How Politics Are Negatively Impacting Live: NEA Cuts, Visa Issues, Israeli-Palestinian Divide Lead To Show Cancellations

Politics are starting to adversely impact the live industry in ways detrimental to the bottom lines of some artists, venues, promoters, agents, arts organizations and others in the business.

In the last week, a number of hot-button political issues, including continued challenges for international artists obtaining U.S. visas, drastic cuts by the Trump administration to the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and voices on opposite ends of the political spectrum protesting the Israeli-Palestinian conflict have led to show cancellations here in the U.S. and abroad.

As Pollstar was going to press on Wednesday (May 7) Michelada Fest in Chicago had announced it was canceling this year’s event citing “uncertainty surrounding artist visas.” The day before, shows by Oakland-based R&B artist Kehlani in New York and performances by Radiohead’s Johnny Greenwood with Dudu Tassa in the U.K. were canceled due to the political divide over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but from different sides of the conflict. And this week, the Trump administration’s cancellation of millions of dollars in grants for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) started adversely impacting arts organizations, performances and arts education across the country.

NEA Budget Decimated

According to a Washington Post article from May 8, all 10 NEA directors who oversee grants to various sectors of the arts, including music, theater and folk and traditional arts, are leaving the agency. This comes after mass emails were sent out last Friday (May 3) informing hundreds of arts groups of the withdrawal and termination of their grants.

Such geographically diverse organizations losing NEA funding include Philadelphia’s World Cafe Live (via LiveConnections), the Omaha Conservatory of Music, New York City’s SummerStage and GlobalFest and Knoxville’s Big Ears Festival, which were among the many groups informed their grants had been terminated.

A source with knowledge of the situation put the cuts at some 800 grants and the cost of cuts at some $20-25 million. The grants for this time period range from $10K-$100K, which for larger arts organizations may have little impact, but for smaller organizations in secondary or tertiary markets across the country, the loss of the funding could have a devastating impact.

“The NEA is updating its grantmaking policy priorities to focus funding on projects that reflect the nation’s rich artistic heritage and creativity as prioritized by the President,” the email stated, according to NPR. “Consequently, we are terminating awards that fall outside these new priorities.”

Recipients of the email were provided the opportunity to appeal the decision within seven days.

Artist Visas & Chicago’s Michelada Fest

Michelada Fest was scheduled to take place at Chicago’s Oakwood Beach on July 19 and 20 with headline performances by Grupo Firme, Anitta and Luis R Conriquez, but the festival canceled on May 6 citing ongoing difficulties with artists getting visas to enter the country.

“Due to the uncertainty surrounding artist visas and the rapidly changing political climate, we’re no longer able to guarantee the full experience we had dreamed up for you with all of your favorite artists,” the festival said in a statement. “ “Although we tried to push through, it became clear that we wouldn’t be able to deliver the full lineup as planned.”

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Fans will receive refunds for the festival back to the original form of payment within seven to 15 business days.

“This was not an easy decision for us to make,” the festival’s statement continued. “For seven years, we’ve poured everything into this festival to create
something truly special for our community. Last year was our most incredible celebration yet, and we were ready to make this year even bigger, with more energy, creativity and corazón. But as independent organizers, we can’t afford to take on a big risk with so much uncertainty ahead.”

The Israeli-Palestinian Divide

Kehlani (who uses she/they pronouns), has been outspoken on Palestinian human rights and was scheduled to perform on June 26 as part of Central Park SummerStage’s “Pride With Kehlani” benefit, but was pulled under advisement from the New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ office (the Mayor of NYC has become an ally of the White House ever since a DOJ investigation of his administration was suspended). Kehlani was also slated to headline at Cornell University as part of the school’s annual Slope Day, which celebrates students ending their last day of classes, which was canceled last week.

“We have been notified by the Mayor’s Office that they have concerns for security and safety issues,” SummerStage wrote in a statement posted to Instagram. “Those concerns are due to the controversy surrounding Cornell University’s decision to cancel Kehlani’s concert at the University, as well as security demands in Central Park and throughout the City for other Pride events during that same period. We strongly and emphatically believe in artistic expression of all kinds. However, the safety and security of our guests and artists is of the utmost importance… While artists may choose to express their opinions, their views may not necessarily be representative of the festival.”

SummerStage itself was recently impacted by actions of the current Trump administration, with the venue’s NEA grants being cut.

Kehlani is outspoken both onstage and on social media about their views regarding the rights of Palestinian people. Following her cancellation at Cornell, the singer took to social media to say, “For the millionth time, I am not antisemitic nor anti-Jew. I am anti-genocide, I am anti- the actions of the Israeli government, I am anti- an extermination of an entire people, I am anti- the bombing of innocent children, men, women – that’s what I’m anti.” Kehlani also posted that she only learned of the SummerStage cancellation via Instagram.

Macklemore has also been outspoken in strong support of Palestine and has been dropped from music festivals including the Neon City Festival in Las Vegas.

Meanwhile, Jonny Greenwood and Dudu Tassa’s shows at Bristol Beacon’s Lantern Hall and London’s Hackney Church in June were pulled due to forrces from the opposite end of the political spectrum. The duo were scheduled to perform in support of their album Jarak Qaribak (translated to “Your Neighbor Is Your Friend”). The record features Middle Eastern love songs, with vocalists from countries including Iraq, Egypt, Syria and Tunisia. The album was recorded in Tel Aviv, Oxfordshire and across the Middle East.

“Intimidating venues into pulling our shows won’t help achieve the peace and justice everyone in the Middle East deserves,” Greenwood and Tassa said in a statement. “This cancellation will be hailed as a victory by the campaigners behind it, but we see nothing to celebrate and don’t find that anything positive has been achieved.”

The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI), a member of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, claimed the performances were “art washing genocide” and put pressure on the venues to cancel their shows despite the music’s intended inclusivity.

“The campaign which has successfully stopped the concerts insist that ‘this is not censorship’ and ‘this isn’t about silencing music or attacking individual artists’… Forcing musicians not to perform and denying people who want to hear them an opportunity to do so is self-evidently a method of censorship and silencing,” continued Greenwood and Tassa. “For some on the right, we’re playing the ‘wrong’ kind of music – too inclusive, too aware of the rich and beautiful diversity of Middle Eastern culture. For some on the left, we’re only playing it to absolve ourselves of our collective sins.”

While all these unfortunate cancellations adversely impact the live industry’s bottom line, they also run counter to one of live music’s primary goals: to bring people of different backgrounds together in unity and celebration.