Arts & Culture

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                                           Overview

The Bill T. Jones Dance Company is known for performing avant-garde pieces that explore life's journeys. (© Lois Greenfield)

In the 20th century artists in the United States broke free from Old World antecedents, taking the various cultural disciplines in new directions with impressive, innovative results.

In the 21st century, Music, film, theater, dance, architecture and other artistic expressions continue to transform. A rejuvenation in music, new directions in modern dance, drama drawn from the U.S. heartland, independent filmmaking across the landscape, the globalization of the visual arts -- all of these are part of the contemporary scene in the United States.

While the arts and culture in the United States continue to engage substantial attention, energy and resources of society, this happens largely outside the direction of government. The United States has no "ministry of culture" that sets national policy for the arts in the United States government, thus reflecting the conviction that there are important areas of national life where government should have little or no role. The two national endowments -- the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) -- provide grant support for individual artists and scholars and for arts and humanities institutions.

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