirt.
Magazine Article

Creating a Latinx Space in the American Artistic Landscape

Alana Hernandez of CALA Alliance

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 »
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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 »

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.

More than 60 Percent

Percentage of Arts Endowment grants that go to small and medium-sized organizations (budgets up to $2 million).

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 (2020) 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.
$876.7 billion

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

4.2 Percent

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

4.6 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.
54 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 41 Million Americans

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

More than 36,000

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.

74.7 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.