"As this year winds to a close and we look ahead at the next, the future looks bright for arts funding – very bright in fact – shaping up to the biggest increase of the decade." –Conversations In Advocacy #71

In 2020, it looks like the music will play on in communities and classrooms across the country. On Tuesday, the House of Representatives passed two comprehensive spending bills to fully fund the government for fiscal year 2020. The Senate followed suit on Thursday, with the president set to sign the bills into law by Friday evening.  The bills, which amount to $1.4 trillion in total, includes a $7.25 million increase to the National Endowment for the Arts’ (NEA) annual budget, raising the funding level to $162.25 million for 2020.

This increase in funding was the largest of the decade and will enable the government to further support arts music programs and education initiatives across the nation. And, the spending increase comes following testimony by the Recording Academy to increase funding for the NEA—a call echoed by Academy members through grassroots letters earlier this year.

The NEA is an independent federal agency, which through grant making and partnerships with state and local leaders, governments and charities, helps support participation in the arts in all 435 congressional districts. For 50 years, the NEA has celebrated America’s rich and diverse cultural heritage and brought arts access and education to generations of urban and rural communities.

Elsewhere, the spending bills will also spread creativity and the arts through other key funding programs—including  increases for  the Veterans Affairs Department’s creative arts therapy programs through its Whole Health initiative to the tune of $5 million, and the Department of Defense will receive committee report instructions to increase support for creative arts therapy programs for treating service members with TBI and psychological health conditions.

Additionally, the Department of Justice’s arts-based juvenile justice programs will be provided additional funding, and the Department of Education’s Assistance for Arts Education grant program will also receive $30 million, matching this year's funding level.

The Recording Academy celebrates this much-needed funding support to inspire and support future creators.

Does all this support for future creators have you feeling thankful? You can contact your Senators to thank them for supporting arts funding and urge them to continue to honor the creative community by supporting the CASE Act, which is pending a vote in 2020.  

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