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.