American Masterpieces: Three Centuries of Artistic Genius is a major initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts to acquaint Americans with the best of their cultural and artistic legacy. The Arts Endowment plans to support a variety of projects that are artistically, historically, and culturally significant and that reflect the breadth of dance forms, styles, and techniques.

Applications are now being accepted to the National Endowment for the Arts' Fifth Arts Journalism Institute in Classical Music and Opera. The programs are designed for print and broadcast journalists located primarily outside the largest media markets, where professional development opportunities are limited.

The Congress of the United States has authorized the production of a statue to memorialize civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks that will be placed in National Statuary Hall in the United States Capitol. To assist with this important commission, the National Endowment for the Arts, in partnership with the Architect of the Capitol and the Joint Committee on the Library, will administer a competition to select the artist.

The Big Read, a national program to encourage literary reading and revitalize the role of literature in American culture, is accepting applications from non-profit organizations to conduct month-long, community-wide reads between September 2008 and June 2009.

Through fellowships to exceptionally talented, published translators, the Arts Endowment supports projects for the translation of specific works of prose, poetry, or drama from other languages into English.