PROPOSED FEDERAL BUDGET GOES EASY ON THE ARTS

While the president’s proposed 2006 budget, unveiled yesterday, slashed hundreds of domestic programs, cultural groups and institutions did relatively well, Jacqueline Trescott reports in the Washington Post. The National Gallery of Art is slated for a $5 million budget increase that will go to salary increases and utility costs. The National Endowment for the Arts did not see its basic funding reduced but the White House did propose reducing the funds for one NEA program called Challenge America. “Given the fact that 154 other agencies are facing cuts or elimination, we see the level funding of NEA as a show of support,” said Felicia Knight, the agency’s communications director.