A group of people are sitting on stage, woman in the middle holding a microphone, screen showing National Endowment for the Arts behind them.

NEA National Heritage Fellows Ed Eugene Carriere (Suquamish), Anita Fields (Osage/Muscogee), Karen Ann Hoffman (Oneida Nation of Wisconsin), Roen Kahalewai Hufford (Hawaiian), Elizabeth James-Perry (Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head, Aquinnah), TahNibaa Naataanii (Navajo/Diné), Francis Palani Sinenci (Hawaiian), and Wayne Valliere (Lac du Flambeau Ojibwe) participated in a panel discussion, "Native Art Making in Place," at the National Museum of the American Indian as part of the 2023 Heritage Fellows events. Photo by Remsberg, Inc.

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2023 NEA Jazz Master Regina Carter performing with the String Queens at the Tribute Concert at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC. Photo by Jati Lindsay

Two women of color clap on either side of a younger South Asian woman as confetti falls around them.

Munjuluri accepting her trophy from NEA Chair Dr. Maria Rosario Jackson (left) and Poetry Foundation President Michelle T. Boone (right) after being named 2023 Poetry Out Loud Champion. Photo by James Kegley

What’s Happening at the NEA

Dr. Maria Rosario Jackson

Harnessing the Healing Power of the Arts

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Music as Medicine: The Science and Clinical Practice (Virtual Event)

Dec 14 & 15, 2023
09:00 am ~ 05:30 pm ET

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Crossing Borders through Cultural Exchange: A Review of the USArtists International Program

New publication!

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NEA FY 2025 Grant Opportunities Now Available

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New Initiative from the National Endowment for the Arts Supports Increased Opportunities for Arts Participation

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Creative Forces Community Engagement Grant Applications Now Available

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Blog

The New Issue of American Artscape Focuses on Arts and Health

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Podcast

Revisiting Irene Taylor Brodsky

Documentary Filmmaker
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Magazine Article

Most Trusted Messengers

Ashé Cultural Arts Center Relies on the Power of Art to Promote Health

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 (2021) 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.
Just over $1 trillion

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

4.4 Percent

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

Just under 4.9 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.