policy and advocacy

Issue Brief - Cultural Funding through the Department of Homeland Security

Funding for Nonprofits, Urban Areas Security Initiative
U.S. Department of Homeland Security
Enhancing the Security of Our Cultural Heritage and Patrons

ACTION NEEDED
We urge Congress to:

• Increase and expand Homeland Security funding for nonprofits to fund additional high-risk arts and cultural institutions in additional states (currently funding is allocated to areas in only 28 states).

TALKING POINTS
Nonprofit organizations across the country provide a unique breadth of social and human services to citizens nationwide. In a post-9/11 world, however, arts and cultural institutions in particular are faced with new challenges from the threat of international terrorism.

• Intelligence reports and the 9-11 Commission Report indicate some nonprofits are among the most vulnerable, highest-risk institutions. This statement is not meant to cause widespread panic and alarm among cultural institutions, but it confirms that soft targets (nonmilitary) - museums, performing arts institutions, education and religious institutions - must protect their visitors.
• Cultural institutions provide mission-driven services to millions of Americans every day and would be called upon to do so in the face of terrorism or natural disaster in the United States. Immediately following September 11, 2001, cultural institutions provided places of respite and reflection for citizens and families dealing with the tragedy. Around the country today artists are creating pieces in various formats to capture responses to and interpretations of the current events affecting our country. If institutions are forced to divert funds from regular programming efforts to cover the entire cost of security measures, those funds will deplete the often already limited resources dedicated to important cultural and human services, including the capacity to respond to citizens’ needs and fulfill institutional missions.
• Cultural institutions of all types serve as gathering places for millions of American citizens every day of the year. Patrons of the arts and humanities are the most valuable “collection” institutions are charged with protecting. Cultural institutions attract hundreds of thousands of people to sites across the country each day. Many cultural institutions attract international visitors who bring both increased visibility and careful study to the grounds of an artistic or cultural site, program, or performance. Furthermore, exhibits, shows, and landmarks often bring together people of common backgrounds or interests to learn about and experience culturally specific topics, at times inciting increased vulnerability of those gatherings as targets for terrorist activity.  

BACKGROUND
On October 18, 2004, President Bush signed H.R. 4567, Appropriations for the Department of Homeland Security for FY05, including $25 million for security enhancements to 501(c)(3) organizations determined by the agency to be at high risk of international terrorist attack. The funds will support the security needs of all kinds of high-risk nonprofits, including cultural organizations, which not only attract many visitors but also hold a large part of our nation's cultural patrimony.