National Endowment for the Arts Chairman Dana Gioia to Testify at Fiscal Year 2009 House Appropriations Hearing

Washington, D.C., March 31, 2008 -- The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies, with Chairman Norm Dicks (D-WA) and Ranking Member Todd Tiahrt (R-KS), will hold its hearing on the National Endowment for the Arts' (NEA) Fiscal Year 2009 funding at 10:00 am on Tuesday, April 1, 2008. The hearing will be held in Room 2359, on the 3rd floor of the Rayburn House Office Building, located at Independence Avenue S.W. and South Capitol Street.

National Endowment for the Arts Chairman Dana Gioia will present President George W. Bush's Fiscal Year 2009 budget request of $128.4 million to the House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee. The FY 2009 request includes support for Direct Endowment Grants, State and Regional Partnerships, Challenge America: Reaching Every Community, and the NEA initiative American Masterpieces: Three Centuries of Artistic Genius, which provides touring and educational programs across the arts fields.

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The hearing will include a poetry recitation by Olivia Seward, the 2007 Washington State Champion for the NEA national initiative Poetry Out Loud: National Recitation Contest.

The hearing is open to the media and the public. For information on NEA Appropriations history, visit arts.gov/about/Budget/AppropriationsHistory.html.

Source: NEA