Wednesday, September 29, 1965: National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities

President Johnson signs P.L. 89-209, the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act. This piece of legislation established the National Endowment on the Arts and the Humanities Foundation as an umbrella for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), and their respective councils. The NEA begins its first fiscal year with a budget $2.5 million dollars, and fewer than a dozen employees. Six programs are started in that first year, Music, Dance, Literature, Visual Arts, Theater, and Education -- while some 22 institutions and 135 individual artists are funded by the agency.

     -- From NEA website: @

* Text of act (Government Printing Office): @

* Johnson's remarks (American Presidency Project): @

* "How NEH Got Its Start" (NEH website): @

* "National Endowment for the Arts: A History, 1965-2008" (NEA, 2009): @
* "First NEA Grant Awarded to The American Ballet Theatre" (December 20, 1965; NEA website): @

* "Federalizing the Muse: United States Arts Policy and the National Endowment for the Arts, 1965-1980" (Donna M. Binkiewicz, 2004): @
* "Culture Wars: An Encyclopedia of Issues, Viewpoints, and Voices" (edited by Roger Chapman and James Ciment, 2014): @
* "Arts, Humanities, and Politics" (from "American Political Culture: An Encyclopedia," 2015): @

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