The Charitable Act would expand and extend the expired non-itemized deduction for charitable giving, and would once again provide and enhance a tax incentive for greater philanthropy toward arts and culture, among other sectors. Americans for the Arts and Americans for the Arts Action Fund have endorsed this important piece of legislation.
In 2022, Congress passed a bill called the ARTS (Artistic Recognition for Talented Students) Act, which waives U.S. Copyright Office copyright registration fees for student Congressional Arts Competition winners.
Funding for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) passed at $207 million each, $6.3 million and $3.45 million over President Biden’s requests. The bipartisan hearing on June 8—the first in seven years with the NEA and NEH—included testimony from Dr. Maria Rosario Jackson (13th Chair, NEA), Ms. Shelly Lowe (12th Chair, NEH), Ms. Kaywin Feldman (Director, National Gallery of Art), and Mr. Lonnie G. Bunch III (Secretary, Smithsonian Institution).
On Thursday, April 28, 2022, Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-CA-13) introduced the Equity Through the Arts and Humanities Act (H.R. 7627), which would create a grant program to support arts and humanities projects that work to dismantle systemic racism through the arts and humanities.
Rep. Nydia Velázquez introduced a bill that would increase the Educator Expense Deduction to $2,000 and allow early childhood educators to take advantage of the tax benefit.
Americans for the Arts submitted testimony to the U.S. House Appropriations Interior Subcommittee calling for “…funding for both the National Endowment for the Arts and National Endowment for the Humanities at no less than $201 million each for FY 2023.” This is the level that the Biden Administration proposed for FY 2022, and was approved by the House; however, the final level in the Omnibus appropriations bills is $180 million.
The first ever hearing dedicated to the creative economy explored both the impact of COVID-19 on the creative economy, and the various points of connection to federal assistance to small businesses for recovery and long-term support for growth. At the invitation of the committee, Americans for the Arts provided additional testimony alongside other national arts service organizations.
Arts advocates from across the United States will gather virtually March 28-30, 2022, for the National Arts Action Summit, now in its 35th consecutive year. This year, for the first time, there will be no registration fee to attend the National Arts Action Summit for both individuals and partner organizations.
There is now more pro-creative economy legislation being considered by Congress than at any other point in U.S. history. In the last several months arts advocates have been working with members of Congress to introduce an historic lineup of pro-arts legislation that map a new, more equitable and impactful policy landscape for creative businesses and workers.
A group of 60 creative workforce organizations sent a joint letter to House Education & Labor Committee Chairman Bobby Scott (D-VA) to request a hearing on the creative workforce and consideration of several policy items as the committee considers the reauthorization of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) for the first time since it was initially adopted in 2014.
The Arts Education for All Act, the broadest arts education policy bill ever introduced in Congress, includes key provisions that will support and encourage the offering of arts education and programming experiences to Americans including our youngest learners, K-12 students, and youth impacted by the juvenile justice system; and would allow for rigorous arts and arts education research to be carried out to further inform how elementary and secondary education in our country can be improved.
The 117th Congress has yielded great strides and measurable successes in federal arts advocacy work. This Summer 2021 Legislative Update summarizes the current legislative status of the bills and policies that Americans for the Arts, coalition partners, and grassroots advocates across the country have been working toward throughout the year.
On the morning of June 30, 2021, a new and unexpected threat to a pro-arts piece of federal legislation became apparent. The full U.S. House of Representatives was beginning final consideration of the INVEST in America Act of 2021 (H.R. 3684), which included an arts and transit provision that had not attracted any opposition—until an amendment from Rep. Bob Gibbs (R-OH) aimed to strike the pro-arts provision from the bill. Rep. Gibbs argued that that federal dollars shouldn’t be used for “feel-good frescoes and metro station murals.” What Rep. Gibbs and other opponents fail to realize is that the provision does not require art projects, but rather allows local transit authorities the option to hire artists and install public art in transit projects if they wish. And it doesn’t cost the federal government money, but rather allows local transit authorities the option to spend their budget hiring an artist if they want to. Arts-related votes on the floor of either chamber of Congress are a rarity, so a dynamic advocacy strategy becomes extremely important when one occurs—and in this case, Americans for the Arts marshalled every arts advocacy tool in our war chest in response.
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On July 1, the U.S. House Appropriations Committee voted to accept the Interior Subcommittee’s fiscal year (FY) 2022 funding bill, granting Biden Administration’s funding request of $201 million for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). The bill also includes $201 million for the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) to keep the agencies funded in tandem.
The STAR Act provision will reverse a 2015 prohibition on using Federal Transit Administration funds for art in transit, and give local transit authorities the opportunity to reap the numerous benefits of art in transit—encouraging ridership, improving customer experience, deterring vandalism, and more.
Americans for the Arts Interim President and CEO General Nolen Bivens (U.S. Army Ret.) submitted official testimony to the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies to support federal funding for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) at no less than $176 million for FY 2022—at least an $8.5 million increase over FY 2021 funding. This ask matches the most recent highpoint of NEA funding of $176 million in FY 1992.
