NEA - National Folklife Network
The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), established in Congress in 1965, is an independent federal agency that is the largest funder of the arts and arts education in communities nationwide and a catalyst of public and private support for the arts. By advancing opportunities for arts participation and practice, the NEA fosters and sustains an environment in which the arts benefit everyone in the United States.
Launched in 2021, the National Folklife Network (NFN) is a strategic initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts in cooperation with the Southwest Folklife Alliance and in collaboration with the Alliance for California Traditional Arts and the First Peoples Fund to advance cultural equity by strengthening the folklife infrastructure in both rural and urban communities across the United States.
The National Folklife Network aims to:
Uplift the practice of heritage artists, community knowledge-keepers, cultural organizers, and advocates for places and ways of life in seven designated areas across the United States.
Connect artists and a wide range of narrators of place, cultural assets, and identity in these regions to tools and resources like funding, training, and regional and national support systems.
Nurture ideas and initiatives that help strengthen and sustain the traditional arts across sectors through documentation, collaboration, and learning exchanges.