National Endowment for the Arts Terminates Arts-Supporting Grants

The emails explain that the grantmaking policies are being updated, so that they can channel more funding into projects that "reflect the nation's rich artistic heritage,” prioritized by Trump. Thus, everything that falls outside these parameters will likely lose its support. 

These priorities are stated to include, “Projects that elevate the Nation's HBCUs [Historically Black Colleges and Universities] and Hispanic Serving Institutions, celebrate the 250th anniversary of American independence, foster AI competency, empower houses of worship to serve communities, assist with disaster recovery, foster skilled trade jobs, make America healthy again, support the military and veterans, support Tribal communities, make the District of Columbia safe and beautiful, and support the economic development of Asian American communities."

Ironically, this push to “elevate” marginalized cultural spaces comes only a short few months after the Trump administration's decision to redact all diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives across government-funded institutions, including museums.

The National Endowment for the Arts was founded by Congress in 1965 and has since issued $5.5 billion in grants, making it the largest contributor to the arts in the United States. In 2024 alone, the NEA gave out nearly $200 million worth of grants to nonprofit art organizations, public arts agencies, and colleges and universities. 

Thus, without this type of cash flow, these institutions– think not-for-profit theaters, community arts spaces, etc.– will be forced into limiting accessible resources for the public, eliminating internal jobs, or even shutting down completely. Yet, even though this makes for a substantial loss for these organizations, the NEA funding is equivalent to only 0.003% of the entire federal budget.

However, these cuts may not be completely set in stone. NPR reported that this executive order can be challenged in court, and recipients of these latest emails were also given seven days to repeal the termination.