The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) has announced their direct grants as part of the $50 million federal economic stimulus recovery package. The NEA will distribute over $29 million to 631 nonprofit arts groups nationwide. This is in addition to the 63 state and regional sub-grants previously awarded in April, totaling $19.8 million.
Over $1 million of these funds will be going to Massachusetts arts organizations, including four Berkshire County organizations: The Berkshire Arts and Technology Charter School, Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, MASS MoCA, and The Norman Rockwell Museum.
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act), which allocated these funds to the NEA for disbursement, was signed into law by President Obama on February 17th, 2009. It was an unprecedented effort to jumpstart the economy, create or save millions of jobs, and put a down payment on addressing long-neglected challenges.
The ARRA funds designated to the NEA are intended to support arts projects and activities that preserve jobs in the nonprofit arts sector threatened by declines in philanthropic and other support during the current economic downturn. As part of this important investment, the Arts Endowment is developing a plan to expedite distribution of critical funds at the national, regional, state, and local levels for projects that focus on the preservation of jobs in the arts.
Click here to visit the NEA online and learn more!
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