In Wake of $25+ Mil. NEA Grant Termination, Non-Profit Arts Funding Up In The Air

This past May 2, more than five hundred recipients of National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) grants across the majority of states received an email informing them that their grants were terminated or withdrawn. Among those impacted include New York City’s Central Park SummerStage; New York City’s world music event, Globalfest; educational programs and more – with those in smaller markets likely hitting hardest. As of May 13, $25.4 million in funding has been revoked, according to a spreadsheet created by a former grant recipient. 

When the NEA revoked funding, it cited the change was driven by new priorities in where the money would be driven. “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,” were outlined in the email former recipients received on May 2, according to STL Mag.

Those who initially applied for the grants did so in February or last July, under the previous guidelines. Within the letter, options to appeal the decision were available until Friday, May 9, with around 700 organizations moving forward in an attempt to appeal the decision, leaving their funding up in the air.

Silambam Phoenix, which just celebrated its 25th anniversary this week, received its first NEA grant in early 2025 which grant terminated just five months later. The festival was one of 16 organizations in the state of Arizona to receive funding from the NEA. The festival, which is scheduled for Aug. 23, and debuted in 2024, allowed them to get their first NEA challenge grant intended for its 2025 event. 

“We just finished a big fundraising push for our 25th anniversary with over $100,000 donations, which was incredible,” Viabu Mohan, the program’s associate director at Silambam Phoenix, tells Pollstar. “We’re really thankful to our community for getting us there. Because of the challenge grant, we were not having to think about the line item for this year’s youth arts festival. We’ve already finished our auditioning cycle and we’re in the process of selecting our participants for this year. So now, we’re having to make up for that gap in funding and try and seek new funding sources. 

“We’re lucky that we have a co-sponsor, the Fine Arts Association of Arizona, on this particular project, who is also helping us make up our funding gap,” Mohan continues. “But it’s never a great feeling when you have planned something very carefully – and to ensure that young artists are paid equitably, treated fairly – and then that funding is pulled and you have to figure out how we can still be true to our mission. Even when we’re looking at an uncertain budget, we are still planning on conducting our festival with its full intentionality and all of our artists are going to be paid equitably and treated respectfully. No funding gap is going to stop us from moving forward with our principles.”

Some of the more prominent non-profits to potentially lose their funding include City Parks Foundation’s SummerStage which received an NEA grant of $30,000. The venue hosts free concerts in 14 parks across New York City’s five boroughs, as well as benefit concerts at Central Park SummerStage. This year, the event has scheduled performances by Alan Walker, James Blunt, Rhiannon Giddens and Lido Pimienta, Jacob Collier, Rilo Kiley, Soccer Mommy with Hurray for the Riff Raff and Dummy, Wet Leg, Seven Lions and more. 

The cuts also include The Apollo Theater Foundation, Inc., which lost $55,000 in funding that was meant for the development of new work by Samora Pinderhughes. Hyde Park Jazz Festival in Chicago had $30,000 withdrawn. That money had been earmarked for artist fees. The World Café, a music program that supports bridge sessions on NPR based out of Philadelphia, lost $20,000 in funding when their grant was withdrawn. 

It’s likely, however, that smaller non-profit arts organizations and/or ones in smaller markets are more impacted by the cuts with smaller fundraising bases and less organizational infrastructure to raise donations. Silambam Phoenix, for example, is a performing arts folk festival primarily featuring emerging South Asian artists in Phoenix, which lost $10,000 in funding. Rendezvous Arts, a concert series in Dixon, Illinois, that organizes four evening concerts, two free outreach concerts and three collaborations with a local art gallery, had $10,000 in funding terminated. 

The Charlotte Observer shared that in the state of North Carolina, nearly $500,000 in funding was rescinded from organizations throughout the state, according to Arts North Carolina, a statewide arts advocacy organization. In South Carolina, around $300,000 was rescinded, according to the South Carolina Alliance arts advocacy group.

