Many Bay Area arts administrators were not surprised when they received Friday night emails announcing the sudden cancellation of their National Endowment for the Arts grants.
“The extreme right and the religious right know better than liberals and centrists the power of art to uplift progressive, liberal humanist, and sometimes radical political views,” says Keith Hennessy, choreographer and founder of Circo Zero, whose grant for Fabric, a free QTBIPOC leadership series, was canceled before being fully reimbursed.
Emails announcing the nationwide cuts, which a survey started by theater director Annie Dorsen had tallied at $9,025,200 by the time this article went to press, stated that, “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.”
Those priorities include “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.”
“They are clear eyed on how the non-profit world has prioritized racial justice, queer-trans empowerment, and feminism,” said Hennessy, who told 48hills he doesn’t know any NEA grantees who did not receive an email. “They’ve wanted to shut us down for years and Trump’s people have openly nurtured a cynical and manipulative fantasy of the woke devil that must be slayed for good people to be free.”
Among other local organizations that have been impacted are Youth Speaks’ Brave New Voices International Youth Poetry Festival ($45,000 grant canceled), Bay Area Video Coalition ($100,000), Dance Mission Theater ($75,000), Brava Theater’s production of Tania León’s Indígena($20,000), The Roxie’s Spanish-language and Latinx-focused RoxCine program ($20,000), Gray Area’s annual Gray Area Festival ($50,000), Women’s Audio Mission ($45,000), and Circus Bella ($30,000).
Mission Local has compiled a list of local groups that have been impacted.
The cuts led a number of senior NEA official to resign from their positions early this week, which has given rise to worries that their exit will facilitate the elimination of the agency.
Such a move to erase the NEA completely is forecasted by Trump’s 2026 budget plan, which was released shortly before the grant cancellation emails were sent. The plan additionally calls for the elimination of the National Endowment for the Humanities (which has also announced grant cancellations in recent months), deep cuts to social services, public health, and the National Park Service—and a $1 trillion increase in defense spending.
Many have commented on the seemingly mixed messages sent by the grant cancellations. Last month, the Chinese Cultural Center saw the National Endowment for the Humanities cancel their grant of more than $115,000, despite “economic development of Asian American communities” being stated as a new priority for the NEA.
The CCC has responded to the cuts with a proactive move towards its own “economic development,” opening a design store at 41 Ross Alley, where shoppers can buy unique pieces made by designers and artists in its community.
“We’re going to continue to program,” Jenny Leung, executive director of the CCC, told 48hills’ Andrew Brobst. “We won’t let our history, our culture, be erased. What this store really does and signals is, it’s another way to support the community. It’s another way to show up.”
But the future is unclear for many impacted by the cuts.
“My organization could be dead by next year, or maybe we’ll be pruned back to nearly nothing, and just try to hold on for a brighter day,” says Hennessy, who adds that Gag, the final party performance showcase of the Fabric series, will take place on Fri/9.
“Individually, the loss of NEA funding for each arts organization is a blow. Collectively, the loss of funding for the arts nationally and in the states is a serious threat to our democracy,” wrote Lesley Currier, managing director of Marin Shakespeare Company, in an email statement.
The company lost a $20,000 grant that had been awarded for the production of Lauren Gunderson’s stage adaptation of Cinderella: Liberator, noted feminist author Rebecca Solnit’s children’s book.
Still, some leaders in Bay Area arts are determined that their emails from the Trump administration will not lead to curtains on their creative output.
Impacted organizations Bridge Live Arts and the Festival of Latin American Contemporary Choreographers will be hosting a May 20 town hall meeting at Oakland’s ARTogether as part of their Art Solidarity Action Series to “focus on strategies and reports relating to the dissolution of the NEA/terminations of NEA funding.”
“It’s not how it will impact the festival that is important,” Andrew Wood, executive director of SF International Arts Festival, which received word of a $20,000 cut as artists board planes to this year’s fest. “This is an attempt to undermine all of the democratic institutions in the country. The festival—in solidarity with the arts industry and other sectors of the population—will organize and fight back.”
