Updated February 2025

Request

We urge Congress to provide at least $209 million for the NEA for FY 2025 and FY 2026.

Introduction

The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) provides funding to state arts agencies and to nonprofit arts institutions including museums. Its mission is to make art accessible to all and to provide leadership in arts education.

Established in 1965, the National Endowment for the Arts supports art in every congressional district. NEA grants to museums help them exhibit, preserve, and interpret art through exhibitions, residencies, publications, commissions, public art works, conservation, documentation, and public programs, including the performing arts. Grants are also awarded for research, for example into the benefits of museum field trips for K-12 students. Grants are awarded for specific projects and require one-to-one matching funds from recipients.

Since 2010, the National Endowment for the Arts has collaborated with Blue Star Families and the U.S. Department of Defense on Blue Star Museums, which provides free museum admission to active duty military and their families all summer long. Typically each year more than 2,000 museums in all 50 states participate, reaching on average more than 900,000 military members and their families. The program will begin again on Saturday, May 17, 2025

The agency also runs the Arts & Artifacts Indemnity program, which reduces the cost of insuring major exhibitions. Absent this program, such exhibitions would need to be reduced in scale limiting visitors and students access to great art and artifacts from around the world. It saves museums millions of dollars annually, at a cost of almost zero to taxpayers.

Talking Points

• Annually, the National Endowment for the Arts typically provides more than 150 awards to museums and museum-related projects, totaling approximately $7 million.
• Receiving a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts confers prestige on supported projects, strengthening museums’ ability to attract matching funds from other public and private funders. On average, each dollar awarded by the NEA leverages up to nine dollars from other sources.
• The federal role of the National Endowment for the Arts is uniquely valuable.
• 40% of NEA’s grant funds are distributed to state arts agencies for re-granting, ensuring that states may set their own priorities.

Status

The NEA is funded through the Interior & Environment appropriations bill. It was funded at $207 million for FY 2024 and currently is operating at the same level awaiting Congressional approval of FY 2025 funding. FY 2025 began on October 1, 2024. So far, the full Senate Appropriations Committee approved a bill with funding for FY 2025 at $209 million. The House approved a bill that if enacted would cut FY 2025 funding to $204 million. During floor consideration in the House in 2023 an amendment to eliminate NEA’s funding for FY 2024 was overwhelmingly defeated 132 – 292 with strong bipartisan support. In 2024, an amendment offered by Rep. Josh Brecheen (R-OK) to cut NEA by $48 million was defeated by voice vote.

NEA Funding History

Appropriation (in millions)

• FY 25: TBD
• FY 24: $207
• FY 23: $207
• FY 22: $180
• FY 21: $167.5
• FY 20: $162.25
• FY 19: $155
• FY 18: $152.8
• FY 17: $149.8
• FY 16: $147.9
• FY 15: $145
• FY 14: $146
• FY 13 CR*: $146
• FY 12: $146
• FY 11: $154.7
• FY 10: $167.5

*In FY 2013, across the board sequestration cuts reduced NEA’s effective funding to $138.4 million.

Supporting Letters and Testimony

• FY 2018 Senate Interior Testimony
• FY 2018 House Interior Testimony
• FY 2017 Senate Interior Testimony
• FY 2017 House Interior Testimony
• FY 2016 Senate Interior Testimony
• FY 2016 House Interior Testimony
• FY 2015 Senate Interior Testimony
• FY 2015 House Interior Testimony
• Arts Issue: The Arts Require Timely Service (ARTS) Provision Coalition Letter