On September 29, 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act that created the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEA). Said Johnson, "We in America have not always been kind to the artists and the scholars who are the creators and the keepers of our vision."

The NEA "promotes, and strengthens the creative capacity of our communities by providing all Americans with diverse opportunities for arts participation." The agency partners "with state arts agencies, local leaders, other federal agencies, and the philanthropic sector." The NEA has an annual budget of about $146 million.

The NEH "serves and strengthens our republic by promoting excellence in the humanities and conveying the lessons of history to all Americans." Its grants "typically go to cultural institutions, such as museums, archives, libraries, colleges, universities, public television, and radio stations, and to individual scholars." The NEH also has an annual budget of about $146 million.