Tell the Senate to Support Increased Federal Arts Funding!

In July, the House of Representatives approved $207 million each in funding for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) for fiscal year 2023. 

Now, we need Senate approval to make this funding a reality. 

Thanks to massive support from union creative professionals, the House was moved to support this legislation and inched us closer to our ultimate goal of restoring the NEA and NEH to full funding levels of $331 million ($1 per capita) – but we still have our work cut out for us. 

Senate appropriators have recommended a lower level of funding at $195 million. 

This would be disastrous for our federally-funded arts agencies.

Increased funding means more job opportunities, and good-paying, family-supporting jobs for creative professionals in every state are critical to the recovery of arts and entertainment industries and local economies that are still struggling due to the devastation of COVID-19.

To ensure our industry’s full recovery and to protect the livelihoods of thousands of creatives, SAG-AFTRA has partnered with the Department for Professional Employees AFL-CIO (DPE) to encourage members of the Senate to approve this critical arts legislation.

HOW YOU CAN HELP

• Join the effort to encourage Senators to support this arts legislation by visiting the Action Network petition and lending your name to petitions and emails that will go directly to your elected officials.
• Check out our social media toolkit that briefly lays out the strategy of this important campaign.

The NEA and NEH provide every American with access to significant artistic and educational content and offer career pathways for a diverse array of creative professionals – two crucial elements of building more inclusive arts, entertainment, and media industries. Increased funding expands these opportunities and connections even further – won’t you help us make this vital support a reality?

In unity,
SAG-AFTRA