Advocacy

Below are links to organizations with information and data regarding the impact of the arts. 

Tracking Federal Actions (2025)

• Americans for the Arts' Executive Order & Impacts and Executive Action Tracker
• Council of Nonprofits’ Executive Orders Affecting Charitable Nonprofits
• Grantmakers in the Arts’ Community Resources on the New Presidential Administration’s Actions
• NASAA's Federal Updates

National Advocacy Organizations

• Americans for the Arts: Advocate
• Arts Action Fund
• DataArts: Research & Advocacy
• National Assembly of State Arts Agencies: Advocacy
• National Endowment for the Arts: Impact
• Performing Arts Alliance: Advocacy Basics

New England

• Connecticut Arts Alliance
• Connecticut Office of the Arts
• Cultural Alliance of Maine
• Maine Arts Commission: Arts Advocacy
• Massachusetts Cultural Council: Advocacy
• MASSCreative
• Arts4NH (New Hampshire Citizens for the Arts)
• Rhode Island State Council on the Arts
• Vermont Arts Council
• Vermont Creative Network

NEFA's Activity in New England - FY24

NEFA's grants and resources support artists and organizations in all six New England states. This work is possible through our partnership with New England's state art agencies, the National Endowment for the Arts, and additional funders.

Learn more about NEFA's partnership with the New England state art agencies
 

​Federal Investment & the Arts in New England

The Arts Power the U.S. Economy

• The Bureau of Economic Analysis and the NEA together calculate the arts and culture sector’s contributions to the gross domestic product. In 2022, arts and culture added over $1.1 trillion, or 4.3%, to national GDP, and nationwide employment in the sector increased 6.4% to a total of 5.2 million arts and cultural jobs. The arts are also a powerful export industry boasting a trade surplus of $21.0 billion in 2022.
• Arts & Economic Prosperity 6 (AEP6) is an economic and social impact study of the nation’s nonprofit arts and culture industry. Nationally, the sector generated $151.7 billion of economic activity in 2022—$73.3 billion in spending by nonprofit arts and culture organizations and an additional $78.4 billion in event-related expenditures by their audiences. This economic activity supported 2.6 million jobs, provided $101 billion in personal income to residents, and generated $29.1 billion in tax revenue to local, state, and federal governments.

Federal Arts Funding Broadens Distribution of Resources

• The National Endowment for the Arts annually recommends about 2,300 grants, benefiting every Congressional District. The majority of grants go to small and medium-sized organizations (budgets less than $2 million) and support projects that increase audience access to arts programming.
• 35% of NEA grants take place in high-poverty urban and rural communities. Approximately 4,000 communities of all sizes are served each year through NEA grants, with many projects bringing the arts to geographically underserved areas.
• Around 41 million Americans annually attend live arts events supported by the NEA, including approximately 36,000 concerts, readings, and performances, and 6,000 exhibitions. Millions more attend these events and access other artistic and educational experiences online.
• Federal agencies and nonprofit organizations partner with the NEA on national initiatives, using the arts as a platform for enhancing the quality of life for all. Such partnership examples include: Creative Forces, Shakespeare in American Communities, Blue Star Museums, NEA Big Read, Poetry Out Loud, Musical Theater Songwriting Challenge, and the Citizens’ Institute on Rural Design.
• The NEA is an integral part of the celebration of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, serving on the nonpartisan U.S. Semiquincentennial Commission Task Force and offering grantmaking support for this initiative across the nation.  

Federal Investment from the National Endowment for the Arts Creates a Thriving New England

• In FY24, with support from the NEA and private foundations, NEFA awarded 485 grants to artists and cultural organizations in New England and across the nation, totaling over $4.7 million. Nearly $1.2 million was awarded across New England, reaching nearly 88,000 community members.
• In addition to grants, support from the NEA enables NEFA to convene and provide networking and technical assistance to artists and organizations in New England.
• CreativeGround.org, NEFA’s searchable directory of New England’s creative economy, supports the visibility and connection of over 32,000 of the region’s artists, cultural organizations, and creative businesses. It is the only data-sharing tool of its kind in the country and contributes to research on the sector while highlighting the real people and stories behind the numbers.