WASHINGTON, D.C. – In an effort to preserve jobs in the creative economy, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) has awarded a total of $29.78 million in direct grants to 631 nonprofit arts organizations across the country, including $150,000 to groups in Rhode Island and more than $1 million to those in Massachusetts.

The funds are part of $50 million in funding for the arts authorized by the economic stimulus law enacted in February.

Organizations applied for the direct grants, which were awarded Tuesday on a competitive basis. The money is intended to “preserve jobs that were in danger or had been lost” due to the economic crisis, said Victoria Hutter, a communications specialist at the NEA, and to help the nonprofit agencies “essentially, weather the storm.”

More than 2,400 organizations applied for the 631 grants, “a testament to the need,” Hutter said.

In Rhode Island, four groups received grants, all in Providence: Community Musicworks and the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra, which received $50,000 each; and Everett Dance Theatre and FirstWorks, which received $25,000 each.

Some 24 grants were given to Massachusetts arts organizations from Boston to the Berkshires, for a total of $1,025,000. Organizations receiving grants included the Boston Academy of Music Inc., Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras Inc., Handel & Haydn Society, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Inc., Massachusetts College of Art and the Norman Rockwell Museum at Stockbridge Inc. Grants are for $25,000 or $50,000.

The awarding of nearly $30 million in direct grants was the second and final part of the $50 million stimulus package the federal government set aside for the arts earlier this year.

In April, the NEA awarded 63 grants worth almost $20 million to state and regional arts councils, which they in turn will distribute among artists in their areas. The Rhode Island State Council on the Arts received $291,500 and the Massachusetts Cultural Council, $323,600.