QUICK TAKES - April 11, 2009

Artists have been trudging up Capitol Hill during the last few months in an effort to save arts funding from the budget chopping block. On Friday, the National Endowment for the Arts responded by announcing $19.8 million in one-time grants as part of the American Recovery and Investment Act of 2009.

The grants will go to state and regional arts agencies to help prop up the arts sector of the economy, according to the NEA. Those agencies will then decide to give the funds to organizations in the performing, visual and literary arts.

The Sacramento-based California Arts Council will receive $502,400, by far the most that the NEA is awarding to a single state agency. The dollar amount was calculated by a simple formula of equal share for each state plus consideration for population, according to the NEA.

Endowment guidelines stipulate that grants should be spent on creating jobs in the arts, not programs. The state council is developing a process that fits those guidelines and expects to roll out an application process for the grants by next month, according to Mary Beth Barber, the council’s communications director.

In July, the NEA will announce the recipients of a competitive grant in which arts organizations can apply for a fixed award of either $25,000 or $50,000. (The application deadline was Monday.)

The upcoming grant is part of the overall $50 million that the NEA received as part of the stimulus package.

David Ng