Last week, the Trump administration called for eliminating the National Endowment for the Arts. Immediately following the announcement, organizations nationwide began receiving notice that their open and pending grants are being rescinded.

This follows recent actions at the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS) by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) that have stripped those agencies of both their public funding and public servants, leaving them unable to fulfill their Congressional mandates which include:

• NEA supporting the arts and arts agencies in every state and territory. 

• NEH supporting the humanities and humanities councils in every state and territory.

• IMLS supporting museums and especially libraries in every state and territory.

The NEA and NEH make up only 0.003% each of the overall federal budget and work to support more than just the nonprofit arts sector, which alone generates more than $150 billion dollars in economic activity to the American economy and supports more than 2.6 million jobs. IMLS accounts for only 0.0046% of the federal budget and supports a sector that supports more than 726,000 jobs and generates over $50 billion dollars in economic benefit. This is a small investment for a huge return. This is not just good government; this is good business.

Now is the time to ask congress to take immediate action to protect the NEA and restore all funding and staffing to our federal cultural agencies. Urge your representatives to protect and defend the NEA, NEH, and IMLS, as well as their congressional authority, for the betterment of your community, your state, and the entire nation.

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