Federal Updates: NEA, NEH & More
Congress Passes Level Funding for NEA & NEH
Congress has passed an FY26 minibus appropriations package that includes level funding from FY25 for many federal cultural agencies including $207 million each for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). On Monday, January 12th, the US Senate, by vote of 80-13, advanced this bipartisan bill for final consent on January 13th. This legislation had previously cleared the US House of Representatives on Friday January 8th by a vote of 397 to 28. All voting Congressional Representatives and Senators from North Carolina supported the bill. In addition to the NEA and the NEH, several other cultural agencies such as the National Gallery of Art and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (the name used in this legislation) received level or near-level funding. It will now go to President Trump’s desk for his signature. This is a significant victory for the arts and culture sector and all those who advocated over the last year since last spring when the President’s FY26 budget proposal included no funding for the NEA or the NEH.
Please take two minutes to thank Senator Tillis, Senator Budd, and your US House Representative for their support of these cultural agencies.
President Pulls U.S. Out of International Arts Groups
On January 7th President Trump withdrew the United States from the International Federation of Arts Councils and Culture Agencies (IFACCA) and the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Culture (ICCROM) as part of a new memorandum entitled “Withdrawing the United States from International Organizations, Conventions, and Treaties that Are Contrary to the Interests of the United States” which directs the federal executive agencies to withdraw from 66 international organizations and partnerships. This was in response to a report from the US Secretary of State which had been commissioned as part of Executive Order 14199 on February 4, 2025
NEA America250 Grants Announced
The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) has announced more than $16 million in America250 grants to nonprofit arts organizations across the country as part of its first round of FY26 funding. These grants are focused on projects honoring the nation’s semi-quincentennial in 2026. The NEA will consider a broader portfolio of the applications submitted in March 2025 in early 2026. Applications submitted in July 2025 will be considered at a council meeting in the Spring.