<p><strong>The Mandate</strong></p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

<p>The National Endowment for the Arts is an independent agency of the United States government created in 1965 to support the arts to the benefit of all Americans.</p>

<p><strong>Mission:</strong><br />
The National Endowment for the Arts enriches our nation and its diverse cultural heritage by supporting works of artistic excellence, advancing learning in the arts, and strengthening the arts in communities throughout the country.</p>

<p>This mission is accomplished primarily through grants to nonprofit arts organizations and partnership funding agreements with state arts agencies and their regional organizations, specific national initiatives, partnerships with other federal agencies, and research.</p>

<p>The NEA serves professional arts, community arts, music, theatre, dance, visual arts, crafts, cultural animation, heritage, folk or traditional culture, museums and galleries, libraries, archives, the preservation and conservation of artifacts, language training, the training of artists and/or cultural workers, writing, magazine publishing, translation, arts education and research. In addition, it supports non-commercial work in book publishing, media arts, film, video, television, multi-media and broadcasting.</p>

<p>The Endowment</p>

<ul>
<li>provides financial support to arts/cultural organizations</li>
<li>provides financial support to individuals in the arts/culture</li>
<li>conducts research in the arts/culture</li>
<li>promotes public understanding and appreciation of the arts/culture</li>
<li>awards prizes/honours in the arts/culture</li>
<li>provides training and professional development in artistic/cultural fields</li>
<li>publishes books and/or magazines.</li>
</ul>

<p>In terms of a role relating to national arts/cultural policies, the Endowment as a federal agency develops policies that are implemented through its programs of support. In the United States, the private sector has a significant role in supporting the arts and developing policies for such support. The amount of private sector support far exceeds available federal funds for the arts.</p>

<p><strong>The&nbsp;Governing Body</strong></p>

<p>The National Council on the Arts is the agency&rsquo;s advisory body. It is composed of the NEA&rsquo;s Chairman, 14 private citizens appointed by the U.S. President and confirmed by the Senate, and 6 members of Congress appointed by the House and Senate leadership.&nbsp; The Council meets 3 times a year to review the advisory panels&rsquo; recommendations, which the Council can accept, reject, or modify, and to make recommendations on grants and policy to the Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts.&nbsp; A decision by the Council to reject is final.</p>

<p>The Chairman, the agency&rsquo;s chief executive officer, is appointed for a four-year term by the President and confirmed by the Senate.&nbsp; The Chairman makes the final decision on all grant recommendations forwarded by the Council.&nbsp; In the case of a time-sensitive project requiring a rapid response, the Chairman may approve a grant up to $30,000 without prior Council review.&nbsp; The Chairman may also award grants of $10,000 or less (up to five percent of the agency&rsquo;s program funds) for projects without Council review.</p>

<p>The Presidential appointees serve 6-year terms; the Congressional members serve 2-year terms in an ex officio, non-voting capacity.&nbsp; The Chairman, the agency&rsquo;s chief executive officer, is appointed for a four-year term by the President and confirmed by the Senate.</p>

<p>National Council on the Arts members are selected for their knowledge of, service to, or eminence in the arts.&nbsp; The agency&rsquo;s governing legislation also stipulates that the membership must include practicing artists and, collectively, be representative of all areas of the country and all major art fields.&nbsp; The legislation further requests the President, in making appointments, to consider recommendations from leading national organizations, and give due regard to the equitable representation of women, minorities, and individuals with disabilities.</p>

<p><strong>The Staff</strong></p>

<p>NEA employees are members of the public service. There are currently 150 full-time staff members and 2 part-timet. The staff who have direct program responsibilities (those who manage programs of support to organizations and/or individuals) come from the field. The organization does not have regional offices.</p>

<p><strong>Budget and Revenue Sources:</strong></p>

<p>The organization&#39;s total budget in 2004 is US$122.5 million, all of&nbsp;which is&nbsp;provided by an appropriation from the federal government.&nbsp; The National Endowment for the Arts can receive funds from other federal agencies.&nbsp; In the 2003 fiscal year, the NEA received US$2,669,080 from other agencies.</p>

<p>The NEA receives annual funding from the government. Over the last five years, funding from government sources has increased. The NEA receives donations from non-government sources and can provide tax benefits for contributions. Over the last five years, funds from non-government sources have also&nbsp;increased.</p>

<p>The agency has increased its partnerships with private organizations and other government agencies in support of particular projects or initiatives.&nbsp; The mechanics of the partnerships often are such that funds from the partner entities do not come to the Arts Endowment before being awarded to the ultimate recipient.</p>

<p>The Agency makes every effort not to compete with its constituents when seeking non-government support and/or developing partnerships.&nbsp; In 2003, the most recently completed fiscal year, the Agency received $876,453.27 in donations.</p>

<p>The majority of direct contributions to the Arts Endowment are restricted by the donors for particular purposes.</p>

