March 10, 2022 (Washington, DC) – Last night, the House of Representatives approved the Consolidated Appropriations Bill, which provides $180 million for the National Endowment for the Arts for the remainder of Fiscal Year 2022 (ending on September 30). The Senate is expected to approve the measure in the coming days. “The arts are a basic human need; this was particularly apparent during these pandemic years. We must encourage continued Congressional funding for arts at the highest levels, as this will bring back jobs and enterprises that were eliminated as a result of the pandemic,” said Tim Daly, Actor and President of The Creative Coalition. “We thank our federal legislators for acknowledging the importance of the arts to our culture and our economy, and look forward to continuing The Creative Coalition’s work with policymakers to help the arts sector recover from the pandemic.”
“While we celebrate the significant investment in the arts announced today by Congress, our job is not done,” said Robin Bronk, CEO of The Creative Coalition. “We must ensure that Fiscal Year 2023 funding (which begins this October) continues to include robust funding for the National Endowment for the Arts, which supports thousands of small venues and local arts organizations. We thank Congress for supporting increased investment in the NEA during the pandemic, but remind policymakers that enormous needs remain.”
With the legislation expected to be signed into law by President Biden early next week, The Creative Coalition is immediately turning its attention to funding for the National Endowment for the Arts in Fiscal Year 2023 by submitting testimony to the House Appropriations Committee this week calling for continued investment in the arts. A delegation of Creative Coalition members will return to Capitol Hill in person next month for the 2022 #RightToBearArts Capitol Hill Day. The delegation will call on policymakers to invest in the arts at a level that reflects the significant role the arts play in our society. It is critical to support arts organizations and provide them with the resources necessary to recover, and to offer citizens much-needed accessibility to the arts in their communities.
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