Agency follows a uniquely American way of funding arts

[...] the NEA, which the Trump administration wants to eliminate along with Legal Services Corp., the Institute of Museum and Library Services and dozens of other agencies and programs, developed in uniquely American fashion: diverse and independent, with a significant part of the budget distributed to state and local organizations.

[...] the economic expansion of the post-World War II era had led to a growing appetite for self-improvement and increased money and leisure time for artistic interests.

Some on the left have worried that accepting money from the government risked compromising one's vision, especially after the NEA began asking grant recipients to sign a "decency" clause in the wake of the Mapplethorpe controversy.

A 1963 report commissioned by the Kennedy administration, "The Arts and the National Government," acknowledged that "There will always remain those who feel that art and government should exist in different spheres, having nothing to do with each other."

In the 1930s, New Deal officials established the Works Project Administration, which supported everything from murals and theatrical productions to historical guidebooks.

Grants have been distributed to all congressional districts, supporting everything from community theaters to the American Film Institute, and even conservatives such as Trump supporter Mike Huckabee want the NEA saved.

[...] an institution like the French ministry might conflict with the NEA's mission to honor the country's "multicultural artistic heritage."