At 12:37 a.m. this morning, the U.S. Senate approved a budget that not only preserves the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), but also increases funding for the NEA.

The budget also maintains funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and increases funding the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Union musicians and other members of the arts community sent emails, made phone calls and had conversations with their elected officials about the importance of federal arts funding. Today’s budget vote shows that when musicians join together, we can achieve amazing results.

We were successful this week, but the fight is not over. We will continue reminding elected officials that symphonies, theaters, festivals, music education, and other arts programs in all 50 states depend on NEA support.