Where Will Federal Arts Money Go If State Arts Agencies Disappear?

Forty percent of the budget of the National Endowment for the Arts – $116.5 million this fiscal year – goes directly to state arts agencies, which then pass most of it on to local arts groups and projects. But what happens if states eliminate their arts agencies? “By law we cannot write a check if there is no agency to write a check to,” says NEA chief Dana Gioia.