U.S. Representatives David Cicilline (RI-01) and Jim Langevin (RI-02) have signed onto a letter to the Chairman and Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Committee Subcommittee on the Interior, urging them to increase funding for the National Endowment for the Arts to $155 million, an increase of about $7 million from its current level of about $148 million. More than 150 Members of Congress have signed onto the letter.
“Few other federal investments have such a widespread impact and multiplying effect across the nation as does the Arts Endowment,” the letter reads. “For every one dollar spent on direct grants, nearly nine non-federal dollars are matched, generating $600 million in matching support while at the same time enriching our children and communities with access to the arts they might no otherwise have.”