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 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

Older Hispanic man in suit playing congas on stage.

NEA Jazz Master Cándido Camero performing at the 2008 NEA Jazz Masters Tribute Concert. Photo by Tom Pich

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

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

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

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

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

What’s Happening at the NEA

Dr. Maria Rosario Jackson

Statement by NEA Chair Jackson on National Hispanic Heritage Month

NEA logo: square with black text on clear background

CIRD’s Local Design Workshops: Lessons Learned

September 28, 2022
02:00 pm ~ 03:00 pm ET

Cover of American Artscape magazine with a photo of a Native American woman in a red and black outfit and her hands painted red.

Check out the latest American Artscape

Equity and Access in the Arts for Native American Communities

Featured News

See All News
Blue and white social media image that promotes the upcoming Art in Architecture Program & Upcoming Artist Commissions Webinar

NEA and GSA Collaborate to Expand Artist Access, Representation for Art in Architecture Commissions

Photos of the four honorees with text reading National Endowment for the Arts 2023 Jazz Masters

NEA Announces the 2023 Recipients of NEA Jazz Masters Honors

Collage of Photos of the 2022 NEA National Heritage Fellows

National Endowment for the Arts Announces 2022 NEA National Heritage Fellows

Featured Stories

See All Stories
Nilda Nilda Comas (a woman) standing by her sculpture of Dr. Bethune at the National Statuary Hall
Blog

A Conversation with Sculptor Nilda Comas  

A woman dressed in a flamenco dancer dress strikes a pose.
Podcast

Eva Enciñias

Flamenco Artist and 2022 National Heritage Fellow
Woman standing in front of cactus
Magazine Article

Sandra Cisneros

Recognizing Ourselves

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 »

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.

35 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 (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.