National Endowment for the Arts
Denise Grail Brandenburg is an experienced Arts Education Specialist at the National Endowment for the Arts since March 2006, focusing on music, opera education, and Collective Impact within the agency's grant programs. Concurrently, Denise serves as a Steward for AFGE Local 3403, having held positions as Vice President and Chief Negotiator over a ten-year period. Previous roles include Director of Education and Community Outreach at The Choral Arts Society of Washington, where management of education programs significantly impacted local schools, and Assistant Director at the Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts, emphasizing early childhood music education. Denise began a career in education as a Choral Director and Drama Teacher at Blacksburg Middle School. Denise holds a Master’s degree in Arts Management from American University and a Bachelor’s degree in Music Education from Virginia Tech.
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National Endowment for the Arts
The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), established in Congress in 1965, is an independent federal agency that is the largest funder of the arts and arts education in communities nationwide and a catalyst of public and private support for the arts. By advancing equitable opportunities for arts participation and practice, the NEA fosters and sustains an environment in which the arts benefit everyone in the United States. The NEA’s primary activities include grantmaking to nonprofit arts organizations, public arts agencies and organizations, colleges and universities, federally recognized tribal communities or tribes, and individual writers and translators. Grant applications are reviewed by panels of arts experts and individuals from across the country. All grants must be matched one-to-one by nonfederal sources, except for individual grants to writers and translators. NEA funding is appropriated by Congress annually. While the NEA’s primary activity includes grantmaking, it also is a national leader in the field and a convener on issues important to the arts community and people working at the intersections of arts and other fields such as health, community development, and education, among others. The NEA is an important resource for research on the value and the importance of the arts, and shares that information with stakeholders and the public.