<p><strong>Programs of Financial Support for the Arts/Cultural Community</strong></p>

<p>The NEA provides financial support to organizations and individuals for professional activities. It also provides financial support to lower levels of government. Most of its programs are organized by function.</p>

<p>The funds can be used for</p>

<ul>
<li>creation</li>
<li>research and development</li>
<li>production, presentation and exhibition</li>
<li>publication</li>
<li>conservation and preservation</li>
</ul>

<p>We do not fund: general operating or seasonal support; costs for the creation of new organizations; direct grants to individuals; individual elementary or secondary schools, including charter schools, directly; construction, purchase, or renovation of facilities; commercial (for-profit) enterprises or activities; cash reserves and endowments; subgranting or regranting, except for state arts agencies, regional arts organizations, or local arts agencies that are designated to operate on behalf of their local governments or are operating units of city or county government; work toward academic degrees; activities that are designed to supplant existing in-school arts instruction; literary publishing that does not focus on contemporary literature and/or writers; exhibitions of, and other projects that primarily involve, single, privately-owned collections; projects for which the selection of artists or artworks is based upon criteria other than artistic excellence and merit, including festivals, exhibits, or publications for which no jury/editorial judgment has been applied; project costs that are supported by any other federal funds or their match.</p>

<p>Federal support must be matched at least on a 1:1 basis.&nbsp; Project support is based on annual applications.&nbsp; Applicant organizations are limited to one application per year under the Grants to Organization Guidelines with exceptions only for parent organizations with separately identifiable and independent components, fiscal agents, and consortium applications.</p>

<p><strong>Assessment of Applications for Financial Support</strong></p>

<p>A grant is awarded following review by advisory panels, the National Council on the Arts, and the Chairman.&nbsp; The process is described in grant guidelines for applicants as follows:</p>

<p>&ldquo;Applications are evaluated according to the &lsquo;Review Criteria&rsquo; for their category.&nbsp; After processing by Endowment staff, applications for Standard Review Grants are reviewed, in closed session, by advisory panelists.&nbsp; Each panel comprises a diverse group of arts experts and other individuals, including at least one knowledgeable layperson, with broad knowledge in the areas under review.&nbsp; Panel membership rotates regularly.&nbsp; The panel recommends the projects to be supported, and the Endowment staff reconciles panel recommendations with the funds that are available.&nbsp; These recommendations are forwarded to the National Council on the Arts, where they are reviewed in open session.&nbsp; The Council makes decisions on which applications to reject.&nbsp; It sends forward to the Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts those applications that it recommends for funding.</p>

<p>Fast-Track Review Grants undergo an expedited review.&nbsp; Applications are reviewed by a diverse group of individuals with expertise and broad knowledge related to the specific types of projects in this funding area.&nbsp; Following further staff review, these recommendations are forwarded to the Endowment Chairman.</p>

<p>The Chairman reviews the recommendations for both Standard Review and Fast-Track Review Grants and makes the final decision on all grant awards.&nbsp; Applicants are then notified of funding decisions.&rdquo;</p>

<p>The advisory panelists are appointed by the Endowment&rsquo;s Chairman for application review process, based on staff recommendations.&nbsp; Most panelists review applications submitted in a particular field or discipline (e.g. museums, music, dance) and category (e.g. artwork creation, education, preservation) for the current funding cycle.&nbsp; There are no standing panels.&nbsp; Generally, an individual may serve on only one panel per year, with consecutive service limited to three years.</p>

<p>Membership of each panel must be balanced in terms of geography, ethnicity, and gender.&nbsp; By law each panel must include knowledgeable laypeople and individuals with a wide range of artistic and professional expertise and viewpoints.&nbsp; As a general rule, panels also need to include state/local/regional arts agency representatives and persons with physical disabilities.</p>

<p>The panel recommends the projects to be supported, and the Endowment staff reconciles panel recommendations with funds that are available.&nbsp; Staff recommends award amounts.&nbsp; This is done based on the funds available and panel guidance (e.g. the panelists might indicate which applications should be funded to the maximum extent possible, which should receive partial support, etc.).</p>

<p>These recommendations are forwarded to the National Council on the Arts, where they are reviewed in session open to the public.&nbsp; The Council makes decisions on which applications to reject.&nbsp; It sends forward to the Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts those applications that it recommends for funding.&nbsp; The Chairman makes the final decision on all grant awards.&nbsp; Applicants are then notified of funding decisions.</p>

<p>The Arts Endowment has strict rules to avoid conflict of interest and the appearance of conflict.&nbsp; No one may serve on a panel reviewing an application from his/her own institution, or with which he or she has had an affiliation in the last year or expects to have an affiliation in the next year.</p>

<p>In making appointments to the panels, the Chairperson shall ensure that an individual who has a pending application for financial assistance under the Act (the NEA legislation), or who is an employee or agent of an organization with a pending application, does not serve as a member of any panel before which such application is pending.</p>

