Trump proposes shutting National Endowment for the Arts, grants cancelled, all directors leave - reports

U.S. President Donald Trump proposed shutting down the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the National Endowment for the Humanities in the budget he released last week, U.S. news media reported. Here is the link to The New York Times article.

NEA is an independent federal agency that offers support and funding for arts and art education, including museums, music, theatre and many others. Its shutdown will directly affect the dance art industry.

Trump proposed the shutdown in 20217 during his first presidency, according to these media reports.

Many art organisations reported awarded grants were being withdrawn quickly, according to The New York Times.

On 6th May 2025, MASS MoCA, a contemporary art museum in Massachusetts, published a statement from its Director Kristy Edmunds on Instagram, which read that the museum had received an email notification of the termination of its awarded grant to support Jeffrey Gibson’s commission “POWER FULL BECAUSE WE’RE DIFFERENT”.

"The NEA grant for this exhibition was awarded last year under the prior federal administration in accordance with the rigorous standards of the funding criteria of the NEA. Specifically, it was awarded on November 9, 2023 (edit) with an expectation that receipt of funds would happen this Spring. The NEA’s notification by email reads, in part:

“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. Consequently, we are now terminating awards that fall outside these new priorities. Funding is being allocated in a new direction in furtherance of the Administration’s agenda.”

On 7th May, The Washington Post reported, "All 10 directors who oversee grants in various disciplines of the arts — such as museums, theater, design, and folk and traditional arts — are leaving the agency, according to a review of emails obtained by The Washington Post as well as three people with close knowledge of the agency, speaking on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the press."

American Ballet Theatre and Jacob's Pillow, among many others, posted their voices to call for protecting NEA under #NEA.

These posts ask readers to visit Americans for the Arts' page https://www.americansforthearts.org/advocate/protect-the-nea for resources and information on how to contact the U.S. Congress.