The U.S. Regional Arts Organization last week released a joint statement between Torrie Allen (Arts Midwest President & CEO), Christian Gaines (Creative West President & CEO and USRAO Chair), Todd Stein (Mid-America Arts Alliance President & CEO), Juan Souki (Mid Atlantic Arts Executive Director), Harold Steward (New England Foundation for the Arts Executive Director), Susie Surkamer (South Arts President and CEO) and Shannon Daut (USRAE National Director). The statement addresses Congress, requesting that grant funding be restored for the affected arts programs.

“We, the national collective of US Regional Arts Organizations, strongly urge Congress to restore the grant funding in support of the arts, culture, and creativity that was passed during the last budgetary approval process, in addition to maintaining its broad bipartisan commitment to funding the NEA in next year’s budget,” representatives for the Regional Arts Organizations said in a joint statement. “As the landscape of support for our cultural infrastructure continues to be eroded, we remain steadfast in our commitment to stand with you in defending and preserving our nation’s artistic and cultural agencies.” 

Further programs that received cuts include educational programs, including teen arts programs, the Stuttering Association for the Young (a year-round after-school performing arts program focusing on youth who have speech impediments), the IRT Theater (which supports a Deaf Children’s Theater program), the Motus Theater in Boulder, Colorado (whose grant was to support the touring production of “Youth Behind & Beyond Bars: Stories from the Juvenile Justice System, a theater production written by system-impacted youth), literary arts and dance programs, among many others. As this story went to press, 523 arts programs had filled out the form detailing the grants that they had either withdrawn or terminated. 

“Collectively the NEA, Regional Arts Organizations, and State Arts Agencies serve thousands of communities across the country,” the statement continued. “And yet this work is funded by just 0.004% of the federal budget – less than 62 cents per American per year. This low-investment, high-return model is a shining example of good government. Federal funds are successfully leveraged many times over by states and private funders to increase the impact of public dollars. Federal dollars don’t replace private investment – they attract it.” 

The national collective of US Regional Arts Organizations encouraged those impacted by the decision to file an appeal by May 9. The National Council of Nonprofits outlined a guideline for those whose grants or contracts have been terminated, providing step-by-step instructions on what options are available to them (see here).

The entire budget for the NEA is over $117 million, spread across more than 2,300 grants and agreements, according to the organization. It’s the largest funder of arts programming in the United States.

Responding to the decision, several staff at the agency resigned – including program directors who oversaw grants for dance, theater, design, folk and traditional arts, museums and literary programs. Others have been asked to retire, according to Artnet. During Trump’s first administration, he had attempted to defund the NEA. Former recipients of the grants, such as the Mellon Foundation and the Helen Frankenthaler and Andy Warhol Foundations, launched emergency funding programs to help offset costs in order for programs to continue despite the lack of funding.

While hundreds of grants have been terminated or withdrawn, Mohan says she’s witnessed artistic communities come together more than ever in the wake of this decision. Silambam Phoenix has connected with other grant recipients across the country, the organizations working to uplift one another and ensure their events can continue as planned.

“We are obviously not the only organization in this country that this has happened to,” Mohan says. “This is a huge widespread effort and the thing that is giving me hope right now is collective action. I’m seeing it in my communities. I’m seeing artists in conversation with each other on how we can help each other, how we can support each other. Even in the darkest times when unimaginable things are happening, and it feels like avenues for hope are decreasing, I’m finding hope and finding strength in community. Our big push in the last few years has been, ‘How can we take this art form that’s its own niche and make it a more broad and more global endeavor in our own community?’ And things like this have definitely brought new people through our doors, new audience members, new donors, new interest. At the end of the day, we’re incredibly grateful that even with our grant being rescinded, it doesn’t mean that we stop standing and stop working and stop doing what we’re doing. We’re grateful to be in the position we’re in, and to also assist other organizations and lift them up in their time of need.”

Pollstar reached out to City Parks Foundation, The Apollo Theater Foundation, Rendezvous Arts and Hyde Park Jazz Fest for comment, but they had not responded at press time. 

For those interested in reaching out to Sillambam Phoenix to get involved, contact here: https://www.silambamphoenix.org/contact-us