Friday, May 27, 2022

Screenshot of page 1 of a letter sent to the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee Subcommittee on the Interior, Environment, and related agencies.

In April and May, two congressional “Dear Colleague” letters were finalized as statements of support for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH).

U.S. Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) organized a letter to Chairman Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Ranking Member Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) of the Senate Appropriations Committee Subcommittee on the Interior, Environment, and related agencies. The letter requested “at least” $204 million for the NEA and NEH in Fiscal Year 2023 (FY23), matching the request of the nonprofit arts community and President Biden’s budget request. A total of 44 senators signed this “Dear Colleague” letter

Similarly, arts leaders in the U.S. House circulated a bipartisan letter in support of $204 million for the NEA. The letter was led by Congresswomen Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR-01) and Maria Salazar (R-FL-27). A total of 142 U.S. House members signed that letter. 

These letters are delivered to each chamber’s respective Appropriations Committee and are a key marker and signal of congressional support as appropriators begin drafting legislation later this summer. The support in Congress behind these requests is great news! 

The advocacy to build signatures on these letters started with the 2022 National Arts Action Summit, where attendees honed their advocacy skills and scheduled meetings with their representatives to advance NEA funding in Congress. One of the messages shared was information about the impact that federal NEA grants make in local communities, along with a call to action requesting that members sign these annual funding support letters. 

Federal Arts Advocacy Captains in each state and other pro-arts advocates (including county officials) made the request to their congressional delegations to sign on to these letters.