On October 14, 2022, Representative Suzanne Bonamici (OR-1) introduced the Capital, Repairs, and Employment for Art Talent to Improve Visibility Everywhere (CREATIVE) Act. The CREATIVE Act would expand access to capital for facilities by allowing local arts agencies, museums, and 501c3s to receive grants of up to $5 million to construct and acquire new facilities, maintain and improve existing facilities, or hire staff or produce art at existing facilities.   

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.

On March 15, 2022, President Biden signed the $1.5 trillion spending omnibus package passed by Congress on March 12. Considerations for the arts and culture sector in this spending package has been many months in the making and is the result of the dedication and leadership of arts advocates across the country. 

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 National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) today announced American Rescue Plan (ARP) grants totaling $20,200,000 to 66 local arts agencies for subgranting to help the arts and cultural sector recover from the pandemic.

On Friday, August 13, 2021, U.S. Reps. Teresa Leger Fernández (D-NM) and Jay Obernolte (R-CA) introduced the Creative Economy Revitalization Act (CERA). The bill authorizes $300 million to mitigate creative worker displacement, stimulate local creative workforce growth, strengthen connections for local creative small businesses and networks, create a pipeline for new creative jobs, enrich communities, increase access to culture, and invest in creative workers and local economies harmed by COVID-19.