Our first panel of witnesses today. They are chairs of the National Endowment for the humanities and arts. Both witnesses are appearing for the first time before our subcommittee. Congratulations to both of you and your confirmation and thank you. Todays hearing provide us with a chance to hear more about the great work both endowments have done over the last couple of years and supporting our communities across the country economically, culturally and educationally. The National Endowment for the arts and humanities are a perfect example of how the federal government can be a positive force in communities large and small in every single state. In your statement following your confirmation, dr. Jackson, you said in addition to serving as an economic engine, arts and creativity are core to what it takes to heal our nation, communities and ourselves. I wholeheartedly agree. The fy 2020 three budget request for the National Endowment for the humanities is 200. 6 8 million 200. 68 million. For the arts, it is 203. 55 million. These requests build on the vital increases in funding this committee has provided to the endowments in fy 2022. The bill provided an increase of 12. 5 million apiece above fy 2021. In addition, congress has provided funding to both and count endowments through the cares act and American Rescue plan. These additional investments totaled 210 million for each endowment. This supplement all funding saved jobs, cultural institutions and provided an essential lifeline to Industries Hit hard by the pandemic. Following the passage of the 2022 build, he released a statement highlighting how the funding would allow any age to support cultural and educational institutions which we are still in the midst of recovering from the pandemic. A recovery which still continues to this day for much of the sector. As you pointed out, that funding was allowed to expand essential acts to all americans in this critical time. Looking forward, there is still more work to be done. Every dollar provided to the endowments has an economic footprint many times larger on the community it is invested in. As we will discuss today, continuing strong funding for the endowments work provides benefits to far ranging fields. I look forward to working with her and our subcommittee colleagues to continue providing the necessary resources within reasonable spending limits. Thank you. I yield back. Thank you very much. I would now like to recognize chair lowe followed by chair jackson for their opening remarks. Thank you so much for being with us today. Good morning. [speaking foreign language] good morning, everybody. Madam chair and a sting which of the subcommittee. I have the honor of serving as the 12th chair of the National Endowment for the humanities. Im pleased to speak on behalf of of our budget request for the upcoming fiscal year. Neh is the only federal agency dedicated to funding the humanities which includes history, philosophy, literature, language, archaeology and comparative religion. We fund numerous techs and products such as advanced Humanities Research leading to Curriculum Initiative and professional development for educators at all levels. The documentation and presentation preservation of languages, physical and Digital Infrastructure along with many more endeavors essential to National Progress and scholarships in the humanities. N has spente muchh and support colleges and universities, museums, libraries, historic sites, Public Television and radio stations, independent researchers and documentary film makers struggling to cope with the economic fallout of the covid19 pandemic, which we continue to grapple with today. Thanks to funding from the cares act and American Rescue plan, neh has been able to distribute millions in economic Recovery Funding helping organizations maintain programs, facilities and operations, and combine physical programs into digital offerings to increase access even from a distance. There is so much to be done in the humanities are vital to rebuilding our communities, institutions and regional economies. The neh fy request is 208 million. This will allow neh to support the fundamental building box of American Civil Society and fun projects that help us understand our cultural heritage, Mutual Respect for deborahs in culture diverse literature and culture and will allow us to expand some of nehs most impactful initiatives in fy 2023. These projects reach millions of americans in rural areas, urban neighborhoods and suburban communities. In the last year, projects supported by the state and jurisdictional counsel and recipients reached more than 6. 6 million participants. The proposed fy 2022 appropriation will also enable the expansion of nehs a more Perfect Union initiative which builds on the 57 Year Investment in projects that preserve, explore and promote american history. As neh chair, im deeply committed to spending the grantmaking and products we support so that all americans have opportunities to participate and benefit from humanities, research, education and public programs. We plan to create an neh office of evaluation to analyze the effectiveness of Agency Programs and policies in an advancing equity and support for underserved communities, an office of outreach to focus on increasing nehs engagement with underserved communities institutions and achieve a chief diversity position to advise the agency. Recognizing our changing climate, neh is also developing new initiatives to study and address the impacts of climate events on our cultural resources, museums and historic sites. The budget request before you will allow neh to build upon our current work and move the Agency Forward in changing our work. Thank you and i look forward to your questions. Thank you so much. Chair jackson, we would love to hear from you. Thank you. Good morning. Im grateful for your leadership and support for the arts and it is an honor to serve as chair of the National Endowment for the arts and to discuss with you President Bidens fiscal 2023 budget request. 