WASHINGTON, September 22, 2009, The New York Times — The White House on Tuesday instructed government agencies to keep politics away from the awarding of federal grants, a step taken as the administration sought to minimize the fallout after an official at the National Endowment for the Arts urged artists to advance President Obama’s agenda.
August 7, 2009, The New York Times — Now that the Broadway producer Rocco Landesman is officially chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts — he was confirmed on Friday — his straight-talking style, Missouri roots and affinity for baseball and country music are expected to give him a leg up with many legislators.
July 7, 2009, The Los Angeles Times Blog — More than 600 arts organizations around the country can each look forward to receiving a big fat check in the coming weeks thanks to the latest round of grants announced today by the National Endowment for the Arts. The grants represent part of the $50 million in federal aid to the NEA from President Obama's economic stimulus package.
USCapitol, June 26, 2009, The Los Angeles Times — The House of Representatives today approved $170-million budgets for the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities in 2010: a 9.7% increase for each over their current $155 million. The vote was 254 to 173 for the Department of the Interior, Environment and Related Agencies budget bill, which includes the two cultural grant-making agencies.
April 11, 2009, The New York Times — More than 2,000 applications have poured in to the National Endowment for the Arts from cultural organizations all over the country seeking a piece of the stimulus pie allotted to the arts by President Obama.
Museums, theaters and operas, already reeling from the recession, are having a tough time attracting support amid perceptions that vital services like soup kitchens and homeless shelters should receive funds first.
Doreen Bolger sees her new exhibit of circus drawings by Pablo Picasso and other 20th-century artists as just right for the times.
Today, the National Endowment for the Arts announces the availability of grant guidelines for The Arts and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, Public Law 111-5 ("Recovery Act"). This opportunity was created in response to passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which includes $50 million to assist the nonprofit arts sector through funding to the National Endowment for the Arts. The new program will fund projects that focus on the preservation of jobs in the arts.
One would be hard pressed to argue that a call from Robert Redford to the speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, helped salvage money for the arts in the economic-stimulus bill last week.
