The essay that follows has two objectives. First, to provide a brief survey of some of the major cultural policy initiatives of the United States government from the 1930’s until recent times. Second, to underscore some of the broader patterns and trends that can be discerned in America’s cultural relations with other countries and other peoples.

Until 2003, local public funding for the arts stayed ahead of inflation and even showed growth during the recession years of the early 1990s. In 2003, aggregate funding estimates dropped for the first time in 15 years, from $800 million to $770 million. In 2004, local arts funding will drop an estimated 4 percent to $740 million. This Monograph discusses a number of factors that decision-makers should consider when evaluating public funding for the arts; presents an overview of policy strategies; and describes the innovative efforts of arts advocates to restore, sustain, and increase public

This article examines the increased budget proposal of $18 million for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) for FY05 in light of current events. It also offers an analytical history of NEA funding and grants awarded by the Endowment.

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Funding increases proposed for several federal arts programs by President Bush are significant. Though relatively modest and subject to the approval of Congress, the proposals mark the end of the culture wars of the early 1990s when Congress threatened to abolish the National Endowment for the Arts for funding artworks that conservatives regarded as objectionable to taxpayers. However, even if the increases are approved in full, the extra funds will only start to offset the enormous losses to arts funding at the state level, amounting to over $100 million over the past two years.

Pulitzer Prize-winning writer</SPAN> Doris Kearns Goodwin gave the 17th Annual Nancy Hanks Lecture on Arts and Public Policy on March 29, 2004 at the The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.

The 2002 Annual Report presents profiles of some of the outstanding grants awarded in Fiscal Year 2002. Thirty-one grantees from Challenge America, Grants to Organizations, Leadership Initiatives, State and Regional Partnerships, Resources for Change, and Save Americas Treasures are highlighted with photos and descriptions of their projects supported by the National Endowment for the Arts. In addition, Individual Fellowships, National Medal of Arts awardees, and Policy Research and Analysis are featured.  Facts and figures on grants given in FY 2002, as well as financial summary

Actor and filmmaker Robert Redford gave the 16th Annual Nancy Hanks Lecture on Arts and Public Policy on September 9, 2003 at the The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.

This issue paper, National Investment in the Arts, is the sixth in the Art, Culture and the National Agenda series. Written by Dr. Bruce A. Seaman from Georgia State University, National Investment in the Arts looks at the ways in which the public sector supports the arts in America through direct grantmaking, tax policies, and other public policies. This issue paper, like others in the series, reflects the opinions and research of its author, who was informed by commissioned background papers and the assistance of the Center’s Research Advisory Council. The paper does not necessarily

One organization has defined cultural policy as, “in the aggregate, the values and principles, which guide any social entity in cultural affairs.”

Transcript of Frank Rich's lecture from the 14th Annual Nancy Hanks Lecture on Arts and Public Policy.