203. 55 million for the nea. Before doing so, i would like to share a bit about myself. My commitment to the arts began at home. My father, who retired from the u. S. Postal service, and my mother who worked for the Los Angeles Unified School district, looked to the arts to teach my brother and me about the richness of our cultures. They wanted us to be proud and curious about our own stories and the stories of others. Through the arts, they wanted us to become aware of our similarities, differences and shared humanity. And to understand the power of creativity, imagination and entrepreneurial spirit. Those values have been foundational throughout my career. The work of the nea is more important now than ever. The arts, in addition to serving as an economic engine, are essential to improving our childrens education and to the wellbeing and health of our nation. For these reasons, advancing equity and access to the arts for all people is critical he important. The nea is small but mighty. Every Congressional District benefits annually from nea awards. Due to tremendous need throughout the arts sector, we must do more. This budget increases investments and programs that have a tangible benefit in your communities, allows for greater engagement with organizations, regardless of size or zip code, and made possible additional strategies that promote the health and wellbeing of all people. Whether in rural or urban areas, all americans should be able to participate in the arts. That is to experience artwork, to be expressive and make art, to teach and learn, to have creative outlets, and in other words, to lead artful lives essential to our full potential as a nation. The arts serve as an economic engine. In a recent study by the bureau of Economic Analysis with the nea, arts and cultural Economic Activity accounted for 4. 2 of the gdp, or 876 billion in 2020. That report also shows arts workers were especially hardhit. While the arts have great power to fuel our economy, the sector requires significant support. As you know, the nea received cares funding of 75 million, and American Rescue plan funding. The nea distributed resources to the six regional arts organizations, 56 state and jurisdictional arts agencies and made awards to 66 local arts agencies for subgrants in 38 states. The arts endowment also approved grants to organizations in all states, puerto rico, the u. S. Virgin islands and district of columbia. The president s budget builds upon past investments and recognizes the neas Critical Role in supporting communities. This includes programs focused on small and firsttime applicants and programs that strengthen communities through arts and design. Turning to education and wellbeing, neas Arts Education funding helps to close the opportunity gap for students who have the least access to the arts. The nea Research Labs are exploring the arts ability to treat chronic pain, delay cognitive decline among older adults and to foster social and Emotional Development in early childhood. Health related work also includes Creative Forces. Neas military Healing Arts Network is focused on military and veteran populations exposed to trauma. Arts, culture and design also play essential roles toward more inclusive and equitable communities by building bridges across cultures, fostering Mutual Respect, helping people enter meaningful careers and much more. This budget will build on successful engagement with historically black colleges and universities and tribal communities and increased outlook to hispanic serving institutions. It will allow the nea to continue a comprehensive approach to advancing equity for all people including veterans, people with disabilities and those in urban and rural areas alike. I look forward to continuing to earn the arts endowment bipartisan support and im happy to take your questions. Thank you. Thank you both so much. It is great to have a chance to have both of you in front of our committee. We apologize that we had to cancel once and bring you back today. We may have members coming in and going. It is a busy day on the hill especially when he rescheduled to a time you did not originally have, but we are thrilled to have you here. Lets start with some questions and im going to jump right in. Rather than talking about your overall budget, i want to talk about a couple of the specific programs that you are both doing and again, i really appreciate the work that you did there and i think it is so important to recognize the world that the nea and neh played in helping our cultural institutions. As you mentioned, some of the Funding Congress was able to make available i know has been critically important. One problem i want to talk about through the nea is the work that collaborative citizens answer to unroll design has been doing improving the quality of life and economic revitalization of Rural Communities across the united states. I come from the most rural state in the nation, so we know some of the challenges communities have had to face in going through extreme change. The institute has worked with an area in my home state to power the community. It has been pivoting from a previous focus in