Americans for the Arts is heartened by the final FY2011 federal budget levels for the nation's cultural agencies, which reflect a more sensible and proportionate funding cut of 7.5 percent to the National Endowments for the Arts and the Humanities. These cultural agencies are now set to receive $155 million each for the current fiscal year. While we firmly believe that the nation would be better served with a more robust investment in nonprofit arts and cultural organizations in communities across the country, we acknowledge the constraints of the current budget. We are pleased that the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the Smithsonian Institution did not incur any cuts and we are relieved to see $25 million restored to the Arts in Education account at the Department of Education, which had been zeroed-out in a previous Continuing Resolution.

Last week during tense budget negotiations between Congress and the White House, Americans for the Arts convened a very timely gathering of 560 grassroots and national arts advocates for Arts Advocacy Day in Washington, D.C. Hundreds of meetings and briefings took place in the House, Senate and at the White House. We are grateful to these advocates who carried our message to maintain federal investment in the arts and in education.