Advancing Equity Through the Arts and Humanities Act of 2023
This bill establishes an Advancing Equity Through the Arts and Humanities Program to increase engagement with public and nonprofit entities (including faith-based and community-based organizations that serve and are led by people of color) in supporting arts and humanities projects that directly combat systemic racism through the arts and humanities. The National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities shall carry out this program.
The bill also provides for a competitive grant program for the creation and expansion of programs to support public and nonprofit arts and humanities organizations that directly combat systemic racism through the arts and humanities.
[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3239 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
118th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 3239
To address systemic racism through the arts and humanities in the
United States.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
May 11, 2023
Ms. Lee of California (for herself, Mr. Bowman, Mr. Kim of New Jersey,
Ms. Clarke of New York, Ms. Bonamici, Mr. Evans, Ms. Scanlon, and Mr.
Takano) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Education and the Workforce
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To address systemic racism through the arts and humanities in the
United States.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Advancing Equity Through the Arts
and Humanities Act of 2023''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress makes the following findings:
(1) Access to the arts and cultural programming influences
positive social determinants and is integral to healthy
communities.
(2) In America, the received narrative is that the arts are
for entertainment or for artists, but a deeper look shows the
profound effect access to the arts has on those most impacted
by the justice system, children, veterans, low-income
communities, and self-designated non-artists.
(3) Concentrated cultural districts are associated with
reduced poverty without neighborhood displacement, improved
child welfare, and lower morbidity.
(4) Low-income neighborhoods with cultural resources have
14 percent fewer cases of child abuse and neglect, and 18
percent less serious crime than low-income neighborhoods
without cultural resources.
(5) Low-income students who participate in the arts, both
in school and after school, have a dropout rate of just 4
percent or 5 times lower than their peers. Children with access
to arts programming in schools showed a 22.55 percent
improvement in math proficiency, a 12.62 percent improvement in
reading, and suspensions were reduced by as much as 89 percent.
(6) Seventy-one percent of at-risk students with high arts
involvement attend college, whereas only 48 percent of at-risk
students with low arts involvement attend college.
(7) Participation in after-school arts programs causes
juvenile crime to fall by 4.2 percent on average, and slightly
more (5.4 percent) in lower-income cities.
(8) Arts programming in prisons showed an 89-percent drop
in infractions.
(9) The cultural economy is significant not only in cities,
but also in rural and tribal communities. Forty percent of
Native American households on the Pine Ridge Reservation in
Kyle, South Dakota, depend on home-based arts enterprises.
(10) The arts heal the mental, physical, and moral injuries
of war for military servicemembers and veterans, as well as aid
in their reintegration into the community.
(11) Arts and culture is an $878,000,000,000 industry in
the U.S. (nonprofit, commercial, education). The nonprofit arts
industry alone generates $166,300,000,000 in annual economic
activity spending by organizations and their audience, which
supports 4,600,000 jobs and generates $27,500,000,000 in
government revenue.
(12) The National Endowment for the Arts is the only arts
funder in the United States, public or private, that provides
access to the arts in all 50 States, the District of Columbia,
and territories of the United States.
(13) Many of the most far-reaching victories for racial
healing in the United States have been greatly enhanced by the
involvement, support, and dedication of individuals from any
and all racial groups.
(14) At the same time, much of the progress toward racial
healing and racial equity in the United States has been limited
or reversed by our failure to address the root cause of racism,
the belief in the myth of a hierarchy of human value based on
superficial physical characteristics such as skin color and
facial features.
(15) Limited arts access is linked to economic and racial
inequities as well as resource deprivation.
(16) Arts organizations serving communities of color are,
in general, much less financially secure and far smaller than
their counterparts in White communities. The median budgets of
the 20 largest arts organizations serving communities of color
in a given discipline, such as dance, theater, or music, were
more than 90 percent smaller than the budgets of the largest
organizations in that discipline.
(17) Children of color, who make up the overwhelming
percentage of the children living in poverty in the United
States, and other students with lower socioeconomic status,
have a lower probability of accessing arts education.
(18) Access to arts education declined significantly more
for Black and Brown students than it did for White children
between 1982 and 2008. There was less than a 2 percent decrease
for White children, while there was a 49 percent decrease for
Black children and a 40 percent decrease for Latin children.
(19) The arts are in everyone. Everyone should have access
to the arts.
(20) Racial and ethnic inequality is a result of systematic
and internalized racism and racist public and private policies
and practices. Dismantling structural racism through the arts
and humanities is critical to the health of our Nation.
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.
(1) Antiracism.--The term ``antiracism'' means a collection
of antiracist policies and practices that lead to racial
equity, are substantiated by antiracist ideas, and include a
policy or practice that recognizes pervasive racism in society,
and actively combats racial prejudice and discrimination in
order to promote racial justice and equity.
(2) Antiracist.--The term ``antiracist'' means any measure
that produces or sustains racial equity between racial groups,
including any policy or practice that produces active
resistance to and dismantling of the system of racism.
