“Economic Censorship”: The Devastation of the NEA Grants Cut Grows

The head count of Austin arts organizations that found their finances wrecked by the unexpected withdrawal of National Endowment for the Arts grants keeps growing, in an act that Austin Theatre Alliance CEO Jim Ritts has called “economic censorship.”

The alliance was one of thousands of groups around the country that received an email from the NEA late Friday night informing them that existing grants were being cancelled, effective at the end of the month. The email informed them that the rules under which they had applied had been changed retroactively, and that rather than supporting artistic excellence the grants will be going to support programs aimed toward issues including AI training, the anti-science Make America Healthy Again policy, and disaster relief.

The cuts even hit the city of Austin. The Office of Arts, Culture, Music and Entertainment informed Mayor Kirk Watson and Council this week that the terminations included a $75,000 grant to the city for the Our Future 35 Artists in Residence Program. The initiative was intended to engage the community in arts projects related to the ongoing I-35 demolition and reconstruction project. In a statement, the office added that “[ACME] is currently assessing the implications of this notice and actively exploring alternative funding options to continue supporting participating artists and the goals of the program.”

The Chronicle has confirmed with each of these local groups that their grants have been, in the words of the NEA, terminated:

• American Short Fiction magazine
• Austin Film Festival
• Austin Film Society
• Austin Theatre Alliance
• Cine Las Americas International Film Festival
• The city of Austin
• Conspirare
• Creative Action
• Forklift Danceworks
• Lannaya Drum & Dance Ensemble
• Latinitas
• Rancho Alegre
• The Museum of Human Achievement
• Tapestry Dance Company
• Texas Comedies
• Women & Their Work
• ZACH Theatre

This scratches the surface of the terminations at the local, state, and national level, which have left thousands of entities denied the finances they were promised. AFF, AFS, ZACH Theatre, and the city of Austin have all confirmed that they will be appealing the decision.

No one knew the reversals were going to happen, but many organizations were already very aware that the Trump administration was antagonistic to the arts and some were already hedging their bets.

One group with a weather eye to potential upheaval was Conjunto and Tejano music nonprofit Rancho Alegre. The company had received a $10,000 Challenge America grant for its annual festival, which was held in April. COO Piper LeMoine noted this was “our first federal grant and was a milestone for us as a tiny, grassroots organization.“ However, when the organizers heard in January that some payments were already being frozen, they changed their plans to take into account that they might not be able to depend on the federal cash. “We scaled back our lineup and made some hard choices,” she explained. Having already booked several high-profile national acts, they were forced to reduce the lineup and book fewer local performers than normal. Advertising took a hit but, because they still hoped to get the grant, the NEA was acknowledged in all the ads, on posters and T-shirts, and in press releases.

Some groups have already pulled down all the funds for their current grants and, bar a clawback from the NEA, will keep that money. That includes the Austin Theatre Alliance, which received a $25,000 grant for 2024-2025 for school programs that bring 15,000-25,000 school children to Austin for a free show. Ritts explained, “These are the ones where, if you come Downtown, you’ll see 27 yellow school buses parked by the Paramount.” However, while ATA has already been fully reimbursed for this year, the future of the program faces a new hurdle as the alliance has sent out a grant application for “roughly the same amount for 2025-26.”

Austin-based Forklift Danceworks is in the same situation: They had already received the full funds for site-specific production The Way of Water – Miami when they received the termination letter. Yet that still leaves a question about the application for their next project, The Way of Water – Colorado River, which was filed last July. Rachael Garbowski, associate director of development and communications, said even after almost a year in review, they are still awaiting a decision, “but given the recent termination email, we are deeply concerned.”

Every organization with a pending application faces the same uncertainty. Speaking for the ATA, Ritts called the whole process “unconscionable” but noted that his organization is in better shape than most because it is a nonprofit with multiple financial supporters and donors. His greater concern is for the smaller organizations, and especially those in smaller towns with no other arts provisions and no spare cash, for whom the NEA was established by Congress in 1965.

“What happens to those theatres, those cultural institutions, those libraries and performance spaces in hundreds of small communities around the state?" he asked. "Their funding can be dependent predominantly on government funds. They are living up to what their promises were and, all of a sudden, they have been told, overnight, ‘You’re not going to get that money.’ … What happens to the soul of a community?”