House of Representatives to vote today

The House of Representatives will consider legislation today that will determine the funding for the National Endowment for the Arts.\nThe NEA is a federal agency based out of Washington, D.C., that provides more than $100 million annually to organizations applying for grants for various art projects. It is the nation’s largest annual funder of the arts, according to the agency’s Web site. \n“We are a grant-making organization; we award competitive grants to arts organizations as long as they are (nonprofit),” Director of Communications for the NEA Felicia Knight said. “The grants are discipline-based – in music, dance, theater etc.”\nThe Interior Appropriations Subcommittee drafted the bill, which may go to the House floor as early as June 11. The bill requested spending be set at $160 million for the 2008 fiscal year, a $35.6 million increase from the current budget, according to a press release.\nKnight said 40 percent of the budget goes to state arts organizations and that “every state arts commission and state arts council gets funding from us.”\nIf approved, this increase will raise the NEA’s budget to $176 million – its highest level, which was last achieved in 1992, according to a press release.\n“We’re optimistic and we’re hopeful, but this is in the hands of the Congress,” Knight said. \nLocal organizations such as the Bloomington Area Arts Council are supported by the NEA in two ways, BAAC Interim Executive Director Ed Vande Sande said. The NEA provides funding to the Indiana Arts Commission, which then regrants money to other state organizations, and the NEA provides grants that the BAAC must apply for in order to fund special projects.\n“The NEA handles it this way because they figure that the individual states know their own needs and how to provide financial support better than the federal government,” Vande Sande said. “Because they’re closer, obviously.”\nOne project that the NEA funded in Bloomington was “The Big Read: One Book, One Bloomington,” which ended last month, Vande Sande said.\nThe committee is expected to approve the bill, according to a press release.\n“We do have very strong bipartisan support in Congress for our mission and our program, but we never predict,” Knight said.\nThe bill has gotten much support from arts organizations nationwide, she said, especially the organizations in the field and organizations that get part of their funding from the NEA.\nThe increase would “be able to significantly strengthen arts and arts education programs across the nation through direct grants, state and regional partnerships and National Initiatives,” NEA Chairman Dana Gioia said in a statement released by the NEA.\nArts organizations are crossing their fingers to get the extra federal funds.\n“If it were approved, we would have more money to regrant to area artists and arts organizations. They need all the help they can get,” Vande Sande said.