While no government can call a great artist or scholar into existence, it is necessary and appropriate for the Federal Government to help create and sustain not only a climate encouraging freedom of thought, imagination, and inquiry but also the material conditions facilitating the release of this creative talent. It is vital to a democracy to honor and preserve its multicultural artistic heritage as well as support new ideas, and therefore it is essential to provide financial assistance to its artists and the organizations that support their work. To fulfill its educational mission, achieve an orderly continuation of free society, and provide models of excellence to the American people, the Federal Government must transmit the achievement and values of civilization from the past via the present to the future, and make widely available the greatest achievements of art. In order to implement these findings and purposes, it is desirable to establish a National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities. Federal funded arts range from sculptures to dances, and from murals to orchestras.
Federal money is used for many purposes in order to support the arts.
There are many agendas that the funding helps serve in the arts. The NEA supports art education. Studies have shown that engagement and persistence in students improve with an arts-based curriculum. The arts have been shown to help understanding of different cultures, and can aid students for finding jobs. Research shows that visual imagery in the study of art helps students understanding of mathematical concepts.