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National Endowment for the Arts Announces Funding for States and Regions for Fiscal Year 2013

NEA to invest more than $45 million in state arts agencies and regional arts organizations

May 8, 2013

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Public Affairs
202.682.5570

Washington, DC -- National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Acting Chairman Joan Shigekawa announced today that the NEA will award $45,085,105 in partnership agreements to fund 54 state and jurisdictional arts agencies and six regional arts organizations throughout the country. These funds will support grants and programs at the 60 agencies for fiscal year 2014. Through the combination of the NEA's partnership agreements and appropriations from the respective state legislatures, the state arts agencies will fund more than 21,000 arts projects in over 4,500 communities.

Forty percent of all NEA grantmaking funds are designated for the nation's state arts agencies, regional arts organizations, and national service organizations that support the work of the states and regions. State arts agencies have been recommended to receive $37,263,715; with an additional $7,821,390 recommended for regional arts organizations; and $769,670 for the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies. In addition, the NEA designated $65,900 for Pacific Resources in Education and Learning for technical assistance to the jurisdictional arts agencies based in American Samoa, Guam, and the Northern Marianas.

"The NEA's partnership with the state arts agencies and regional arts organizations is vital to the agency's work," said Shigekawa. "Not only do these partners extend the reach of NEA funds to communities across the country, but they are also key collaborators in NEA programs and outreach efforts."

The NEA's Director of State and Regional Partnerships Laura Scanlan added, "Our state and regional partners are leading the way in creating and implementing thoughtful, engaged, and creative programs to continue to bring the arts to all Americans. I applaud their work to date, and I look forward to what the coming year will bring."

The grants included in this announcement may be viewed through a state or a regional listing (pdfs). In addition, the NEA recently launched an online grant search system. This system will allow members of the public to search all of the NEA's grants since 2000 using a variety of attributes to customize results.

In order to be eligible for NEA partnership agreement funds, each state arts agency develops long-range plans that help position arts and culture in a broad range of public policy areas such as cultural tourism, community revitalization, economic development, education, and health and human services. In addition, each state arts agency must match its NEA funding on at least a 1:1 basis, supporting programs at the local and state levels.

Examples of programs supported by state arts agencies include:

  • Alaska State Council on the Arts' funding support for K-12 arts education served more than 16,000 students and more than 90 artists in 2012 through 13 district-wide Artists in Schools programs and 15 site-specific programs. Projects must be aligned with the State of Alaska's arts curriculum in order to be funded.
  • Pennsylvania Council on the Arts and VSA PA partner in the PA Cultural Access Program working with cultural and disability leaders in other cities to develop their own cultural access programs, beginning with the performing arts.
  • The South Carolina Arts Commission hosts The Hub, an on-line resource promoting cultural events and organizing arts-related information. Designed as a dynamic, one-stop shop for the arts, The Hub was built to serve multiple audiences: artists, arts organizations, residents and visitors.
  • Recognizing the small number of arts organizations in rural counties, the Texas Commission on the Arts created the Rural Initiative and chose libraries as the primary beneficiary. Artists are selected from the Texas Touring Roster and provided fees to deliver arts programs to libraries for no charge to the library or audiences that attend.
  • The Vermont Arts Council's Breaking Into Business program consists of an intensive, two-day workshop  for artists to help them achieve success in marketing, promoting, and selling their artwork. Following the workshop, participants may submit applications for a small grant to fund an aspect of their business plan.
  • The Wisconsin Arts Board partners  with Wisconsin Teachers of Local Culture to produce cultural tours for 25-30 teachers. The tours enable teachers to experience arts of multiple cultural groups in 36 geographic communities. Curriculum models emerge from these tours, all of which are aligned with state and national standards.

Regional arts organizations encourage the development of the arts and support arts programs in multi-state regions. In addition, they respond to the special needs of each region and assist the Arts Endowment and other funders in distributing programs nationally. Examples of programs supported by regional arts organizations include:

  • Arts Midwest: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin Arts Midwest World Fest connects Midwestern communities to world cultures through week-long residencies with global performers.
  • Mid-America Arts Alliance: Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Texas Exhibits USA is a traveling exhibition program offering diverse art and humanities exhibitions to museums and other organizations nationwide.
  • Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation: Delaware, District of Columbia, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, U.S. Virgin Islands, Virginia, and West Virginia The Jazz Touring Network is designed to increase the availability of jazz throughout the mid-Atlantic region, particularly in communities underserved by the arts, by providing selected presenters with the tools necessary to develop and sustain the art form as an ongoing part of their annual programming.
  • South Arts: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee Southern Circuit: Tour of Independent Filmmakers connects audiences in Southern communities with independent filmmakers and encourages discussion about the film, its subjects and the technical aspects of filmmaking.
  • Western States Arts Federation: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming Public Art Archive™ is a searchable online database of public art. The archive makes public art and its processes more accessible to the public, displaying images alongside extensive descriptions, including audio and video supplementary files when available. Users may locate public art pieces, create custom walking tours, and access images and data via the mobile site.

The National Endowment for the Arts was established by Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government. To date, the NEA has awarded more than $4 billion to support artistic excellence, creativity, and innovation for the benefit of individuals and communities. The NEA extends its work through partnerships with state arts agencies, local leaders, other federal agencies, and the philanthropic sector. To join the discussion on how art works, visit the NEA at arts.gov.


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