As an organization with a mission to support American Indian, Native Hawaiian and Alaska Native artists in all disciplines – visual artists, including those in film and video, as well as musicians, choreographers, writers, traditional artists, and culture bearers – and representing all geographies throughout the United States, the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation (NACF) is strongly opposed to the reported move to eliminate the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). These agencies support an environment for arts and cultures to exist and thrive, acting as a catalyst to leverage resources which help revitalize indigenous communities.
Here are six reasons why the NACF supports stable funding for the NEA and NEH:
- The NEA is the single largest national funder of nonprofit arts in America. 65% of NEA grants go to small and medium-sized organizations, which tend to support projects that benefit audiences that otherwise might not have access to arts programming. When the NEA funds an arts organization, it creates and maintains jobs that directly and indirectly benefit Americans. Those Americans, as well as the few artists who receive direct awards, also pay federal taxes which benefit all Americans.
- 36% of NEA funding reaches underserved populations such as people with disabilities, people in institutions, and veterans. NACF’s 2016 collaboration with the NEA exemplified the agency’s intention and vision to increase its support of the Native community through outreach and educational workshops for Tribal arts agencies and artists with information and community-driven conversation.
- The NEA National Heritage Fellowships program recognizes the artistic excellence and diversity of traditional artists and culture bearers, helping Native and non-Native artists to help sustain traditions for the next generation. Its folk and traditional arts funding is the only federal support available for this kind of artistic and cultural expression.
- Through research and publications such as “How To Do Creative Placemaking,” “Careers in the Arts for People with Disabilities,” “Creativity Connects: Trends and Conditions Affecting U.S. Artists” and so many more, the NEA serves the entire arts and culture sector by providing accurate, relevant, and timely analyses of the conditions and characteristics of the U.S. arts ecosystem.
- NEH funding provides support for a variety of Native American educational, research, and cultural preservation programs: https://www.neh.gov/news/fact-sheet/neh-native-americans
- In 2017 alone, the NEH will fund 208 humanities projects throughout the United States, supporting international collaboration, engaging students in interdisciplinary learning, and helping veterans.
#savethenea #savetheneh #supporthearts
Sources: https://www.arts.gov/news/facts-and-figures , https://www.neh.gov/news, https://www.arts.gov/sites/default/files/Folk_and_Traditional_fact_sheet_nov2016.pdf , https://www.neh.gov/news/fact-sheet/neh-native-americans