(3) Systemic racism.--The term ``systemic racism'' means
systems of power, unfair policies, discriminatory practices,
and normalized dynamics (historical, cultural, internalized,
interpersonal, institutional) that routinely produce
inequitable outcomes for oppressed people and advantages for
privileged people, with the effect of creating and sustaining
inequities.
(4) Equity.--The term ``equity'' means fair and impartial
outcomes, opportunities, and access for an individual (or
entity) engaging with an organization or systems (political and
socio-economic), to receive or experience what is needed (not
equal) in order to maintain fairness.
(5) BIPOC.--The term ``BIPOC'' is an acronym to refer
inclusively to--
(A) ``Black, Indigenous, and People of Color'',
which includes South West Asian and North African
(SWANA);
(B) Black and African American; Hispanic and
Latino; and
(C) Native American, Alaska Native, and Indigenous
American; Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific
Islander (AANHPI) peoples.
(6) Hispanic.--The term ``Hispanic'' means an individual
whose origin is Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Central or South
American, or any other Spanish-speaking country.
(7) BIPOC-led.--The term ``BIPOC-led'' means an
organization that is founded by or currently has executive
leadership made up of BIPOC individuals, but excludes an
organization that is predominantly White or serves
predominantly White audiences that simply have a BIPOC
individual in a token leadership position.
(8) Chairpersons.--The term ``Chairpersons'' means the
Chairperson of the National Endowment for the Arts and the
Chairperson of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
(9) Promising practices.--The term ``promising practices''
means programs that have strategies, activities, or approaches
which have supporting research and evaluation, as well as
measurable outcomes that have shown the program to be effective
and impactful for participants.
(10) Humanities.--The term ``humanities'' means a
discipline and method to share stories, ideas, and experiences.
(11) Humanities organization.--The term ``humanities
organization'' means an organization that connects people
through stories, ideas, and experiences that positively change
lives and strengthen communities, bringing communities together
for meaningful encounters, and includes--
(A) cultural and tribal organizations; museums;
performing artists; and
(B) libraries and archives; media; historical
societies; publishers; arts and crafts groups;
educational institutions; and more.
SEC. 4. ADVANCING EQUITY THROUGH THE ARTS AND HUMANITIES PROGRAM.
(a) In General.--
(1) Antiracism program.--There is established an Advancing
Equity Through the Arts and Humanities Program, to be carried
out by the Chairperson of the National Endowment for the Arts
(in this Act referred to as the NEA) and the Chairperson of the
National Endowment for the Humanities (in this Act referred to
as the NEH) to increase engagement with public and nonprofit
entities (including faith-based and community-based
organizations that serve and are led by people of color) and to
support arts and humanities projects that directly combat
systemic racism through the arts and humanities.
(2) Program components.--Under the Advancing Equity through
the Arts and Humanities Program, the Chairpersons of NEA and
NEH shall--
(A) encourage, consult with, and engage in capacity
building with public and nonprofit entities, including
faith-based and community-based organizations, led by
majority BIPOC to--
(i) build and implement a competitive grant
program that directly combats systemic racism
through the arts and humanities;
(ii) review and augment existing NEA and
NEH programs to include strategies to dismantle
systemic racism through the arts and
humanities;
(iii) develop and implement outreach
strategies and provide pre- and post-technical
support for NEA and NEH programs that directly
combat systemic racism through the arts and
humanities; and
(iv) provide free grant writing training
and technical support for grant applicants,
including potential and unapproved applicants;
(B) collaborate with governmental agencies,
universities, museums, and non-profit, faith-based, and
community-based organizations with anti-racism
initiatives focused on dismantling systemic racism by
helping remove barriers to access;
(C) build a database of grantees to increase
participation and outreach in consultation with the
advisory task force created under this Act;
(D) ensure grant panelists include majority BIPOC
members, majority artists, advocates, community
leaders, researchers, people who have participated in
arts programing while incarcerated, and educators;
(E) ensure that grantees who partner with other
organizations do so with those who employ and center
communities of color;
(F) have the discretion to extend grant funding for
multi-year initiatives in good standing and waive
matching grant requirements; and
(G) create an advisory task force, not later than
90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, to
develop guidelines for the grantmaking process and
reassess equitable outreach and education as follows:
(i) Members of the task force shall
include: majority BIPOC members, majority
artists, arts and humanities advocates
representing the diversity of the spectrum of
arts and humanities, community leaders,
researchers, at least 1 person who has
participated in arts programing while
incarcerated, an educator from a public
institution, youth, and represent geographic
and multigenerational diversity.
(ii) Members of the task force shall be
paid a fair wage for their service.
