There were at least two versions of the E -mail of the Art. Some said that “the provisional financing recommendation for the next application” had been withdrawn. Those e -mails went to groups that had already received offer letters and were recommended for subsidies, but had not yet received official prizes. Others were sent to groups of whose subsidies were approved and said, “This is to inform you that the aforementioned national donation for the Arts Award has been terminated, with effect from 31 May 2025.” The NEA did not respond to requests for comments.
The future of the donation of art has been questioned since the start of the Trump government. In the beginning, the desk One subsidy program suspended. Then it tried to require applicants for other subsidy programs to Promise not to promote “Diversity, fairness and inclusion” or “sex ideology” in a way that Mr Trump’s executive orders ran on those issues on those issues, only to suspend that requirement and then change them as it was confronted Legal challenges. Subsequently, on Friday, Mr Trump stated in the agency, together with the National Donation for Humanities and others, in the next tax year.
Democrats and proponents of art promised to try to fight to save the agency. Mr. Trump had also tried to eliminate the art decision during his first term of office, but it was saved with the support of both congress republicans and Democrats. It is not yet clear whether the agency still has dual support in the current political climate, when few Republicans have shown the willingness to cross Mr. Trump.
Many organizations throughout the country reported that they received the cancellation emails. Among them: The New Harmony Project, a non -profit organization from Indianapolis that helps internship and screenscript writers, and it was recommended for a $ 40,000 subsidy to finance a residence program of writers.
“This Friday evening mass -mail that cuts financing for so many art organizations throughout the country is a clear attack on art,” said the executive artistic director of the new Harmony Project, Jenni Werner. “This administration wanted to kill the NEA and the artistic freedom it supported, and tonight’s E -mail may have done that exactly.”
The Great Plains Theater Commons, in Omaha, Neb., Received an e -mail with a recommendation for a $ 35,000 subsidy for an annual playing festival. The artistic director of the organization, Kevin Lawler, called the cutbacks ‘devastating’, but promised to work to continue to support ‘storytellers and share stories because that is the work we love and it is our way to be of service’.