U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin Announces National Endowment for the Arts Partnership Grant for Wisconsin Arts Board

Washington D.C. – U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin, who has been appointed to the National Council on the Arts, today announced that the Wisconsin Arts Board has received a 2013 partnership grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.

The Wisconsin Arts Board will receive $768,600 to be used over a three year period. The support will allow the board to fund the areas of partnership, arts in education and arts in underserved communities. The NEA funding is fundamental to the ability of the Wisconsin Arts Board to meet the needs of the citizens of Wisconsin.

“Artists and arts organizations make valuable contributions to our communities,” said Senator Baldwin. “I’m excited to see this support for the Arts in Wisconsin because it will help add value to our quality of life and help strengthen our tourism economy.”  

The NEA will award over $45 million in partnership agreements to fund 54 state and jurisdictional arts agencies and six regional arts organizations throughout the country. By supporting these agencies, the NEA brings the arts to more communities than it could through direct grants to nonprofit organizations alone.

“The Wisconsin Arts Board is pleased to continue its partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts in meeting the needs of the people of Wisconsin,” said George Tzougros, Executive Director of the Wisconsin Arts Board. “This award is crucial to the Arts Board’s statewide service.  With it and the required state match, we are able to provide grants, information, and technical assistance to the people of Wisconsin.”

In order to be eligible for NEA partnership funds, each state arts agency develops long-range plans that help position arts and culture in a broad range of public policy areas such as cultural tourism, community revitalization, economic development, education, and health and human services. In addition, each state arts agency must match its NEA funding on at least a 1:1 basis, supporting programs at the local and state levels. Through the combination of the NEA’s partnership agreements and appropriations from the respective state legislatures, the state arts agencies will fund more than 21,000 arts projects in over 4,500 communities.