Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Grantmaking topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
NEA council in Asheville approves recommended grants by ballot, emphasizing disaster recovery for Western North Carolina
Summary
At its 219th meeting in Asheville, the National Endowment for the Arts’ National Council on the Arts voted by ballot to approve NEA funding recommendations across grants for arts projects, state and regional partnerships, and national initiatives; councilors and local partners highlighted arts-driven recovery after Hurricane Helene.
The National Council on the Arts met in Asheville and approved, by ballot, the National Endowment for the Arts’ recommendations for awards across three funding categories: Grants for Arts Projects, State and Regional Partnerships, and National Initiatives. Chair Mary Anne Carter announced that council ballots were tallied and that "all recommendations for funding and rejections have passed."
Tony Chaveau, NEA deputy chair for programs and partnerships, summarized the slate presented to council members: project-based Grants for Arts Projects (GAP), state and regional partnership awards (statutorily directed to receive 40% of NEA appropriated program funds), and national initiatives including the Arts Education Partnership, USA Artist International, the Mayor’s Institute on City Design, renewed cooperative agreements such as Poetry Out Loud for the 2026–27 school year, the NEA Jazz Masters program, Big Read community reading projects, and other research and youth-focused initiatives. Chaveau said direct grants were recommended to all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.
The meeting record shows council voting was conducted by ballot; council members joining virtually were instructed to email their votes to staff immediately at the close of the grant-review portion. The transcript does not provide a member-by-member roll-call of votes. The chair announced the overall outcome as passed; specific tallies and individual votes were not specified in the transcript.
Chair Carter and other speakers framed the approvals in the context of recovery work in Western North Carolina following Hurricane Helene. Carter noted NEA engagement in disaster-readiness and response and directed the public to arts.gov for details on awarded national initiatives and disaster-related resources. The meeting also included an awards-update section brought to the council for awareness under the chairman’s delegated authority; those items did not require a vote.
