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Initiatives

The National Endowment for the Arts works with other federal agencies, state and local governments, state and regional arts agencies, and private nonprofits on projects that provide opportunities for thousands of Americans to experience quality arts programming throughout the country.

Sound Health Network

Promoting research and public awareness about the impact of music on health and wellness.
Learn more
An older man playing a guitar next to a woman singing

National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Francis Collins performs with opera singer Renée Fleming during a Sound Health: Music and Mind performance in 2017. Photo courtesy of NIH

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NEA Big Read

The National Endowment for the Arts Big Read broadens our understanding of our world, our communities, and ourselves through the joy of sharing a good book. Managed by Arts Midwest, this initiative offers grants to support innovative community reading programs designed around a single book.
Arms and hands of people working on a pottery wheel

Creative Forces: NEA Military Healing Arts Network

Creative Forces: NEA Military Healing Arts Network is an initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with the U.S. Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs and the state and local arts agencies that seeks to improve the health, wellness, and quality of life for military and veteran populations exposed to trauma, as well as their families and caregivers.
Isabella Callery holds her Poetry Out Loud National Champion glass trophy

Poetry Out Loud

A partnership of the National Endowment for the Arts, the Poetry Foundation, and the state arts agencies, the Poetry Out Loud program encourages high school students to memorize and perform great poems.
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Arts & Human Development Task Force

Beginning in 2011, the Arts Endowment has convened a Federal Interagency Task Force on the Arts and Human Development to encourage more and better research on how the arts can help people reach their full potential at all stages of life
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Arts Education Partnership

The Arts Education Partnership, a collaboration among the Arts Endowment, the U.S. Department of Education, and the Education Commission of the States as well as all AEP partner organizations, convenes forums to discuss topics in arts education, publishes research materials supporting the role of arts education in schools, and acts as a clearinghouse for arts education resource material.
Columbian mammoth skeleton at the American Museum of Natural History

Blue Star Museums

Blue Star Museums is a collaboration among the Arts Endowment, Blue Star Families, the Department of Defense, and more than 2,000 museums in all 50 states that offers free admission to active-duty military personnel and their families during the summer.
Artist rendering of a new main street intersection in a rural town

Citizens' Institute on Rural Design

The Citizens’ Institute on Rural Design (CIRD) is a leadership initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with the Housing Assistance Council and buildingcommunityWORKSHOP.
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International

Through cooperative initiatives with other funders, the National Endowment for the Arts brings the benefit of international exchange to arts organizations, artists, and audiences nationwide.
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Mayors' Institute on City Design

A partnership of the National Endowment for the Arts and the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the Mayors’ Institute on City Design convenes mayors and design experts to solve the most critical planning and design challenges facing their cities.
man and young woman huddle over a piano.

Musical Theater Songwriting Challenge

The National Endowment for the Arts is in the third year of its national competition for high school songwriters, the Musical Theater Songwriting Challenge. The Arts Endowment is partnering with the American Theatre Wing along with collaborators Disney Theatrical Productions, Concord Theatricals, and the NMPA S.O.N.G.S Foundation.
NEA Research Labs

NEA Research Labs

The National Endowment for the Arts Research Labs (NEA Research Labs) program will yield empirical insights about the arts for the benefit of arts and non-arts sectors alike.
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Save America's Treasures

Established in 1999, The Save America’s Treasures program, a partnership between the National Park Service, National Endowment for the Humanities, Institute of Museum and Library Services, and the NEA, helps preserve nationally significant historic properties and collections.
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Shakespeare in American Communities

Shakespeare in American Communities is a program to bring professional theater companies to middle and high schools throughout the country to perform Shakespeare’s plays and conduct educational activities. The National Endowment for the Arts presents the program in partnership with Arts Midwest.
An older man playing a guitar next to a woman singing

Sound Health Network

The Sound Health Network (SNH) is partnership of the National Endowment for the Arts with the University of California, San Francisco in collaboration with the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and Renée Fleming, the center’s artistic advisor. The SHN was established to promote research and public awareness about the impact of music on health and wellness.
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Women's Suffrage Centennial

The National Endowment for the Arts is pleased to be participating in the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment and women’s constitutional right to vote.