Target: The Arts

Without waiting for Congress to act, his appointees cancelled NEA grants that had already been approved—including $30,000 for the Ann Arbor Film Festival. The 2025 festival was in March, and “I had already submitted our final report and payment request,” says executive director Leslie Raymond.

Otie McKinley, media and communications manager of the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, emails that organizations can appeal, but “these grant terminations still represent a major setback for the arts and cultural field.”

The NEA gave the targeted groups just seven days to appeal. Raymond reports that they met the deadline, but at press time had yet to get a decision. Meanwhile, the cancellation “is causing hardship in our organization right now,” she writes, “because we have our biggest bill to pay to Marquee Arts for theater rental and union tech costs as well as make payroll. Normally at this time of year, we are able to cover these expenses, and now we are looking at tapping our savings account as well as chasing down some money owed to us.”

The University Musical Society was also left hanging. “The NEA has a process where they make tentative award recommendations,” explains Lisa Murray, associate director of development. In the past, the agency has always confirmed the grant. This year, UMS had a tentative $20,000 award for three concerts.

“We’ve been waiting for the last several months for the recommendation to be turned into an official grant,” says Murray. “We sat in limbo, and then we got the notice … that our funding offer was being withdrawn.”

She appealed, and she notes that UMS is fortunate that the grant is a small percentage of the organization’s $9–$10 million annual budget. “But a five-figure grant is nothing to sneeze at,” she adds.

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Other local organizations are funded indirectly through the Michigan Arts and Culture Council (MACC), which itself is partly funded by the NEA. “This funding provides essential operating support that allows us to hire artists, produce community programs, and be a cultural anchor in our region,” emails Mike Michelon, executive director of the Ann Arbor Summer Festival. “Just as importantly, it helps us leverage additional philanthropic support due to the matching requirements.”

This year’s festival hasn’t felt a direct impact, Michelon adds, but “we are deeply concerned … any cuts would directly threaten the health of Michigan’s cultural ecosystem.”

The Penny Seats Theatre Company got $20,500 from MACC last year. Only “$4,298, roughly 21%, [is] from the NEA,” emails executive director Lauren London—but “the full MACC granting process is, for now, on hold. The MACC grant represents 35–40% of our budget in a given year, and its disappearance would be a huge blow.”

Typically, the MACC publishes its grant guidelines in the spring, and organizations apply for the funds in early summer. But MACC, it turns out, can’t provide guidelines because the NEA hasn’t given it any.

When they do arrive, they’re likely to be unrecognizable. According to a May 3 NPR report, the cancellation announcement lists Trump priorities that include “fostering” skilled trades and AI competency, making “America healthy again” and making “the District of Columbia safe and beautiful.”

If government funding is lost for good, London says, Penny Seats “may have to make some excruciating choices about which shows we do, how many performances we give, when and where we can perform, who we can hire, and how we plan for the future.”

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Katie Hubbard, managing director of the Purple Rose Theatre Company in Chelsea, says the theater typically gets about $20,000 a season from MACC. Although that’s less than three percent of their funding goal, they “will need to fill that gap somehow,” either by raising it from donors and patrons or raising ticket prices.

In the past, the Rose has also won large MACC capital grants for a new roof, HVAC, accessibility needs, water damage, and more. “They are one of the few funders that will give up to $100K for brick & mortar/building needs/updates/projects,” Hubbard writes. Those days are probably gone.

Since 1965, when President Johnson signed legislation establishing the NEA, the arts have benefited to the tune of about $5.5 billion dollars. That has supported diverse programming—music, dance, theater, fine arts, independent film—for different cultural groups and age groups. 

Public money does more than fund art. It helps develop the arts. When the survival of an institution depends on ticket sales, trying new things is financially risky. NEA grants have helped stretch the boundaries.

In addition to annual support, Michelon says, “A2SF has received direct NEA project grants that have made possible some of our most iconic programming—large-scale spectacle events from international companies like Transe Express and Sway that have captivated our audiences and become hallmarks of the festival season.”

Before 1965, such experiences were available only in a few major cities. The NEA brought them to underserved populations and into homes by helping fund such PBS shows as Great Performances and Live From Lincoln Center. 

“You can’t help but notice that in the before times, money was being distributed across the nation,” says UMS’s Murray. “Now it’s all going to a few of the president’s pet projects.”

At the same time Trump moved to eliminate the NEA, he requested a significant budget increase for the Kennedy Center in D.C. It’s now controlled by board chair Donald Trump. 

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Calls & letters, July 2025

The Film Festival’s Reprieve

To the Observer:

We just found out that the NEA fulfilled our request for payment and direct deposited the grant money into our bank account last week!

As mentioned previously, I had submitted our final report and request for payment– it may have been JUST in the nick of time because I submitted on the afternoon of Friday May 2, and we received the termination letter less than 24 hours later on Saturday May 3. (I do not believe these two actions were connected).