<p>Prior to confirming a potential panelist&rsquo;s service, the agency division which seeks his or her service will ask the individual to complete a &ldquo;Confidential Statement of Relevant Affiliations, Employment and Financial Interests&rdquo; (usually referred to in shorthand as &ldquo;the Conflicts Sheet&rdquo;) to determine whether there is a conflict which, under the Endowment&rsquo;s authorizing legislation and the government-wide ethics regulations, will prevent service on the particular panel to which the individual has been invited and will enable the division staff to locate a substitute.</p>

<p>A panelist shall not submit an application for Endowment funds on behalf of himself of herself or through a fiscal agent or as a collaborator, or on behalf of an application will be evaluated by the panel on which he or she has been invited to serve.</p>

<p><strong>Unique or Special Features of the Organization</strong></p>

<p>The U.S. tax incentive system: the U.S. tax system serves as an incentive to contribute to nonprofit arts organizations. Donations to qualified nonprofit arts organizations are allowable as charitable contributions under the Internal Revenue Code. Individuals may deduct all (or a portion thereof, depending on level of income and other factors) of such contributions from their income when determining taxes owed. There are separate rules and regulations that address corporate and business contributions.</p>

<p>According to <em>Giving USA 2003</em>, a publication that includes estimates of charitable giving by sources of contribution and recipients, in 2002 arts and culture organizations received approximately $12.2 billion in provate contributions.</p>

<p>The Business Committee for the Arts reports that in 2002 businesses contributed $1.5 billion to arts and culture.&nbsp; Support of private foundations is tracked by the Foundation Center.&nbsp; The Center&#39;s recent publication <em>Arts Funding IV, 2003</em> reports that private foundations contributed approximately $4.1 billion to this sector in 2002.&nbsp; Aggregate figures on individual giving to arts and culture are not documented.&nbsp; However, based in available information outlined above, the estimate for individual contributions is approximately $6.6 billion.</p>

<p><strong>Greatest Current Challenge</strong></p>

<p>The National Endowment for the Arts exists to serve all Americans.&nbsp; It cannot meaningfully accomplish this goal without earning the trust and respect of the American people.&nbsp; There is need to rebuild a national concensus for the responsible support of the arts and arts education by demonstrating the public value of the Agency&#39;s programs.&nbsp; The Agency must direct consistent and focused attention to its internal operations and develop a cogent account of its mission and many accomplishments.</p>

<p>The arts in America are lively, rich and diverse.&nbsp; Perhaps the NEA&#39;s greatest opportunity is to renew and enlarge the conversation between artists and the American public.&nbsp; Art without an audience is a diminished endeavour.&nbsp; Society without art is an impoverished enterprise.&nbsp; NEA can provide important leadership by presenting programs of the highest quality designed to reach the largest audiences possible, especially among historically underserved constituencies.</p>

<p>Effective education is perhaps the most important long-term issue and opportunity facing the arts world in order to foster a new generation of artists, audiences and patrons.&nbsp; Since the task of developing specific arts curricula is the responsibility of state and local governments, the Endowment has an important role in providing informed leadership, especially in determining and recommending effective teaching methods.</p>

<p><strong>Greatest Current Strength</strong></p>

<p>The National Endowment for the Arts is undertaking&nbsp;major national initiatives of artistic excellence to reach small and mid-sized communities that may not have access to such activities.&nbsp; An example is the recently launched national initiative <em>Shakespeare in American Communities</em>, the largest&nbsp;theatrical tour of Shakespeare in the nation&#39;s history.&nbsp; It comprises seven professional theatre companies that will travel to all 50 states, more than 100 small and mid-sized cities and 16 military bases, and will involve more than 100 local presenting&nbsp;organizations.&nbsp;</p>

<p>In addition to performances, the tour will include artistic and technical workshops, and educational programs in local schools.&nbsp; The Arts Endowment has produced a teacher resource kit including a CD that features recitations, produced especially for this project, by James Earl Jones, Michael York, Jane Alexander, Mel Gibson and others.&nbsp; It also contains a teacher&#39;s guide to teaching Shakespeare, instructions for performing a recitation contest with students, a beautiful timeline poster, and fun facts about Shakespeare.&nbsp; The tour will reach more than 1,000 schools and its attendant educational materials will be available without charge to tens of thousands of teachers.</p>

<p>The National Endowment for the Arts, the Sallie Mae Fund, and Arts Midwest are bringing this tour and these quality resources to a new generation of Americans, primarily in communities that do not have a resident, professional theatre company.&nbsp; The expansion to military bases is supported by the Department of Defense.</p>

<p>In 2004, the Endowment will also launch a major tour of Jazz Masters playing in towns across the United States.&nbsp; Other large initiatives are meant to associate the name of the National Endowment for the Arts with programs of indisputable merit that benefit all Americans and that introduce a new generation to the best in the performing and visual arts.</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>