Title 20EducationRelease 119-73

§954a Access to the arts through support of education

Title 20 › Chapter CHAPTER 26— - SUPPORT AND SCHOLARSHIP IN HUMANITIES AND ARTS; MUSEUM SERVICES › Subchapter SUBCHAPTER I— - NATIONAL FOUNDATION ON THE ARTS AND THE HUMANITIES › § 954a

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

Lets the head of the National Endowment for the Arts set up grants and contracts to make arts education easier to get for all Americans, including people from different cultures and from cities and rural areas. It aims to improve arts teaching at schools and in other learning programs for all ages, to fund research on better teaching, and to help artists, arts groups, and government agencies work together. The program covers nine kinds of activities, such as expanding arts instruction for youth and lifelong learners, improving teacher training and curriculum, building faculty skills, evaluating programs, creating partnerships with education and business, supporting apprenticeships, internships, and artist residencies, upgrading technology and facilities, and running demonstration projects and sharing their results. The head must also appoint an advisory council to give advice on arts education.

Full Legal Text

Title 20, §954a

Education — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)The purposes of this section are—
(1)to increase accessibility to the arts through providing education to all Americans, including diverse cultures, urban and rural populations by encouraging and developing quality education in the arts at all levels, in conjunction with programs of nonformal education for all age groups, with formal systems of elementary, secondary, and postsecondary education;
(2)to develop and stimulate research to teach quality education in the arts; and
(3)to encourage and facilitate the work of artists, arts institutions, and Federal, State, regional, and local agencies in the area of education in the arts.
(b)The Chairperson of the National Endowment for the Arts,11 So in original. The comma probably should not appear. is authorized to establish and carry out a program of contracts with, or grants to, any State or other public agency, individual, artist, any nonprofit society, performing and nonperforming arts and educational institution or organization, association, or museum in the United States, in order to foster and encourage exceptional talent, public knowledge, understanding, and appreciation of the arts, and to support the education, training, and development of this Nation’s artists, through such activities as projects that will—
(1)promote and improve the availability of arts instruction for American youth and life-long learning in the arts;
(2)enhance the quality of arts instruction in programs of teacher education;
(3)develop arts faculty resources and talents;
(4)support and encourage the development of improved curriculum materials in the arts;
(5)improve evaluation and assessment of education in the arts programs and instruction;
(6)foster cooperative programs with the Department of Education and encourage partnerships between arts and education agencies at State and local levels, arts organizations, business colleges and universities;
(7)support apprenticeships, internships, and other career oriented work-study experiences for artists and arts teachers, and encourage residencies of artists at all educational levels;
(8)support the use of technology and improved facilities and resources in education in the arts programs at all levels; and
(9)foster the development of demonstration projects, demonstration productions, demonstration workshops, and demonstration programs in arts education and collect, and make available to the public, information on their implementation and effectiveness.
(c)In order to provide advice and counsel concerning arts education, the Chairperson shall appoint an advisory council on arts education.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

Section effective Oct. 1, 1990, see section 318 [title IV, § 403(a)] of Pub. L. 101–512, set out as an

Effective Date

of 1990 Amendment note under section 951 of this title.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

20 U.S.C. § 954a

Title 20Education

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73