The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) funds state arts councils, including the California Arts Council (CAC). In this year alone, the CAC has supported the ACMC through four grants: Poetry Out Loud, Art in the Schools, State Local Partner Program, and a professional development grant to attend the Americans for the Arts Conference this June. We currently have a 5th grant application in to match the funding raised locally for public art. All of these grants are highly competitive and the grant applications are time consuming. We are not the only arts organization funded by the CAC in Mendocino County. ACMC and other organizations that apply for and receive grants from the CAC are bringing dollars into Mendocino County creating employment and economic development here. While we don’t currently receive funding directly from the NEA, our community would be adversely impacted by the loss of this vital agency.

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The proposed White House Budget eliminates the National Endowment for the Arts. See the below statement from NEA Chairman Jane Chu. The California Arts Council will be posting #SavetheNEA resources for CA’s arts field in the hours, days, and weeks to come. You can start right now by utilizing Americans for the Arts Action Center to write your local representative: https://www.votervoice.net/ARTSUSA/Campaigns/47344/Respond

STATEMENT FROM NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS CHAIRMAN ON THE FY18 BUDGET

Today we learned that the President’s FY 2018 budget blueprint proposes the elimination of the National Endowment for the Arts. We are disappointed because we see our funding actively making a difference with individuals of all ages in thousands of communities, large, small, urban and rural, and in every Congressional District in the nation.

We understand that the President’s budget request is a first step in a very long budget process; as part of that process we are working with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to prepare information they have requested. At this time, the NEA continues to operate as usual and will do so until a new budget is enacted by Congress.

We expect this news to be an active topic of discussion among individuals and organizations that advocate for the arts. As a federal government agency, the NEA cannot engage in advocacy, either directly or indirectly. We will, however, continue our practice of educating about the NEA’s vital role in serving our nation’s communities.