Recovery.gov - Track the Money

Funds available for programming will be divided, as required by the Recovery Act, in a manner similar to current NEA practice:

• 60 percent for grants awarded directly by the NEA, on a competitive basis, to non-profit arts and related organizations.
• 40 percent to State arts agencies and regional arts organizations for subgranting through competitive and qualitative review.

For the 60 percent (approximately $30 million) available for competitive grants:

The Arts Endowment will competitively award one-time, non-matching grants of $25,000 or $50,000 to nonprofit arts and related organizations. It will also award one-time, non-matching grants of $100,000 or $250,000 to designated governmental local arts agencies, eligible to subgrant, for their subgranting programs. In order to be eligible, an organization must have received an NEA grant within the previous four years. Eligible projects are limited to the following:

• Salary support (including fringe benefits), full or partial, for one or more positions that are critical to an organization’s artistic mission and that are in jeopardy or have been eliminated as a result of the current economic climate.
• Fees for previously engaged artists and/or other contractual personnel to maintain or expand the period during which such persons would be engaged.

Applicant organizations may seek support for a single position, multiple positions, a single contractor, multiple contractual personnel, or any combination thereof. For organizations eligible to subgrant, a portion of the funds may also be used to cover the costs of implementing the subgranting program.

For the 40 percent (approximately $20 million) available for State arts agencies (SAAs) and regional arts organizations (RAOs):

The Arts Endowment will award one-time, non-matching grants ranging from $25,000 to approximately $500,000 to the 56 State and jurisdictional arts agencies. In addition, the Agency will award one-time, non-matching grants ranging from approximately $385,000 to $590,000 to the six regional arts organizations of the State arts agencies. Grant amounts were determined using current Partnership award processes that factor in both equal shares (as called for in the NEA's authorizing legislation) and population.

Funds to the SAAs and RAOs must be used for subgranting to eligible nonprofit organizations in their State or region. These special, one-time, non-matching subgrants must be used for salary support or fees for artists or other contractual personnel consistent with the requirements detailed in the bullets for the 60 percent for competitive grants above. SAAs and RAOs may use up to $50,000 of the NEA grant funds for their own positions and/or for the administration of the subgranting program.

The Arts Endowment provides regular monitoring of all of its grants, including those that will be awarded using Recovery Act funds. Each grantee is required to submit a Progress Report at the point that its request for payment exceeds two-thirds of the total grant amount. Organizations receiving funds for salary support are asked to maintain time and effort reports where each affected employee keeps track on a regular basis (at least monthly) of the percentage of their time expended on an NEA grant. Grantees also are required to maintain copies of all contracts and related documents that they execute in connection with an NEA grant. The NEA's Grants & Contracts Office will conduct random samplings of Recovery Act grantees to verify compliance with these requirements.

As required by OMB, all Recovery Act grantees will provide quarterly reports to a central Government-wide portal no later than 10 calendar days after the end of each calendar quarter during their grant period. In addition, all grantees are required to submit a Final Federal Financial Report no later than 90 days following the end of their grant period.

With appropriate access, the NEA will monitor the above reports to assure that projects are being carried out in accordance with the purposes of the Recovery Act and in compliance with the NEA's General Terms and Conditions. Through this monitoring, the NEA will be able to identify any cases of risk, and will work with grantees to rectify problematic situations. However, as eligible applicants were limited to previous grantees that have been vetted through the NEA's rigorous review system and have demonstrated the ability to manage Federal funds appropriately, the Arts Endowment anticipates that the risk of low performance against the program objectives will be minimal.

In addition, the NEA's Office of Inspector General will be conducting random samplings of Recovery Act grantees. The Inspector General will examine compliance with applicable requirements at the pre-award stage, during the grant period, and after the period of support has ended.

The Arts Endowment intends to make both programmatic and financial information on its grant awards and on the jobs preserved fully available to the public. Interested parties should regularly check the "Recovery" section of the NEA Web site at http://www.arts.gov/recovery for the most up-to-date information on all aspects of the NEA's Recovery Act programming, including the Agency-wide and Program-Specific Implementation Plans. Weekly Financial and Activity Reports that track Recovery Act obligations and disbursements, as well as major Agency actions taken in support of Recovery Act programs, appear regularly. As Recovery Act grants are obligated, grant listings appear there as well. The NEA will also provide Recovery Act funding information for the USASpending.gov and Recovery.gov sites.

Finally, the quarterly reports that are required of all Recovery Act grantees will be provided electronically to a central Government-wide portal and made available to the public on Recovery.gov.

The NEA Acting Chairman has designated Robert Frankel, NEA Acting Deputy Chairman for Grants & Awards, and Larry Baden, NEA Deputy Chairman for Management & Budget, as the co-leads and designated Agency officials for this program. In addition, the following has occurred:

• Designated senior staff consults regularly to track actions required to implement the Recovery Act and to assign responsibilities.
• A weekly meeting of key affected Agency staff has been implemented to provide for regular updates on the status of plans and actions.
• An intra-Agency work group has been established to assist with the application processing and grant award, monitoring, and payment components of the program.
• A new part-time, temporary position was allocated to, and has been filled by, the Grants & Contracts Office for an individual who will work exclusively on Recovery Act grants.
• A new position was allocated to the NEA Office of Inspector General to enable the Agency to recruit for an employee who will focus on the NEA and grantee implementation of the Recovery Act.
• A weekly meeting is held with the Inspector General to advise on progress and respond to any questions.

Due to the limited and focused nature of the Arts Endowment's Recovery Act grants, compliance with energy efficiency and green building requirements is not applicable.