Arts Alliance Illinois

The final fiscal year 2012 budget passed by the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate this weekend includes $146 million in funding for the National Endowment for the Arts.

This appropriation, identical to what President Barack Obama proposed in his budget, is a cut of nearly $9 million from fiscal year 2011. It also represents a compromise between the $135 appropriation considered by the House and the $155 million considered by the Senate.

Also included in the final fiscal year 2012 budget is $24 million in funding for the Arts in Education programs at the U.S. Department of Education, which had been zeroed out in a previous proposal in the House.

Photo: Flickr user Navin Rajagopalan