NAMM Statement on Proposal to Defund the NEA

Since 1965, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) has provided all Americans access and opportunity to participate in, and to experience, the power of the arts. The agency’s grants and support for thousands of nonprofit arts organizations can be found in every state – and in every Congressional district – leveraging significant state and local support for arts service programs and serving as a platform for hundreds of thousands of jobs in the creative industry. These programs enrich our students, communities and culture. The organization’s commitment to a vision in which all Americans have access to the arts greatly parallels our own.

NAMM firmly believes that the NEA plays a vital role in enriching our communities today and should be adequately funded into the future. This will allow access and opportunity in the arts for many underserved citizens, and build human and cultural bridges through community participation and engagement in the arts. It also supports innovative arts education efforts, including programs like The Harmony Project; a project which was the subject of a groundbreaking research study on how music making impacts how the brain processes sound, a study supported by The NAMM Foundation. We believe that reduction or elimination of federal funding support for the NEA should be held in careful consideration for its culture impact on us as a nation, and for the many present-day benefits it grants to all Americans.

While we are in the initial stages of the federal budget process, NAMM will be working alongside our many arts partners in an advocacy role and will provide updates on our website.

If you would like to voice your support for the National Endowment for the Arts today, please visit Americans for The Arts: http://www.americansforthearts.org

To learn more about the NEA and the many programs it funds, please visit: https://www.arts.gov