The Trump administration’s assault on free speech and the arts continues.
Hundreds of arts organizations across the country received notice on Friday that the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) would rescind grants to artistic organizations that did not align with the administration’s cultural priorities. According to an email sent to grantees, some of those priorities include:
“Projects that elevate the Nation’s HBCUs 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.”
Donald Trump shared a budget on Friday indicating that he intended to axe the NEA entirely, as well as the National Endowment for the Humanities.
n+1, a literary and cultural magazine based in Greenpoint, revealed that they were among the affected organizations.
“We knew this might be coming, but the official notice was still jarring, as was some of the messaging itself,” the magazine wrote on Instagram. “It’s unclear to us whether we’ll still be able to recover the money we’ve been promised this year—a $12,500 grant meant to help us pay our authors, our editors, and to have the magazine printed and distributed to our readers.”
The Brick, an experimental theater company in Williamsburg, confirmed that the NEA rescinded their grant as well. The Brick counted on that $20,000 to support an arts festival that took place this past April. As they already spent that money, the grant’s cancellation now forces them to figure out how to shore up those costs.
“This was the first NEA grant The Brick was awarded and we were really proud that our ?!: New Works Festival was being recognized. For the first time, it allowed us to hire tech staff and pay them a living wage to run the festival — which runs five nights a week over three weeks and premiered 33 new works supporting over 150 artists,” Jaclyn Biskup, Interim Managing Artistic Director, told Greenpointers.
They applied for the grant in February 2024 and received NEA approval later in November, the first grant they ever received from the agency. The loss complicates an already complicated financial situation.
“The Brick runs on very tight margins and the loss of this grant means we have a budget shortfall and will need to figure out how to raise this to cover the deficit,” Biskup continued.
The grants’ cancellation is just the latest stunt in Trump’s crusade to reshape the country’s cultural scene in his gaudy, far-right mold. A man whose idea of art begins and ends with using AI to make him the Pope, he gutted the Kennedy Center’s board and called on the venue to promote “non-woke” shows (such as Cats. I guess we’re conveniently forgetting its recent drag-ball revival). He signed an executive order to eliminate federal funding for PBS and NPR.
The NEA is the nation’s largest funder of artistic projects. With a budget of $207 million, it remains one of the smaller federal agencies. Trump’s new directive prompted several senior officials to resign.
To support the local organizations, you can subscribe to n+1 here, and donate to The Brick here.
Participating in the Brick’s ?! New Works Festival back in 2021 was a small but ultimately life-changing opportunity for me an artist.
It’s the kind of scrappy project that ends up creating a litany of opportunities, for people to meet one another, artists to get really good documentation for applications, and it’s also just a great time.
Grant applications are so time consuming, so tedious, and I really hope Congress undoes this foolish move.