The National Endowment for the Arts is preparing its support for the recovery of the arts and cultural communities devastated by Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria in the regions designated a major disaster area by FEMA in Texas, Florida, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. As the federal agency has done in other instances of natural disasters, the NEA will coordinate through its state arts agency partners to direct funds to those arts and cultural entities in need of support. The goal is to allocate NEA funds to areas and constituents that may not have ready access to other sources of monetary assistance mobilized by local foundations, corporations, or insurance, etc. The funds may be designated for artists and nonprofit arts organizations and used to support expenses already allowed for NEA grantmaking activity such as:

• Projects and activities judged to have artistic excellence and artistic merit produced in new spaces, due to damage of existing space.
• Rental of venues or equipment.
• Purchase of replacement supplies and equipment utilized for administrative purposes or artistic purposes.
• Salaries, wages, fringe benefits for organizational staff, in the event of business disruption.
• Repair and conservation of artistic and cultural materials including costumes, performance sets, instruments, etc.
• Design fees for construction or renovation of spaces.
• Marketing/promotion expenses, publications, distribution.
• Access accommodations.

Funding amounts will be determined based on each state arts agency’s approved budget plan. The required 1:1 match has been waived for these emergency funds.