Museum group vows to press new Congress for federal arts and library funding

The American Alliance of Museums (AAM), a US membership group for museums, says it will push the newly elected Congress to restore or increase federal money for three agencies: the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities. The group put out its statement on November 4, the day after the midterm elections in the United States, and ARTnews reported on it.

The Institute of Museum and Library Services supports museums and libraries across the country. The two endowments fund arts and humanities projects, from exhibitions to school programmes. Congress decides how much money these agencies receive each year, through a process called appropriations, meaning the laws that set government spending.

The AAM also wants the House Appropriations Committee to lift its current ban on earmarks for museums. An earmark is money that a lawmaker sets aside for a specific local project, such as a museum building or a new exhibit. The committee has barred such requests, and the AAM has called for that ban to end.

The group's spokesperson told ARTnews that the aim is to build strong bipartisan support for museums. The spokesperson said the goals are to protect federal funding and to let museums carry out their educational work without political interference.

The statement also touches on the Smithsonian Institution, the group of museums and research centres that is largely funded by the federal government. In late September, Representative Melanie Stansbury of New Mexico led a group of Democratic lawmakers in introducing a bill to protect the Smithsonian's independence. The AAM endorsed that bill.

Devon Akmon, the chair of the AAM board, said protecting the Smithsonian's scholarly independence honours public trust. He said research and the way exhibits explain history should rest on evidence, expertise and professional standards, not political pressure.

The group has fought funding cuts before. A proposed 2025 federal budget would have cut the Institute of Museum and Library Services deeply. According to ARTnews, that budget was largely restored after an advocacy campaign led by the AAM and after legal challenges.

For a small museum, a grant from one of these agencies can pay for a new climate-controlled storage room or a travelling exhibition for schools. Whether the new Congress agrees to the AAM's requests will shape those budgets in the years ahead. The group has not said how it will pursue each request, and the earmark ban and the Smithsonian bill will each need lawmakers to act.