Save the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA)

The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), the largest source of funding for public arts and arts education in the United States, has become the latest target of the Trump administration’s budget cuts. Trump’s proposed budget for Congress has called for shutting down the agency altogether. On May 2nd, the NEA alerted hundreds of grant recipients that their funding would be withdrawn due to an update to the agency’s grant policies “to focus funding on projects that reflect the nation’s rich artistic heritage and creativity as prioritized by the President.”

Numerous senior NEA officials, as well as staff members responsible for issuing grants, submitted their resignations, leaving the endangered agency without direction and stirring panic among the many art institutions reliant on the federal funding. Though the NEA enjoys historic bipartisan support – the agency supports programs in every district in the country – and withstood funding attacks from Trump during his first term, the current administration’s ruthless dismantling of the federal infrastructure has many in the arts community worried.

The NEA’s arts and culture programs touch every American across the country. Their work is essential to our country’s rich artistic heritage and diverse community. Congress must use its constitutional power of the purse to protect this beloved agency from Trump’s heartless attacks.