Advancing Equity Through the Arts and Humanities Act of 2023

I 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3239 To address systemic racism through the arts and humanities in the United States. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 11, 2023 Ms. LEE of California (for herself, Mr. BOWMAN, Mr. KIM of New Jersey, Ms. CLARKE of New York, Ms. BONAMICI, Mr. EVANS, Ms. SCANLON, and Mr. TAKANO) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce A BILL To address systemic racism through the arts and humanities in the United States. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Advancing Equity 4 Through the Arts and Humanities Act of 2023’’. 5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6 Congress makes the following findings: 7 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:22 May 26, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3239.IH H3239 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 2 •HR 3239 IH (1) Access to the arts and cultural program- 1 ming influences positive social determinants and is 2 integral to healthy communities. 3 (2) In America, the received narrative is that 4 the arts are for entertainment or for artists, but a 5 deeper look shows the profound effect access to the 6 arts has on those most impacted by the justice sys- 7 tem, children, veterans, low-income communities, 8 and self-designated non-artists. 9 (3) Concentrated cultural districts are associ- 10 ated with reduced poverty without neighborhood dis- 11 placement, improved child welfare, and lower mor- 12 bidity. 13 (4) Low-income neighborhoods with cultural re- 14 sources have 14 percent fewer cases of child abuse 15 and neglect, and 18 percent less serious crime than 16 low-income neighborhoods without cultural re- 17 sources. 18 (5) Low-income students who participate in the 19 arts, both in school and after school, have a dropout 20 rate of just 4 percent or 5 times lower than their 21 peers. Children with access to arts programming in 22 schools showed a 22.55 percent improvement in 23 math proficiency, a 12.62 percent improvement in 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:22 May 26, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3239.IH H3239 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 3 •HR 3239 IH reading, and suspensions were reduced by as much 1 as 89 percent. 2 (6) Seventy-one percent of at-risk students with 3 high arts involvement attend college, whereas only 4 48 percent of at-risk students with low arts involve- 5 ment attend college. 6 (7) Participation in after-school arts programs 7 causes juvenile crime to fall by 4.2 percent on aver- 8 age, and slightly more (5.4 percent) in lower-income 9 cities. 10 (8) Arts programming in prisons showed an 89- 11 percent drop in infractions. 12 (9) The cultural economy is significant not only 13 in cities, but also in rural and tribal communities. 14 Forty percent of Native American households on the 15 Pine Ridge Reservation in Kyle, South Dakota, de- 16 pend on home-based arts enterprises. 17 (10) The arts heal the mental, physical, and 18 moral injuries of war for military servicemembers 19 and veterans, as well as aid in their reintegration 20 into the community. 21 (11) Arts and culture is an $878,000,000,000 22 industry in the U.S. (nonprofit, commercial, edu- 23 cation). The nonprofit arts industry alone generates 24 $166,300,000,000 in annual economic activity 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:22 May 26, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3239.IH H3239 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 4 •HR 3239 IH spending by organizations and their audience, which 1 supports 4,600,000 jobs and generates 2 $27,500,000,000 in government revenue. 3 (12) The National Endowment for the Arts is 4 the only arts funder in the United States, public or 5 private, that provides access to the arts in all 50 6 States, the District of Columbia, and territories of 7 the United States. 8 (13) Many of the most far-reaching victories for 9 racial healing in the United States have been greatly 10 enhanced by the involvement, support, and dedica- 11 tion of individuals from any and all racial groups. 12 (14) At the same time, much of the progress to- 13 ward racial healing and racial equity in the United 14 States has been limited or reversed by our failure to 15 address the root cause of racism, the belief in the 16 myth of a hierarchy of human value based on super- 17 ficial physical characteristics such as skin color and 18 facial features. 19 (15) Limited arts access is linked to economic 20 and racial inequities as well as resource deprivation. 21 (16) Arts organizations serving communities of 22 color are, in general, much less financially secure 23 and far smaller than their counterparts in White 24 communities. The median budgets of the 20 largest 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:22 May 26, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3239.IH H3239 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 5 •HR 3239 IH arts organizations serving communities of color in a 1 given discipline, such as dance, theater, or music, 2 were more than 90 percent smaller than the budgets 3 of the largest organizations in that discipline. 