By Jim Speirs, Executive Director, Arts South Dakota
It’s federal funding time again, and Congress is looking to give the arts a raise—with your help! Recently the Senate Appropriations Committee allocated an increase in funding to $209 million for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) in the FY’25 Interior Appropriations bill. That’s a $2 million increase above the current FY’24 funding level for the agency.
Thanks to the votes of Congressman Dusty Johnson and other culturally aware Representatives, arts advocates were able to defeat amendments in the House that attempted to make deep cuts to the NEA for the upcoming year. Voting down the 23% cut, the overall funding level in the House-passed bill allocated $203.895 million to the national arts agency. So the goal now is to get the House to agree to the Senate’s higher funding levels when they move into final conference negotiations.
That $209 million funding for the arts is an investment of 62 cents by each U.S. taxpayer—less than the amount many of us put in a parking meter to run an errand. Over 40% of that allocation goes directly to fund state arts agencies, including the 335 grants made by the South Dakota Arts Council to artists and communities around our state.
You can help encourage the passage of this relatively small but much-needed raise to our national arts funding by contacting Congressman Johnson thanking him for his votes on those amendments. Additionally, send an email to our Senators urging them to hold strong on the $209 million funding levels during conference negotiations. We know South Dakota Senators Thune and Rounds have voiced support for the NEA.
You can help by joining Arts South Dakota’s advocacy efforts to advance the arts in our state and nation. It all starts at artssouthdakota.org!
