Increase funding for the National Endowment for the Arts.

The National Endowment for the Arts is one of the largest benefactors of the arts in the country. It provides more than $150 million in grants to non-profit arts organizations, state cultural institutions, and Native American tribes. Grants from the NEA, which typically range from $25,000 to $250,000, have funded more than 128,000 projects throughout the United States from folk art to grand opera. Historically, artists -- including Michelangelo, Leonardo Da Vinci, Mozart, and Shakespeare -- have been funded by national governments. Federal funding for the NEA has been cut multiple times since its creation in 1965. Increased federal funding for the NEA will translate into new museums, theatres and jobs in the arts, a field particularly hard-hit by the recession.