Status of Federal Arts Legislation

Collective advocacy efforts helped produce the following outcomes in the FY’24 Senate Appropriations bills: 

• $207 million each for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) (no cuts in funding from FY’23 and consistent with the caps of the Debt Ceiling deal). 
• $18.6 billion for Title I-A, which includes funding for well-rounded programs to support Arts Education ($2 billion increase from FY’23) 
• $1.4 billion for the Title IV-A block grant which can be used for arts education programs both in schools as well as for after-school programming. (Slight increase) 
• $2.19 billion for Title II-A for professional development for school faculty, including arts educators (Level funding with last year’s FY’23 appropriations). 

View our FY’24 Appropriations Chart below to see how federal arts and arts education programs have fared thus far in the current budget process. There is a considerable difference between the House allocated levels and Senate allocated levels, which will make for challenging conference negotiations in the fall. The current FY’23 fiscal year ends next month on September 30^th and Congress will need to adopt a temporary Continuing Resolution in order to avoid a complete government shutdown.

Unfortunately, members of the Freedom Caucus have been holding bills hostage in the House and installing non-germane conservative social amendments to various bills when they come to the House floor, most recently the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). These amendments are threats to free expression, choice, identity, and efforts to promote diversity and equity. This trend indicates we will prepare for similar amendments to NEA and NEH funding when the Interior appropriations bill heads to the floor when Congress reconvenes again after Labor Day. 

Current Status of FY’24 Art-Related Appropriations Bills