Arts Advocacy Day 2018
Last year The Music Hall received a $10,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), awarded through the Arts Engagement in American Communities program. We used this funding to leverage an additional $10,000 in corporate support, and then turned that $20,000 into a scholarship fund to bring 600 students from two New Hampshire Title I schools (schools where more than 50% of students are eligible for the free/reduced-price lunch program) to the theater free of charge. This fund covered the cost of tickets as well as transportation and lunch for the students. That means NEA support allowed us to introduce 600 young people to live performance. A growing body of research presents compelling evidence connecting exposure to high-quality arts experiences, specifically at a young age, with a wide spectrum of academic and social benefits. This national research supports our own experiential understanding that participation in the arts benefits young students as well as lifelong learners, and drives us to continue programs like our beloved School Days Series.
In addition to this direct funding, The Music Hall receives indirect support from the NEA through the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts (NHSCA). The NHSCA is a state agency dedicated to enhancing the quality of life in New Hampshire; they have been supporting us for nearly twenty years. NEA funds make up almost 70% of the State Council’s total budget and nearly 49% of their grant-making budget.
On the flip side, the NEA is the only arts funder in America, public or private, that supports the arts in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and US territories. Approximately 40% of NEA program funds are distributed through state arts agencies like our NHSCA.
Arts Advocacy Day, hosted by Americans for the Arts in partnership with more than 85 national arts organizations, brings arts advocates from across the country together in Washington, D.C. to underscore the importance of developing strong public policies and appropriating increased public funding for the arts.
I appreciate your support of The Music Hall. I encourage you to celebrate the value of the NEA and the NHSCA, and hope that you will be vocal in your support of the arts.