Black man wearing all red tap-dancing in front of a movie theater with the words "Together as One" on the marquee.

2021 NEA National Heritage Fellow “Reggio the Hoofer” McLaughlin in a still from the tribute film The Culture of America, available for free viewing on the NEA YouTube channel. Photo courtesy of Hypothetical Films

A man is seated on a stool, petting a large puppet of a cow. Another person dressed all in white hugs the cow.

Phamaly Theatre Company’s 2018 production of Stephen Sondheim's Into the Woods, which was supported by the National Endowment for the Arts. The NEA’s support of Into the Woods goes back to 1988 and support for Old Globe Theatre in San Diego, California, where the musical debuted. Photo by Michael Ensminger, courtesy of Phamaly Theatre Company

A group of Asian performers on stage, dressed in flashy mostly red costumes holding their arms in the air for a finale.

The East West Players production of Mamma Mia! Artistic Director Snehal Desai is featured in our latest issue of American Artscape. Photo by Steven Lam

A band of Latino men with instruments performing while sitting on a short wall outdoors..

2021 NEA National Heritage Fellows Los Lobos in a still from the tribute film The Culture of America, available for free viewing on the NEA YouTube channel. Photo courtesy of Hypothetical Films

Dancers in tutus on stage standing on pointe.

Arts Endowment grantee Mark Morris Dance Group’s performance of The Hard Nut, Morris’ reinvention of The Nutcracker. Photo by Peter DaSilva

 

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 Confirmed as Chair of the National Endowment for the Arts

Grants

FY23 Research Awards Guidelines Now Available

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

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Creative Forces, Community Engagement, & COVID-19

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 »

Featured Stories

See All Stories
• A woman wearing a facemask and hat discusses her artwork with a bystander at a gallery exhibit.
Blog

ARP Grant Spotlight: Wilson Arts

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Podcast

Dr. Nicole Fleetwood

Art historian, curator, and 2021 MacArthur Fellow
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Magazine Article

The Cultural and Economic Impact of Little Mekong

Va-Megn Thoj of the Asian Economic Development Association

Featured News

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National Endowment for the Arts Announces Over $33 Million in Project Funding to Arts Organizations Nationwide

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NEA Announces American Rescue Plan Grants to Local Arts Agencies

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

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.