The Arkansas Arts Council was established in 1971 as one of six agencies of the Department of Arkansas Heritage. Major funding comes from the State and the National Endowment for the Arts. In 2003, the National Endowment for the Arts awarded grants totaling $574,300 to Arkansas arts organizations. In 2000, the National Endowment for the Humanities awarded grants totaling $500,597 to 5 organizations. Arkansas is also affiliated with the regional Mid-America Arts Alliance. Funding for the arts has reached over 71,000 artists and over 66,000 schoolchildren who have participated in arts education programs. There are over 50 arts-related associations in Arkansas and several local groups.
Little Rock is the home of the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, the Arkansas Festival Ballet, the Arkansas Repertory Theater, and the Arkansas Arts Center, which holds art exhibits and classes, and children's theater performances. The Shakespeare Festival of Arkansas is staged at the Center Stage Theater in Little Rock.
The best-known center for traditional arts and crafts is the Ozark Folk Center at Mountain View; every evening from late spring through October, folk music of the Ozarks may be heard. The Arkansas Folk Festival is held there during two weekends in April, and the Family Harvest Festival for three weeks in October. Lyon College at Batesville sponsors two-week summer workshops in Ozark crafts, music, and folklore in association with the center. The Grand Prairie Festival of Arts is held at Stuttgart in September.