Mission, Values, & History

Mission & Vision

Mission

As a social impact organization, NEFA builds, sustains, and fights for arts and culture through grantmaking, partnerships, and advocacy in New England, the nation, and beyond.

Vision

NEFA envisions a world where the arts and culture ecosystem thrives, artists flourish, and the transformative power of the arts is valued as essential to a more vibrant and equitable society.

Values

Cultural Rights and Responsibilities 

The freedoms to create, access, express, and share arts and cultures are human rights and essential to a just society and thriving communities. We advocate for these freedoms and are dedicated to dismantling systemic inequities, barriers, and actions that limit self-determination, cultural traditions, and access to opportunities. 

Reciprocity 

Building our collective future relies on teamwork, collaboration, and partnerships at the intersections of arts services, philanthropy, and social justice. We center each other’s humanity through just and mutually beneficial relationships. 

Adaptability 

Engaged dialogue guides the design, implementation, and flexibility of our work – informed by the dynamic needs of artists, colleagues, and organizations. Adapting to social and environmental change ensures the sustainability, resilience, and vitality of cultural communities.

History

Founded in 1976, NEFA is one of six regional arts organizations established with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts to strengthen the national arts infrastructure by cultivating the arts on a regional level. Today, NEFA’s programs are regional, national, and international in scope, and support artists and communities through grants and other opportunities in creating, presenting, and touring new work across a variety of performing arts disciplines and public art.

Each program and project that is brought to life at NEFA is created with the underlying goal of building a stronger and more dynamic infrastructure for the arts. Convenings, network building, and online tools are essential complements to NEFA’s grantmaking.

NEFA is a grantmaker, program initiator, aggregator of resources, and builder of creative partnerships among artists, arts organizations and funders. Our work is generously supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, the New England state arts agencies, foundations, corporations, and individual donors. 

View NEFA’s past programs and initiatives