California
Facts and Figures
In the past five years, the National Endowment for the Arts distributed $64,030,040 in federal funding, either directly or through state and regional partners, in California.
In the most recent information (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, California...
- Added 7.7 percent or $261.1 billion to the state economy from arts and cultural production
- Employed 742,432 workers in the arts and cultural industries, with workers earning wages and benefits totaling more than $125.1 billion
Almost 47 percent of California’s adults attended live music, theater, or dance performances, while almost 25 percent attended art exhibits, according to the 2017 Survey of Public Participation in the Arts, conducted in partnership with the U.S. Census Bureau.
In addition to offering direct grants, the NEA supports national initiatives benefiting people across the country:
Blue Star Museums program provided free admission to thousands of active military personnel and their families at 249 participating museums in California.
An average of 21,725 students from 785 high schools in California participated in Poetry Out Loud annually.
The NEA Big Read initiative generated 1,387 community events in the state, involving more than 104,176 adults and students.
California Fact Sheet
On this page, find information on the arts and culture for California, and how the National Endowment for the Arts has supported the arts in communities throughout the state. Below are highlights of just some of Arts Endowment grantees and artists working in California.
To find a list of grants awarded by the agency to California, go to our Recent Grant Search.
State Highlights
Dancing Outside the Box
Poetry as Play: A Conversation with 2022 Poetry Out Loud National Champion Mia Ronn
ARP Grant Spotlight: JazzAntiqua
A New, Fresh Light on Asian American Stories
Louie Pérez
Bringing Joy and Upliftment
Inside AXIS Dance Company: A Conversation with the Company
Spontaneous Magic: Celebrating Roots Music with the Arhoolie Foundation
From a Great Height: Traversing a Public Canvas with BANDALOOP
Continuing the Tradition

Charles Lloyd

Ofelia Esparza

Ramón "Chunky" Sánchez
Arts + Prison: Transforming Lives Behind Bars through the Arts
Michael Fields
Randall Kline
Diane Rodriguez
Art Talk with 2017 NEA Literature Fellow David Tomas Martinez
United States of Arts: California
State & Regional Contacts
California Arts Council
1300 I Street, #930
Sacramento, CA 95814
916/322-6555
TT: 916/322-6569
info@caartscouncil.com
Western States Arts Federation (Regional Arts Organization)
1743 Wazee Street, suite 300
Denver, CO 80202
303/629-1166
staff@westaf.org