4 (17) Children of color, who make up the over- 5 whelming percentage of the children living in poverty 6 in the United States, and other students with lower 7 socioeconomic status, have a lower probability of ac- 8 cessing arts education. 9 (18) Access to arts education declined signifi- 10 cantly more for Black and Brown students than it 11 did for White children between 1982 and 2008. 12 There was less than a 2 percent decrease for White 13 children, while there was a 49 percent decrease for 14 Black children and a 40 percent decrease for Latin 15 children. 16 (19) The arts are in everyone. Everyone should 17 have access to the arts. 18 (20) Racial and ethnic inequality is a result of 19 systematic and internalized racism and racist public 20 and private policies and practices. Dismantling 21 structural racism through the arts and humanities is 22 critical to the health of our Nation. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:22 May 26, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3239.IH H3239 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 6 •HR 3239 IH SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 1 (1) ANTIRACISM.—The term ‘‘antiracism’’ 2 means a collection of antiracist policies and practices 3 that lead to racial equity, are substantiated by 4 antiracist ideas, and include a policy or practice that 5 recognizes pervasive racism in society, and actively 6 combats racial prejudice and discrimination in order 7 to promote racial justice and equity. 8 (2) ANTIRACIST.—The term ‘‘antiracist’’ means 9 any measure that produces or sustains racial equity 10 between racial groups, including any policy or prac- 11 tice that produces active resistance to and disman- 12 tling of the system of racism. 13 (3) SYSTEMIC RACISM.—The term ‘‘systemic 14 racism’’ means systems of power, unfair policies, dis- 15 criminatory practices, and normalized dynamics (his- 16 torical, cultural, internalized, interpersonal, institu- 17 tional) that routinely produce inequitable outcomes 18 for oppressed people and advantages for privileged 19 people, with the effect of creating and sustaining in- 20 equities. 21 (4) EQUITY.—The term ‘‘equity’’ means fair 22 and impartial outcomes, opportunities, and access 23 for an individual (or entity) engaging with an orga- 24 nization or systems (political and socio-economic), to 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:22 May 26, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3239.IH H3239 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 7 •HR 3239 IH receive or experience what is needed (not equal) in 1 order to maintain fairness. 2 (5) BIPOC.—The term ‘‘BIPOC’’ is an acro- 3 nym to refer inclusively to— 4 (A) ‘‘Black, Indigenous, and People of 5 Color’’, which includes South West Asian and 6 North African (SWANA); 7 (B) Black and African American; Hispanic 8 and Latino; and 9 (C) Native American, Alaska Native, and 10 Indigenous American; Asian American, Native 11 Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) peo- 12 ples. 13 (6) HISPANIC.—The term ‘‘Hispanic’’ means an 14 individual whose origin is Mexican, Puerto Rican, 15 Cuban, Central or South American, or any other 16 Spanish-speaking country. 17 (7) BIPOC-LED.—The term ‘‘BIPOC-led’’ 18 means an organization that is founded by or cur- 19 rently has executive leadership made up of BIPOC 20 individuals, but excludes an organization that is pre- 21 dominantly White or serves predominantly White au- 22 diences that simply have a BIPOC individual in a 23 token leadership position. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:22 May 26, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3239.IH H3239 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 8 •HR 3239 IH (8) CHAIRPERSONS.—The term ‘‘Chairpersons’’ 1 means the Chairperson of the National Endowment 2 for the Arts and the Chairperson of the National 3 Endowment for the Humanities. 4 (9) PROMISING PRACTICES.—The term ‘‘prom- 5 ising practices’’ means programs that have strate- 6 gies, activities, or approaches which have supporting 7 research and evaluation, as well as measurable out- 8 comes that have shown the program to be effective 9 and impactful for participants. 10 (10) HUMANITIES.—The term ‘‘humanities’’ 11 means a discipline and method to share stories, 12 ideas, and experiences. 13 (11) HUMANITIES ORGANIZATION.—The term 14 ‘‘humanities organization’’ means an organization 15 that connects people through stories, ideas, and ex- 16 periences that positively change lives and strengthen 17 communities, bringing communities together for 18 meaningful encounters, and includes— 19 (A) cultural and tribal organizations; mu- 20 seums; performing artists; and 21 (B) libraries and archives; media; historical 22 societies; publishers; arts and crafts groups; 23 educational institutions; and more. