WASHINGTON - Arts advocates saluted first lady Laura Bush on Tuesday for her help in kick-starting efforts to restore funding for the National Endowment for the Arts, which Republican leaders slashed in the mid-1990s.

The group Americans for the Arts joined leaders from the Smithsonian Institution, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and arts philanthropists in thanking Bush for her quiet but critical support.

"When we talk about Laura Bush and the arts, we always come back to kids," said Robert Lynch, president of Americans for the Arts, noting her emphasis on literacy and arts education.

Bush has promoted the arts endowment program, The Big Read, which encourages reading for pleasure at a time when young people are reading fewer novels, as well as the National Endowment for the Humanities effort to place artwork in schools.

The first lady, though, gave all credit to the museum directors and arts leaders she has come to know over the past eight years.

"From literature to portraiture, each of you is committed to giving every American the chance to participate in all forms of the arts and humanities," Bush said. She gave special thanks to Kennedy Center President Michael Kaiser for his efforts to revitalize arts institutions internationally, including institutions in Pakistan and Romania.

Still, the first lady's help was key in pushing for an $18 million increase for the NEA budget in 2005, Lynch said.

When Republicans took over Congress in 1995, they tried to eliminate all funding for the NEA. Critics said the endowment was supporting obscene art. The agency survived, but its budget has not yet rebounded.

In April, arts advocates called on Congress to restore funding for the arts endowment to its high of $176 million received in 1992.

President Bush has proposed a fiscal year 2009 budget of $128 million - the same request he made last year - down from about $145 million allocated by Congress in 2008.

"The obstacle is the overall economy and budget, but there are not voices that are really pushing against support for the arts," Lynch said. He and others argue that the arts are an economic engine, creating jobs and generating substantial tax revenue. "The arts are not simply a charity to be funded," Lynch said.

Adair Margo, chairman of the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities and a longtime Bush friend from Texas, recalled the first lady's interest in the Smithsonian's American Art Museum and National Portrait Gallery when federal funding was in doubt for the renovation of their shared building after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

"Of course, I didn't know what to do about it, so I called Laura Bush," Margo said. "And her response was, 'You know, OMB, the Office of Management and Budget, doesn't know what I care about yet. You call Betsy (director of the art museum) and tell her her funding is restored.'"

Bush has been a frequent visitor to the Smithsonian's art museums and pushed to use some of their collections for cultural diplomacy efforts, said Elizabeth Broun, director of the American Art Museum. She said Bush's efforts go beyond the ceremonial role of first lady.

"What touches me and inspires me is that she reaches beyond that in a very private way, without any fanfare," Broun said. "It's the concern that she has to follow what we're doing, see what we're doing, be involved in what we're doing, far beyond any expectation or requirement for her role."