NEA 50th Anniversary
NEA Celebrates 50 Years
On September 29, 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act, creating the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities. To celebrate the agency’s 50th anniversary, we created this web section to highlight how the NEA has helped nurture the arts in the country and made it accessible to all Americans.
Milestones
These videos look at some of the important artists and organizations that the NEA has supported over the years, and the impact they have made on U.S. culture.
Timeline
Highlights from the history of the NEA.
United States of Arts
People from across the country share their stories about how the arts are important to them.
Fun Fact
In 2008, the NEA, in partnership with the Joint Committee on the Library and the Office of the Architect of the Capitol, administered the design competition for a statue of civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks to be permanently installed in National Statuary Hall in the U.S. Capitol Building. This was the first commission of a full-sized statue authorized and funded by the U.S. Congress since the 1870s.
