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

Two older women with colorful shawls singing in front of a musical band.

Beatriz “La Paloma del Norte” Llamas and Blanquita “Blanca Rosa” Rodríguez of Las Tesoros de San Antonio perform during the 2019 National Heritage Fellowships Concert in Washington, DC. Photo by Tom Pich

Man playing piano on stage, laughing.

NEA Jazz Master Eddie Palmieri performing at the 2018 NEA Jazz Master Tribute Concert in Washington, DC. Photo by Shannon Finney

A band on stage with two readers in front of them.

Make: A Literary Magazine puts on the Lit & Luz Festival annually in Chicago, Illinois, to present authors from the United States and Mexico in a series of readings, conversations, and performances in Spanish and English, with NEA support. Photo by Lisa Korpan

Three-dimensional representation of a Black man jumping.

Still image from Blackout (2017), a volumetric film and roomscale VR installation produced by Scatter, one of the case studies in the new NEA publication Tech as Art: Supporting Artists Who Use Technology as a Creative Medium. Image courtesy of Scatter

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

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.
American Rescue Plan logo.

ARP Part 2 deadline update for applicants affected by Hurricane Ida/CA-NV Fires

2021 National Book Festival with title Open a Book, Open the World

NEA Sponsors 2021 National Book Festival Featuring NEA Literature Fellows, Sept. 17-26

Vaccine.gov FInd COVID-19 Vaccines Near You

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

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Check out our Back to School page for info on the importance of arts education

cover of report Tech as Art with white background and 8 photos of artists' work

Read the new research report Tech as Art on artists who engage with technologies.

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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

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Visit the Creative Forces: Healing the Invisible Wounds of War online exhibition.

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

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Blog

Grant Spotlight: Mauro Ballet and the Art of Healing

Reggio McLaughlin tap dancing
Podcast

Reginald “Reggio the Hoofer” McLaughlin

Tap Dancer and 2021 National Heritage Fellow
Portrait of woman.
Magazine Article

Diane Rodriguez

Sharing the Latina Experience

Featured News

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Creative Forces Community Engagement Grants to Provide Arts Programming

Supporting arts engagement for military populations.

Photos of the 2022 NEA Jazz Masters

National Endowment for the Arts Announces 2022 NEA Jazz Masters

The nation’s highest honor in jazz.

Collage of Photos of the 2021 NEA National Heritage Fellows

National Endowment for the Arts Announces 2021 NEA National Heritage Fellows

The nation’s highest honor in the folk and traditional arts.

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.