According to a bulletin from Americans for the Arts Action Fund, the U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations Interior Subcommittee included a reduction of $14 million to the National Endowment for the Arts budget in their FY 2013 funding legislation.

Four Los Angeles creative placemaking projects have received $1.5 million in grants from ArtPlace, a coalition of private arts funders, government agencies, and banks.  The projects are funded among forty-seven new awards representing $15.4 million in arts funding and represent nearly 10% of ArtPlace’s giving this year.

The National Endowment for the Arts announced yesterday it would award $250,000 in grants to support research projects investigating the value and impact of the arts in the United States.  This is the first time the NEA’s Office of Research & Analysis has awarded grants in the organization’s forty-seven year history.

Many Los Angeles-area museums will begin offering free admission throughout the summer to members of the National Guard, the Reserves, military personnel on active duty, and their immediate families.  The program runs Memorial Day (May 28) through Labor Day (September 3).

The California Arts Council is in the midst of a campaign to get one million California drivers to adopt the special “Arts Plate” for their automobiles.  All proceeds from the plate sales go the Arts Plate Fund, which supports K-12 arts education programs throughout the state.