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:22 May 26, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3239.IH H3239 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 9 •HR 3239 IH SEC. 4. ADVANCING EQUITY THROUGH THE ARTS AND HU- 1 MANITIES PROGRAM. 2 (a) IN GENERAL.— 3 (1) ANTIRACISM PROGRAM.—There is estab- 4 lished an Advancing Equity Through the Arts and 5 Humanities Program, to be carried out by the 6 Chairperson of the National Endowment for the 7 Arts (in this Act referred to as the NEA) and the 8 Chairperson of the National Endowment for the Hu- 9 manities (in this Act referred to as the NEH) to in- 10 crease engagement with public and nonprofit entities 11 (including faith-based and community-based organi- 12 zations that serve and are led by people of color) 13 and to support arts and humanities projects that di- 14 rectly combat systemic racism through the arts and 15 humanities. 16 (2) PROGRAM COMPONENTS.—Under the Ad- 17 vancing Equity through the Arts and Humanities 18 Program, the Chairpersons of NEA and NEH 19 shall— 20 (A) encourage, consult with, and engage in 21 capacity building with public and nonprofit en- 22 tities, including faith-based and community- 23 based organizations, led by majority BIPOC 24 to— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:22 May 26, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3239.IH H3239 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 10 •HR 3239 IH (i) build and implement a competitive 1 grant program that directly combats sys- 2 temic racism through the arts and human- 3 ities; 4 (ii) review and augment existing NEA 5 and NEH programs to include strategies 6 to dismantle systemic racism through the 7 arts and humanities; 8 (iii) develop and implement outreach 9 strategies and provide pre- and post-tech- 10 nical support for NEA and NEH programs 11 that directly combat systemic racism 12 through the arts and humanities; and 13 (iv) provide free grant writing train- 14 ing and technical support for grant appli- 15 cants, including potential and unapproved 16 applicants; 17 (B) collaborate with governmental agen- 18 cies, universities, museums, and non-profit, 19 faith-based, and community-based organizations 20 with anti-racism initiatives focused on disman- 21 tling systemic racism by helping remove bar- 22 riers to access; 23 (C) build a database of grantees to in- 24 crease participation and outreach in consulta- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:22 May 26, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3239.IH H3239 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 11 •HR 3239 IH tion with the advisory task force created under 1 this Act; 2 (D) ensure grant panelists include majority 3 BIPOC members, majority artists, advocates, 4 community leaders, researchers, people who 5 have participated in arts programing while in- 6 carcerated, and educators; 7 (E) ensure that grantees who partner with 8 other organizations do so with those who em- 9 ploy and center communities of color; 10 (F) have the discretion to extend grant 11 funding for multi-year initiatives in good stand- 12 ing and waive matching grant requirements; 13 and 14 (G) create an advisory task force, not later 15 than 90 days after the date of the enactment of 16 this Act, to develop guidelines for the 17 grantmaking process and reassess equitable 18 outreach and education as follows: 19 (i) Members of the task force shall in- 20 clude: majority BIPOC members, majority 21 artists, arts and humanities advocates rep- 22 resenting the diversity of the spectrum of 23 arts and humanities, community leaders, 24 researchers, at least 1 person who has par- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:22 May 26, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3239.IH H3239 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 12 •HR 3239 IH ticipated in arts programing while incar- 1 cerated, an educator from a public institu- 2 tion, youth, and represent geographic and 3 multigenerational diversity. 4 (ii) Members of the task force shall be 5 paid a fair wage for their service. 6 (iii) The task force shall, not later 7 than 180 days after formation, submit to 8 the Chairpersons of the National Endow- 9 ment for the Arts and the National En- 10 dowment for the Humanities, and make 11 publicly available, a report that includes— 12 (I) recommended guidelines for 13 the grantmaking process and reassess 14 equitable outreach and education; 15 (II) a recommended antiracism 16 framework for the selection of panel- 17 ists and grantees, including eligibility 18 requirements; 19 (III) a recommended framework 20 to increase accessibility to grants, 21 such as free grant writing classes, cul- 22 turally and linguistically appropriate 23 pre and post technical assistance to 24 apply for grants and produce reports, 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:22 May 26, 2023 [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]