Advocacy

Expeditions-supported Angélique Kidjo performance at the International Festival of Arts & Ideas | Photo: Judy Sirota Rosenthal

Below are links to organizations with helpful information and data regarding the impact of the arts. This page will be updated regularly; let us know about other resources to share.

National 

New England

NEFA's activity in new england - FY16

Brief  visual summaries of NEFA's activity in each of the six New England states.

​Federal Investment & the Arts in New England

 
Federal Investment from the National Endowment for the Arts Creates a Thriving New England
  • In FY16, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) invested $5,648,200 in New England through partnership grants to New England’s six state arts agencies and their regional partner the New England Foundation for the Arts. All NEA partners are required to match these grants 1:1, further amplifying the reach and impact of these dollars.
  • In FY16, New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA) programs alone made 462 grants totaling just over $3.4 million, with support from the NEA and private foundations.
  • NEFA awarded $829,947 in grants to artists and cultural organizations in 81 unique communities in all six New England states.
  • Support from the National Endowment for the Arts enables NEFA to convene and provide networking and employment tools to artists and organizations in New England. CreativeGround.org, NEFA’s arts directory, features profiles for 30,000 creative businesses and artists in New England, including 14,813 registered nonprofit cultural organizations.
  • From the 2011 NEFA report, New England’s Creative Economy: Nonprofit Sector Impact, we learned that in New England, every $1 spent by a nonprofit cultural organization became $2.30 in sales for businesses across the region, and every job provided became 1.6 jobs for workers across the region.
  • The 2011 report revealed that New England’s nonprofit cultural organizations spent nearly $3.7 billion, supported over 53,000 full and part-time jobs, and generated a total economic impact on the New England economy of over $8 billion.
The Arts Power the U.S. Economy
  • The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis reports that arts and cultural production contributes more than $704.2 billion to the nation’s economy. This equates to 4.23% of GDP, which is greater than construction ($619.8 billion) or transportation and warehousing ($483.5 billion).
  • Arts and culture support 4.7 million wage and salary workers and many more independent jobs.
  • In FY17, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) budget was $148 million representing just 0.025% of federal nondefense discretionary spending. Every NEA grant dollar leverages another $9 in public and private support.
  • 40% of all NEA program funds—approximately $41.2 million in FY 2017—are distributed through state arts agencies. In combination with approximately $360 million in state appropriations, the federal-state partnership supports more than 23,000 grants in 5,000 communities across the United States, with 26% of state arts agency grants going to rural communities.
  • Combined, National Endowment for the Arts and partners at State Arts Agencies and Regional Arts Organizations such as NEFA grant awards that reach all 435 federal congressional districts.