(iii) The task force shall, not later than
180 days after formation, submit to the
Chairpersons of the National Endowment for the
Arts and the National Endowment for the
Humanities, and make publicly available, a
report that includes--
(I) recommended guidelines for the
grantmaking process and reassess
equitable outreach and education;
(II) a recommended antiracism
framework for the selection of
panelists and grantees, including
eligibility requirements;
(III) a recommended framework to
increase accessibility to grants, such
as free grant writing classes,
culturally and linguistically
appropriate pre and post technical
assistance to apply for grants and
produce reports, in-language resources,
and partnerships with community-based
organizations and other public and
private nonprofits;
(IV) recommendations to ensure that
requests for proposals (RFPs) are
equitable and accessible to all
individuals;
(V) review a database of grantees
to increase participation and outreach;
and
(VI) implement recommendations
aligned with task force guidelines.
SEC. 5. GRANT PROGRAM.
(a) Establishment.--Not later than 180 days after the funds are
appropriated to carry out this Act, the Chairpersons, in consultation
with the advisory task force, shall establish a competitive grant
program to be administered jointly in the National Endowment for the
Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities, to make grants to
eligible entities to create and expand programs to support public and
nonprofit arts and humanities organizations that directly combat
systemic racism through the arts and humanities, including dance,
music, theater, musical theater, literary, poetry and spoken word,
visual and public art, performing, media arts, social justice, faith-
based, folk and traditional, and other arts and humanities
organizations.
(b) Eligible Entities.--To carry out the components of the program
under this section, the Chairpersons shall--
(1) give priority in this order to the following eligible
entities:
(A) public and nonprofit organizations that work to
combat systemic racism through arts and humanities
projects, including--
(i) public and nonprofit organizations that
are BIPOC-led;
(ii) public and nonprofit organizations
that have majority BIPOC executive staff and
board members and center them as decision
makers;
(iii) public and nonprofit organizations
that have a proven history of effective and
ongoing antiracism work that has made
demonstrative change in organizational culture
and shows a commitment to supporting the BIPOC
community; and
(iv) organizations, including community-
based organizations, that are fiscally
sponsored; and
(2) not include any for-profit entity.
(c) Allowable Use of Funds.--An eligible entity that receives a
grant under this section shall carry out 1 or more of the following:
(1) Planning, developing, and implementing an initiative
and programming that work to combat systemic racism through
arts and/or humanities, including--
(A) the arts or humanities engagement and
education, such as artist residency, arts festivals,
coalition building, community co-creation of art,
performances, and public art;
(B) design, such as artist or designer-facilitated
community planning, design of artist space, design of
cultural facilities, and public space design;
(C) artist and creative industry support, such as
creative business development and professional artist
development;
(D) arts and humanities programs for incarcerated
individuals and for the prevention of re-incarceration;
and
(E) other arts and humanities programming that work
to dismantle systemic racism.
(2) General support, including capital funding, salaries,
contractors and consultants, office space and supplies,
benefits and insurance and other operational needs.
(3) Research to further the grant recipient's work to
dismantle systemic racism through the arts or humanities.
(4) Training to further the grant recipient's work to
dismantle systemic racism through the arts or humanities.
(d) Administrative Expenses.--The Chairpersons may use not more
than 5 percent of funds available to carry out this section for
administration of the Advancing Equity Through the Arts and Humanities
Program, including technical assistance, collaboration with other
relevant agencies, and dissemination of best practices.
(e) Grantees.--An eligible entity that receives a grant under this
section shall submit an annual report to the Chairpersons describing--
(1) the proposed and actual uses of funds, including a
description of how much funding supported which promising
practices;
(2) racial and ethnic demographics of persons administering
and implementing the grants in a manner that protects
personally identifiable information;
(3) how funds were used and its effect on dismantling
systemic racism and other outcomes, which may include success
measures such as community culture surveys, workplace culture
surveys, community and program participant feedback, and
existing diagnostic or formative assessments, disaggregated by
race and ethnicity, age, and gender in a manner that protects
personally identifiable information; and
(4) how the grant funds were supplemented with State and
local funds, or other funding streams.
(f) Reports to Congress.--Beginning 1 year after the first grants
are awarded under this section, and annually thereafter, the
Chairpersons shall publicly submit and digitally publish a report to
Congress detailing--
(1) the criteria on which grants were awarded;
(2) eligible entities that received grants and amount of
funding received by each grantee;
(3) barriers to access for BIPOC individuals and
communities, how NEA and NEH addressed these challenges, and
recommendations for Congress to help support NEA and NEH
address these barriers;
(4) the proposed and actual uses of funds, including--
(A) a description of community impact; racial and
ethnic demographics of persons administering and
implementing the grants; and
(B) racial and ethnic demographics of grant panel,
in a manner that protects personally identifiable
information;
(5) available outcomes related to the grant's impact to
dismantle systemic racism through the arts and humanities;
(6) the technical assistance activities of the National
Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the
Humanities and costs of these activities, dissemination costs,
and costs of other activities supported by the set-aside for
the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment
for the Humanities; and
(7) any other information as deemed appropriate by the
Chairpersons.
(g) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized to be
appropriated such sums as may be necessary to carry out this section.
<all>
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on Education and the Workforce.
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