the Paper Industry to looking forward to what their future will be. Could you talk a little bit about how the work of the institute promotes economic strength in communities alongside Building Community cohesion . Absolutely. It is good to see you again. The Citizens Institute on rural design having a planning background myself is one of the programs that really calls my attention at the arts endowment. The strength of it is the networks of citizens and leaders who have the opportunity to delve into Design Principles to better understand what is possible in terms of Community Development in rural areas. This includes exchanging best practices across the country, being able to access design resources that would not otherwise be available to them. It is helpful in getting organizations ready to compete effectively for funding and design and the arts among other fields because it strengthens the ability to do problemsolving and to think imaginable imaginatively about what is possible. Again, the ability to have citizens and leaders come together, draw from other resources and also exercise your imagination and understanding what could be possible in your community is really thank you for that. I appreciate your planning background, it rings something completely different to this important program. I want to talk about the infrastructure and Capacity Building grants, can you tell us how the neh leverages federal dollars to catalyze nonfederal investment in humanities advancements through those grants . Thank you for that important question. One of the unique aspects of any nhr Grant Funding wise are the ability for projects, institutions, organizations to apply for challenge grants for infrastructure grants. These are large grants, large projects. What we do is, we require matching funding from nonfederal entities. An institution applies to these grants and are awarded through in eh. Because we have such a rigorous evaluation process, we have entities come and tell us, that gives us a stamp of approval. We have gone through this rigorous application process, we have been deemed to have a good project. This funding, we can go out and ask private funding, state funding, philanthropic funding, individual funding to help support these amazing projects help come to fruition. It allows us to use federal funding to export projects and allow individuals to seek private funding from those projects. That is so great. Given the small amount of funding the neh has, it seems critically important to help communities seek other sources of funds out there. I yield back my time and recognize Ranking Member joyce for his question. Thank you, madam chair. Chair jackson, welcome kate i am always impressed by the work neh carries out. To help our military veterans in populations, as well as can you express describe how Creative Voices have had an impact on military veterans, and how this continues to support these efforts . Thank you for that question, Ranking Member joyce. The Creative Forces program is an amazing initiative, as you know. It has grown over the last 10 to 12 years, to have 12 sites all over the country. It is a collaboration between the department of defense and veterans affairs. The impact it has had not only on military personnel who have experienced trauma, but by extension, their families owned communities have been documented in ways that are credible scientifically. I think it is a Remarkable Program that has the capacity to inspire other ways of understanding the arts in society in general. It is one of the things i am excited about, it is what we are learning from that work at the intersection of arts and health through the military and its application in both communities, for sure, and beyond. One of the ways that the program is expanding is there is a Grant Program now that is focused on Community Resources that are available to expand the work be on to the sites that are based in the military facilities. Bring getting more and more people into the fold as we think about bringing more and more people into the fold as we think about community, Creative Forces as a source. For the military community and beyond. How did neh and partners provide care during the pandemic, and what lessons were learned to help this program in the long run . Thank you for that question. There was great care to ensure they would not be disruptions in treatment. Innovations were made in terms of delivery of services through technology, through the internet, apple occasions applications that didnt exist before and are now available to us as options. Because, we had to pivot in so many ways to rearrange our lives and the way we work. There were a whole host of teleservices, if you will, that are now options for these programs that were not available before. That is great. Thank you, very much. Chairwoman, and understand you grew up in a small Navajo Community in northeast arizona where you saw the impacts humanities had on communities in rural america. How do you hope to expand nehs reach across the country and ensure resources are evenly distributed across the country . This is very close to my heart. I did grow up in a very small, very rural community. I paid a lot of attention to where our neh funding had been going, but more particularly to where our neh had neh funding had not been going. Applications were not coming in from rural areas as well as small institutions. It is a big goal of mine to ensure the work we do is going to be reaching our communities and Rural Communities, this will be done in a couple different manners. One, we hope to very much create a of