This article has been reproduced with kind permission of the publisher, The New York Foundation for the Arts online newsletter 'Current' WASHINGTON, DC -- The annual process of funding the agencies that support the arts and humanities in the US has begun in Congress, with both the Senate and House recommending a slight increase for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and a larger increase for the National Endowment for the Humanities, (NEH) in order to fund the agency's new 'We the People' initiative. On July 10, the Senate Appropriations Committee recommended $117 million for the NEA -- in line with the amount that President Bush requested in his FY04 budget proposal -- and $142 million for the NEH. The amount provided for NEH includes an additional $15 million to implement 'We the People'. The House Interior Appropriations Committee has recommended $117 million ($117.480) for the NEA. The Committee recommended $137 million for the NEH -- $15 million less than the President's request of $152 million, but $12.1 million over the FY03 level of $124.9 million. $10 million of the $137 million is designated for the 'We The People' initiative. The 'We The People' initiative funds projects by humanities scholars, filmmakers, and radio producers that elucidate history. Funded projects in the recent round include Annie Oakley: Woman, myth and symbol (Film/Video Arts, New York City); Ernest Hemingway: After the storm (Educational Broadcasting Corporation, New York City); and The Percy Julian Biography Project (Educational Foundation, Boston, MA, for a two-hour television documentary on chemist/inventor Percy Julian, whose work included synthesizing cortisone, progesterone, and testosterone and who was the first African American elected to the National Academy of Sciences). According to a spokesperson in Congresswoman Louise Slaughter's office, a bipartisan group of representatives are expected to propose the Slaughter-Shays-Dicks amendment that will provide an increase of $10 million for the NEA and $5 million for the NEH. Put forth by Representatives Slaughter (D-NY) and Chris Shays (R-CT), co-chairs of the Congressional Arts Caucus, and Norm Dicks (D-WA), Ranking Minority Member on the Interior Appropriations Subcommittee, the amendment would restore funding for the NEA to the level that the House passed last year in a bipartisan amendment approved by a vote of 234 to 192. This increase was lost in the final House-Senate conference process. "IF THE AMERICAN ARTS SYSTEM IS REMARKABLY COMPLEX, DECENTRALIZED, AND DYNAMIC, IT IS ALSO UNIQUELY EFFECTIVE - PRODUCING A CULTURAL LANDSCAPE OF ENORMOUS SIZE AND UNMATCHED DIVERSITY..." - Dana Gioia In a Speech on 'Can the National Endowment for the Arts Matter?' given to the National Press Club on June 30, 2003, NEA Chairman Dana Gioia pointed out that ten years ago the topic might well have been 'Should the NEA Exist?' But in the ensuing years, the NEA has weathered the "culture wars" and although its funding was reduced from a high point in 1992 of $176 million, its basic mission and continuing existence seem assured. "Of course, some critics of the agency remain -- and what public institution in a democracy does not need critics? - but these dissenters remain outside the majority. The NEA now exists on a firm foundation of bipartisan support," Gioia told the Press Club. He pointed out that many studies have shown that NEA grants are exponentially effective -- with every dollar that the NEA gives in grants generating 7 to 8 times more money in terms of matching grants, further donations, and earned revenue. "The reason for this multiplying effect is obvious: NEA funding has the power to legitimize a new organization and further validate an existing one," he emphasized. "Such endorsements attract further support. As the old saying goes, 'Nothing succeeds like success.' In this way early NEA support helped create major ongoing arts organisations as diverse as the American Film Institute, the Spoleto Festival USA, and PBS Great Performances." In concluding his talk, Gioia said: "I am firmly committed to rebuilding the budget of the National Endowment for the Arts. We need more funds to address the challenges and opportunities we face in both the arts and arts education. But more money alone is not the answer. We must also confidently build a positive and inclusive vision of our necessary role in American public life. To restore the NEA's rightful place in American culture, we need intellectual clarity, organizational discipline, and bold but non-divisive leadership. When so many claim that the odds are against us, how can a poet like myself not be utterly assured of the NEA's future success. To quote Shakespeare, describing a famous victory against the odds, I tell my fellow artists and arts advocates: 'I see you stand like greyhounds in the slips, Straining upon the start. The game's afoot.' Leadership is, after all, the art of changing the odds in one's favor."