How National Arts Funding Hit a Wall, Who is Making the Grade in Congress, & How You Can Make a Difference
The US Congress was doing their job last year long before the November Election. They were moving through the budget process in a relatively constructive and civil manner, more on schedule and by the book than any budget process we had seen in nearly a decade. This of course was not covered much in the media because conflict and dysfunction get better ratings, however, arts funding in particular was doing quite well.
In March of 2018, Arts NC and advocates from across the state attended Americans for the Arts (AFTA) National Arts Advocacy Day in Washington DC, taking meetings in the offices of both Sen. Tillis and Sen. Burr as well as over half of the North Carolina delegation to the US House of Representatives. One of our primary requests was that both the National Endowments for the Arts (NEA) and Humanities (NEH) each be allocated $155 million in funding for fiscal year 2019 (FY19), a $2 million increase for each agency. By September both the US House and US Senate had approved $155 million in funding for the NEA and NEH. However, due to disagreements between the chambers over other issues they were unable to resolve, they passed a continuing resolution which kept the government running at FY18 appropriation levels until December 7th, after the election.
The returning “lame duck” Congress was again unable to reach an agreement by December 7th, and so adopted another continuing resolution to allow talks to continue until December 22nd. While Congress was not able to come to an agreement for a FY19 budget, they passed yet another stopgap bill to fund the government until February 8th. As we all know, due to the fact that this bill did not provide more than $5 billion dollars in border security, specifically to build a wall along the US-Mexico border, President Trump refused to sign the bill into law starting what is now the longest government shutdown in US history.
As a result, federal arts dollars are not being distributed. The offices of the National Endowments for the Arts and Humanities remain dark and empty. Important programs such as Creative Forces, which utilizes the arts to heal veterans, are being negatively impacted. And it is unclear how delays in grant processing and other vital services provided by the NEA and NEH will affect the entire arts and culture community in the weeks and months to come.
It is important to remember that the FY19 budget process began in January 2018 with the submission of President Trump’s budget proposal, which called for the elimination of all funding for the NEA and NEH. This is exactly how the FY18 budget process began, which ended with both of those agencies receiving an increase of $3 million in federal funds. That is why during the budget process in July of 2018 
Rep. Grothman (R-Wisconsin) proposed cutting the funding allocation for the NEA by $23 million in support of the President’s priorities. This amendment was overwhelmingly defeated with large bipartisan support 114-297, as was widely expected. However, this was the first vote specific to arts funding in the US House in many years and provided Arts Action Fund (AFTA’s Political Action Committee) enough information to give each member of the US House a letter grade on their 2018 Congressional Arts Report Card. This vote combined with a variety of other actions earned two Representatives from North Carolina, Rep. Alma Adams (D-NC 12) and Rep. David Price (D- NC 4), an A+ grade. We should be sure to congratulate these Congresspersons; however, we should NOT admonish those with a lower grade. Arts advocacy should be EDUCATING officials about the value of the arts in a positive way, NOT SHAMING them into doing what we want.
We need more people to speak up for the arts and deliver a positive message to their elected representatives about the impact they have in our state and in our nation. We need more people to show up for the arts and come to ARTS Day 2019 in Raleigh on March 26th and 27th and to attend the National Arts Advocacy Summit in Washington DC on March 4th and 5th. We need more funding for the NEA and the NC Arts Council, particularly in grant funding for hundreds of arts organization across the state and thousands across the country. We need more, and in order to achieve it, WE NEED YOU!