May 9, 2025, 11:08am
Last week, hundreds of publishers, theatre companies, symphonies, and community arts programs abruptly lost funding. Beloved institutions from the Bay Area to Harlem were rudely informed of canceled NEA grants last week. And as my colleague James Folta reported in depth, the list of affected arts organizations only continues to grow.
So what can an arts org do at this moment?
The New Yorker critic Helen Shaw recently circulated this helpful document via Bluesky. Last updated on May 7, this “unofficial step-by-step guide” from the Film Festival Alliance lists actions groups can take if their grant has been terminated.
Unofficial should be emphasized—this is a community document, not legal advice. But this list breaks down the appeal process, distinguishes different response procedures for terminated grants and funds withdrawn, and also includes some helpful deadlines. FFA has also drafted an appeal letter template. Because we love a paper trail.
But what, you may ask, can an individual artist or civilian do?
It’s always a good moment to holler. Lobbying bodies like the Americans for the Arts are currently collecting impact statements from individual artists and art-supporters to the end of mounting stronger appeals. (The same group has a good general webinar on the new organizing conditions, which you can catch here.)
If roaring at your reps isn’t already part of a daily practice, that’s also something to consider. But in lieu (or addition!) to voicing unequivocal support for the NEA, a few arts groups, like Dance/NYC, have flagged a more specific ask. If your reps already aren’t hospitable to arts funding, you could demand more transparency around the new guidelines. That intel will be helpful when it comes to mounting legal challenges, down the line.
When writing or calling, also remember the facts. Lauren Halvorsen, whose excellent industry Substack “Nothing for the Group” is a great touchstone for theatre people in particular, reminds us “…that the NEA’s $210 million budget constitutes 0.0031% of the federal budget. Meanwhile, Trump’s FY26 proposal includes $1.01 trillion in defense spending, a 13% increase.”
For the temporarily fatigued, or just plain sad? I offer this Hyperallergic list of artists who once went toe to toe with a cruel or contracting government (and sometimes the NEA, specifically). Though it’s of course a very different ballgame when hundreds of groups are simultaneously experiencing budget cuts, there are useful lessons in the tactical responses of David Wojnarowicz, Dread Scott, and Karen Finley to government threat. Legally-speaking, yes—but also in terms of gusto.
In the meantime. Private institutions must still go to bat for their values. Those of us who love the literary and performing arts must loudly support them, however we can. All of us can start to think more like organizers, who consume and create work that has intrinsic value. And artists must continue to do what they’ve always done in adversity and on a shoestring: yell the truth.
