Kirstin Kapustik was on her way home after a Friday night performance of Trisha Brown Dance Company at The Joyce Theater when her evening took a turn for the worse.
Kapustik, the company’s executive director, got an email from the National Endowment for the Arts informing her that its offer of a $40,000 grant would be withdrawn. The money was for a concert production premiering in June, in partnership with the Merce Cunningham Trust, to celebrate the centennial of the artist Robert Rauschenberg.
“We’re already working on this project. This money, to my mind, had already been spent,” Kapustik said. “It’s a lot of money to lose in the midst of the project.”
The dance company, based in Midtown, was one of likely hundreds of arts and cultural organizations across New York City that received a similar email from the NEA, a federal agency, indicating offers for grant funding would be rescinded or the awards terminated as of May 31.
The NEA’s messages, which were sent to organizations all over the country, said the agency would allocate funding “in a new direction” to align with President Donald Trump’s agenda.
In the fall, the NEA awarded grants of up to $100,000 to 327 organizations across New York State, including at least 266 in New York City, totalling nearly $9 million in funding statewide. The move now to pull the grants left administrators of cultural organizations frustrated and reeling with uncertainty about the future of a longstanding apparatus for the art funding. And they are left scrambling to come up with funds for programs.
Kapustik said she plans to appeal the decision, and noted the irony of the NEA pulling funds meant for that particular project.
“It is three iconic American artists that defined dance and visual art as we know it,” she said, referring to Brown, Cunningham and Rauschenberg. “This is all about American heritage.”
The NEA did not respond to a request for comment.
In a statement, Laurie Cumbo, the city’s commissioner of Cultural Affairs and a provider of locally administered aid, touted the agency’s investments for public programs at over 1,000 organizations citywide.
“We know that cultural nonprofits depend on support from a diverse range of sources, and we recognize and acknowledge concerns about the latest developments regarding federal support for the arts,” she said. “We will continue to monitor the situation closely as we advocate for these funds, and will continue to do our part to make New York City the greatest place on earth for arts and culture.”
‘Not Surprising‘
All kinds and all sizes of arts organizations contributing to the city’s cultural life were affected by the NEA’s recent termination letters: dance and theater companies working with acclaimed and up-and-coming artists to produce new and historic performing arts works; music conservancies that teach children; ballet and opera companies; groups that put on annual dance, music and film festivals; literary magazines and small publishers; museums and galleries.
The Brooklyn Song Society, n +1 magazine, the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music, the Drama League and the Classical Theater of Harlem were among those hit with funding cuts.
The NEA withdrew a $25,000 grant for Open House New York’s Water Works series, which explores the city’s water systems. The organization will appeal, but in the meantime is fundraising to make up for the possible loss.
“This federal disinvestment in arts and culture is disappointing, but not surprising,” Open House’s executive director Kristin LaBuz wrote in an email. “We believe in the program and remain committed to producing the series as planned.”
The Print Center New York, located in Chelsea, also got word that the NEA rescinded its $50,000 grant for the forthcoming exhibition, Data Consciousness: Reframing Blackness in Contemporary Print. Tiffany Nesbit, the COO, said the show will go on as scheduled, in September.
The NEA allocated about $106.6 million to entities in New York State over the past five years. New York’s arts and cultural industries employ nearly half a million workers, according to a 2023 report.
The NEA’s email indicated that funding going forward would focus on 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.”
However, Trump’s proposed budget eliminates the NEA, as well as the National Endowment of the Humanities and the Institute for Museum and Library Services, which are also both key grantmakers for cultural institutions.
Some organizations have seen grants from multiple agencies terminated, such as BRIC, which puts on the Celebrate Brooklyn festival in the summer and offers in-school arts education, among other programs. BRIC saw cuts of a $200,000 grant from IMLS and a $25,000 NEA grant.
“We anticipate an additional $70,000 in NEA funding may be terminated or remain unpaid,” said Wendy Washington, a BRIC spokesperson.
The cuts have organizations concerned about the future as they plan to move ahead without the NEA as a reliable funding source.
Kathy Del Beccaro, managing director of the Rockaway Film Festival, said the organization applied for NEA funding and had expected to hear back about the award in April, but has not. The NEA and other funders had previously supported the film festival’s programs.
“It certainly hurts our budget that we cannot count on NEA funding, but we are not expecting to cut any programs in response,” Del Beccaro wrote in an email. “Of course, the political and economic climate beyond the termination of NEA grants has made fundraising more difficult for arts orgs and other non-profits in countless ways.”
Cora Dance, which has hubs in Brooklyn and Virginia, also can’t rely on future NEA grants, which in the past have helped cover its Crossroads Project, a dance-making program that brings together kids from Appalachia and Red Hook.
“We’re very worried,” said Chris Hammett, the dance organization’s managing director.
Already, groups are organizing support in the wake of the cuts.
On Thursday, the Manhattan-based Theatre Communications Group will host a webinar on how the impact of the changing federal funding landscape on arts and culture. The Film Festival Alliance circulated a guide with strategies on how to appeal the NEA’s grant terminations.
Our nonprofit newsroom relies on donations from readers to sustain our local reporting and keep it free for all New Yorkers. Donate to THE CITY today.
The post NYC Arts Groups Reel As Trump NEA Cuts Hit Home appeared first on THE CITY – NYC News.
