WASHINGTON, D.C.—The final version of the $787 billion economic stimulus bill, which was approved by both houses of Congress on Friday and is to be signed today by President Obama, contains $50 million in funding for the arts, reports the New York Times. The money is to be distributed by the National Endowment for the Arts.  

The arts funding was one of the more contentious aspects of the bill and as the debate over the recovery plan dragged on, it looked like that portion of the bill might be doomed. Although the original House bill, which provided for $819 billion in overall funding, contained the $50 million provision, the smaller appropriation passed by the Senate contained no specific money for the arts. And the upper chamber voted 73 to 24 for language that specifically ruled out stimulus for arts centers, museums, and theaters, lumping these organizations in with golf courses, casinos, and other sites deemed to be purely recreational.

That arts funding made it into the final version of the legislation hammered out by the Senate-House conference had to do with the ability of arts advocates to convince others that the arts are not a left-wing diversion, but rather a vital part of the economy.

“We had the facts on our side,” said Rep. Louise M. Slaughter, a Democrat from New York who is co-chair of the Congressional Arts Caucus. “If we’re trying to stimulate the economy, and get money into the Treasury, nothing does that better than art.”

Other prominent legislators arguing for arts funding were House Speaker Nancy Pelosi; Rep. Norm Dicks, Democrat of Washington, chair of the House Interior Appropriations and the Environment Appropriations Subcommittee, which oversees the NEA; and Rep. David R. Obey, Democrat of Wisconsin, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee. They were joined by tens of thousands of voters across the country who called and emailed their representatives and by arts groups that created an ad campaign to argue for the arts’ economic stimulus.

Their efforts succeeded. The final bill not only includes the $50 million, it also eliminates the Senate-approved language barring money from going to museums and arts centers. (The final bill does, however, still preclude spending for casinos, golf courses, zoos, aquariums, and swimming pools.)

“It’s a huge victory for the arts in America,” said Robert L. Lynch, president of the arts advocacy group Americans for the Arts. “It’s a signal that maybe there is after all more understanding of the value of creativity in the 21st-century economy.”

The $50 million is also a great boost for the NEA, whose annual budget had been $145 million. According to the new legislation, 40 percent of the new funding will be distributed to state and regional arts organizations, with the remaining 60 percent going to arts projects competing for NEA grants.

The NEA is currently without a chairman — Dana Gioia, who headed the agency during the Bush administration, stepped down at the end of Bush’s term — but acting NEA chair Patrice Walker Powell expressed tremendous satisfaction with the final bill. “It’s a great opportunity for the cultural workforce to be dignified as part of the American workforce,” she said.