May 10, 2025

To our neighbors, supporters, funders, and fellow champions of the arts:

We write to you today with urgency, solidarity, and deep concern.

In an unprecedented move, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) has revoked and terminated hundreds of grants—a devastating blow to arts and culture organizations across the country. Here in the Atlanta metro area, this loss comes on top of concerning cuts to state and county-level funding, placing our creative ecosystem in real jeopardy.

For small and midsize organizations like ours, NEA support is more than a line item. It is a lifeline.

It helps us bring music, theater, dance, and visual art into schools and neighborhoods. It sustains our work with seniors, veterans, and youth. It fuels jobs, drives tourism, and preserves the cultural identity of this city we all call home.

And it drives our state’s economy.

In FY22, nonprofit arts organizations in Georgia generated $1.2 billion in total spending—both by the organizations themselves and the audiences they attract. This activity resulted in nearly $50 million in state and local tax revenue, including $22 million to the state and $27 million to local governments.

By comparison, that same year, the Georgia Council for the Arts distributed just $4.9 million in grants, made up of $4 million in federal funds and only $900,000 in state investment.

In other words, just $900,000 in state funding generated a $22 million return in state tax revenue—a more than 22-to-1 return on investment.

From local festivals to world-class performances, Georgia’s creative sector is a critical economic engine—and small and midsize organizations are its backbone.

Without this support, programming will shrink. Doors will close. Artists will lose income. Communities will lose connection.

We are proud to do this work not for profit, but for public good. And we are not giving up. But we cannot do this alone.

We are calling on you to take action:

For Individuals:

1. Contact your elected officials—local, state, and federal—and tell them the arts matter. Funding the arts is not charity; it is an investment in education, economic development, public health, and democracy.

2. Donate directly, especially to small and mid-sized local arts organizations. Every dollar helps sustain creativity, equity, and access in your own backyard.

3. Share this message. Use your voice and your platforms to stand with the arts.
   

For Philanthropic Foundations:

Now is the time to step up boldly. We urge you to:

• Increase grantmaking to the arts during this critical period of federal and state disinvestment.

• Provide multi-year, general operating support to help organizations weather the storm and plan for the future.

• Support small and midsize arts organizations where every dollar goes further, reaches deeper, and makes the greatest impact.

• Fund intermediaries like Arts Capital | Atlanta, which serve as critical infrastructure for the sector and ensure resources directly reach 225+ organizations that are often overlooked by traditional funding streams.

• Invest in equity, access, and resilience by prioritizing grassroots, community-based organizations that serve and reflect the full diversity of metro Atlanta.

This is more than a budget issue. It’s a values issue.

And right now, we need to show that Atlanta values its artists, its stories, and its creative future.

With gratitude and resolve,

Arts Capital | Atlanta Steering Committee