Agency FOIA Reports and Logs

Each year, the National Endowment for the Arts reports on its activities under the Freedom of Information Act. Although the following section provides an overview of the agency's FOIA operations, more detailed information can be found in the most recent annual report and in the Chief FOIA Officers' Report.

Overview of NEA's FOIA Operations

The National Endowment For the Arts processes its Freedom of Information Act requests through the Office of General Counsel. One employee, the FOIA Officer, currently handles all of the requests, which includes logging the information into a database, assessing the request and acquiring all documents relevant to the request, updating requestors on the progress of their request, and handling appeals. The FOIA Officer reviews outgoing responses to ensure complete coverage of all issues, proper coordination with the appropriate parties, and compliance with FOIA regulations and policies. Based on research, the FOIA Officer makes decisions regarding disclosure, denial, or other disposition of legal requests. In FY 2010, the National Endowment of the Arts processed 153 requests, the majority of which related to sample grant applications for prospective grant applicants. Other frequently requested information relates to our annual budget, agency credit card holders, copies of administrative directives, grants database information, and occasionally correspondence with Members of Congress. FOIA requests are received via email, fax and regular mail, and are immediately logged. In FY 2010, the median response time for simple requests was 5 days, and the median response time for requests receiving expedited processing was 3 days.

Affirmative Disclosure under ยง 5 U.S.C. 552(a)(2)

In 1996, the FOIA was amended to require agencies to post on their websites frequently requested records, policy statements, staff manuals, instructions to staff, and final agency opinions. Following the amendment, the NEA created a FOIA webpage in 1996 that discloses the FOIA and Privacy Act guidelines. The webpage describes the process by which a FOIA request is submitted, displays a sample FOIA request letter for requestors to follow as a guide, posts FOIA annual reports, and serves as an electronic library. In addition to the documents provided pursuant to FOIA requests, articles and other information on the Arts Endowment and the arts are available on the Internet at the Agency's website, http://www.arts.gov. The availability of substantial information online has drastically reduced the Endowment's formal FOIA caseload, from 697 requests in 1996, prior to the launching of the website,to an average of 98 requests in the three most recent reporting periods. The Endowment views this as a positive demonstration of the effectiveness of our website. All items except the Open Source and Quarterly Reports files are PDFs.

Annual FOIA Reports

2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019
2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023

Quarterly Reports

2013 Q1 | 2014 Q1 | 2014 Q2 | 2014 Q3 | 2014 Q4 | 2015 Q1 | 2015 Q2
2015 Q3 | 2015 Q4 | 2016 Q1 | 2016 Q2 | 2016 Q3 | 2016 Q4 | 2017 Q1
2017 Q2 | 2017 Q3 | 2017 Q4 | 2018 Q1 | 2018 Q2 | 2018 Q3 | 2018 Q4
2019 Q1 | 2019 Q2 | 2019 Q3 | 2019 Q4 | 2020 Q1 | 2020 Q2 | 2020 Q3
2020 Q4 | 2021 Q1 | 2021 Q2 | 2021 Q3 | 2022 Q1 | 2022 Q2 | 2022 Q3
2022 Q4

Annual FOIA Reports (Open Format/XML)

FY 2010 | FY 2011 | FY 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019

2020 | 2021 |2022 | 2023

Annual FOIA Reports (Raw Data/Excel)

2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019

Chief FOIA Officer Reports

2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2020 | 2021 
2022 | 2023 | 2024