Woman sitting in chair working on embroidering.
2018 NEA National Heritage Fellow and Palestinian embroiderer Feryal Abbasi-Ghnaim. Photo by Jen Dougherty
Regina Carter plays the violin at the front of the stage with a group of three other women holding violins and a cello watch her while a group of musicians perform behind them on the guitar, bass, and drums. The National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters logo is projected on the back wall.

2023 NEA Jazz Master Regina Carter performed at the concert with The String Queens—Kendall Isadore, Elise Sharp, and Dawn Michelle Johnson—as well as Shawn Purcell, Michael Bowie, and Alvester Garnett.

Photo by Jati Lindsay

A young woman with glasses and two long braids speaks into a microphone

2023 Poetry Out Loud National Champion Sreepadaarchana Munjuluri. Photo by James Kegley

What’s Happening at the NEA

Dr. Maria Rosario Jackson

Chair Jackson Celebrates National Arab American Heritage Month

Collage of the 2024 NEA Jazz Masters

2024 NEA Jazz Masters Tribute Concert

Watch the on-demand recording

April Calendar of events

See Upcoming Events for info on grants technical assistance

Featured News

See All News
Logo of red lines for ACPSA

Arts & Cultural Sector Hit All-Time High in 2022 Value Added to U.S. Economy 

Collage of the 2024 NEA Jazz Masters

2024 NEA Jazz Masters to be Celebrated at Free Events in Washington, DC

collage of 10 artists announcing the 2024 NEA National Heritage Fellowships

National Endowment for the Arts Announces 2024 NEA National Heritage Fellows

Featured Stories

See All Stories
Woman sitting on a bench in a dark room, facing an art exhibit that depicts a woman holding a large ball and a painting of a black man in a white suit, with text in the exhibit that says: "I'm still here in spite of efforts to displace me and my community."
Blog

Grant Spotlight: Women & Their Work

Headshot of a woman.
Podcast

Suzan-Lori Parks

Playwright, MacArthur Fellow, Pulitzer Prize Winner
Woman with kerchief on her head singing into microphone.
Magazine Article

Reverberations

The Ongoing Musical Legacy of Betty Carter

Grants

The National Endowment for the Arts awards grants to nonprofit organizations, creative writers and translators, state arts agencies, and regional arts organizations in support of arts projects across the country.
Go to the Grants section »
Volunteer to be an NEA panelist »

Impact

See the impact of the Arts Endowment on your state, and how the agency's work in research, accessibility, and other areas has had a major impact in the arts and culture of the country.
Go to the Impact section »

Some Facts about the National Endowment for the Arts

The National Endowment for the Arts is an independent federal agency that funds, promotes, and strengthens the creative capacity of our communities by providing all Americans with diverse opportunities for arts participation.

Approximately 2,300 Grants

Recommended for grant awards annually in all 50 states, DC, and U.S. territories.

More than 60 Percent

Percentage of Arts Endowment grants that go to small and medium-sized organizations (budgets up to $2 million).

35 Percent

Percentage of Arts Endowment grants reach low-income audiences or underserved populations.

Some Facts from the National Endowment for the Arts

These facts are based on the most recent data (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. The ACPSA tracks the annual economic impact of arts and cultural production from 35 industries, both commercial and nonprofit.

Just over $1 trillion

Amount the arts and cultural industries contribute to the U.S. economy.

4.4 Percent

Percentage of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product is accounted for by arts and cultural industries.

Just under 4.9 Million

Americans work in the arts and cultural industries on payroll.

Some Facts about the National Endowment for the Arts

The National Endowment for the Arts is an independent federal agency that funds, promotes, and strengthens the creative capacity of our communities by providing all Americans with diverse opportunities for arts participation.

54 Cents

The Arts Endowment’s annual cost to each American.

0.003 Percent

The Arts Endowment’s percentage of the federal budget.

$5.6 Billion

Amount awarded by the Arts Endowment since its beginning in 1965.

Some Facts about the National Endowment for the Arts

The National Endowment for the Arts is an independent federal agency that funds, promotes, and strengthens the creative capacity of our communities by providing all Americans with diverse opportunities for arts participation.

Around 41 Million Americans

Attend a live arts event supported by the Arts Endowment annually.

More than 36,000

Concerts, readings, and performances are supported annually.

More than 6,000

Exhibitions are supported annually as well.

Some Facts from the National Endowment for the Arts

These facts are based on the most recent data (2017) from the Survey of Public Participation in the Arts (SPPA), a national survey conducted in partnership with the U.S. Census Bureau that has allowed cultural policymakers, arts managers, scholars, and journalists to obtain reliable statistics about American patterns of arts engagement.

North Dakota

The state's residents attend live performing arts events at a higher rate than U.S. adults as a whole—with 62 percent for North Dakota residents versus 48.5 percent of U.S. adults.

Montana

Outperforms the national rate of attending art exhibits, with 33.5 percent of this state’s residents doing this activity versus 23 percent of Americans overall.

Oregon and Washington

Their literary reading rates (upwards of 60 percent) far exceed the U.S. as a whole (44 percent).

Some Facts about the National Endowment for the Arts

The National Endowment for the Arts is an independent federal agency that funds, promotes, and strengthens the creative capacity of our communities by providing all Americans with diverse opportunities for arts participation.

Approximately $8 million

Amount of funding of arts education projects annually.

74.7 Percent

Arts education projects (preK-12) that directly engage with underserved populations.

3 Times More Likely

8- to. 12-grade students from low socioeconomic backgrounds who received arts education to earn a bachelor's degree than those who did not.