On the heels of an announcement that the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) awarded 1,134 grants totaling $26.68 million to organizations and individuals in all 50 states plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico so far in FY 2018 -- came some bad news.

President Trump’s FY 2019 budget proposes (again) to eliminate the National Endowment for the Arts. 

"We are disappointed because we see our funding actively making a difference with individuals in thousands of communities and in every Congressional District in the nation," said NEA Chairman Jane Chu, who notes that the President's request is just a first step in a long budget process.

Each year, more than 4,500 communities large and small throughout the United States benefit from National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) grants to nonprofits. For the NEA’s first of two major grant announcements of fiscal year 2018, funds went to an array of community-building specific projects, and range from performances and exhibitions, to healing arts and arts education programs, to festivals and artist residencies.

“It is energizing to see the impact that the arts are making throughout the United States. These NEA-supported projects are good examples of how the arts build stronger and more vibrant communities, improve well-being, prepare our children to succeed, and increase the quality of our lives,” said Chu. “At the National Endowment for the Arts, we believe that all people should have access to the joy, opportunities, and connections the arts bring.”

Art Works is the NEA’s largest funding category and supports projects that focus on the creation of art, such as a grant of $10,000 to the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts (VCCA) in Amherst, Virginia, to support artist residencies for military veterans. VCCA will partner with three Virginia galleries to present exhibitions of the work the artists produce during their residencies.

Another $30,000 Art Works grant went to The MacDowell Colony, in Peterborough, NH, to bring 20 artists from diverse backgrounds to the first artist residency program in the U.S., established in 1907.

An array of museum exhibitions will be supported with NEA grants, from "Jefferson and Palladio: Designing Young America" at the Chrysler Museum of Art to the spring exhibition and catalogue, "Georgia O'Keeffe: Visions of Hawaii" at New York Botanical Garden.