Editor’s note: This story is still developing. ArtsWatch is committed to helping Oregon artists navigate this process however we can. Further coverage will follow as we get more information.

On Friday afternoon, arts organizations across the country received form letters via email from the National Endowment for the Arts announcing that the grants they’d been promised were no longer coming. There are two different letters, dependent on the timing of your grant, and the language is confusing (one category was “terminated,” the other “withdrawn”), but the ultimate message is the same: the NEA’s priorities are now Trump’s priorities, and no art outside them will be permitted to receive federal funds. 

These announcements came the same day as a flurry of news stories about Trump’s proposed budget including a “small agency eliminations” category which would once and for all dismantle not only the NEA but also the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS), which have already been stripped of staff and funding. This, along with cuts to entities like National Public Radio, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the Smithsonian, the Kennedy Center, and more, amounts to the most overt assault yet on the country’s arts and humanities infrastructure. 

2023 and 2024 Funding: “Your Grant Has Been Terminated”

“Dear [name]: This is to inform you that the above referenced National Endowment for the Arts award has been terminated, effective May 31, 2025.”

The National Endowment for the Arts works on a reimbursement process, and the grant period can cover up to two years. That means some organizations who received that email on May 2 have had them built into their budget for a very long time, waiting to be ready to start spending money on production costs so they could invoice the NEA to cover it. Third Angle New Music, for example, was approved for their terminated grant in May of 2023, while Portland Center Stage was approved in the spring of 2024.

The letter goes on to describe the NEA’s new priorities (more on this below) and states: “Your project, as noted below, unfortunately does not align with these priorities.” This is followed by a paragraph that is somewhat passive-aggressive in tone, reminding the applicant “The agency issued an award to your organization, subject to you agreeing to and accepting certain terms and conditions. You accepted the offer of funding, which was subject to the General Terms and Conditions (GTCs) that apply to all NEA awards. Per your award’s GTCs, the National Endowment for the Arts may terminate a federal award to the greatest extent authorized by law if an award no longer effectuates the program goals or agency priorities… Accordingly, because your project no longer effectuates agency priorities, the agency is exercising its ability to terminate this grant award in accordance with the GTCs with which you agreed to comply.”

If you received this letter, or you know someone else who did, this is the most important bit: there’s still a chance to get at least some of your money. Many of the organizations who were awarded grants in 2023 and 2024 have already completed their projects and submitted their final invoices. If you haven’t and your grant is still open, the guidance coming from experts is to get your final invoice in right now. You’ll see in the text above that the grant is terminated as of May 31; that’s what they’ve decided is the end of everyone’s grant project period. If you haven’t invoiced them for the last of your money yet, “you may submit a final payment request reflecting actual, allowable, approved costs incurred during the revised period of performance” by June 30, 2025. After that, the money is gone. You’ll also have to submit the financial page of the grant report by July 31, but the rest of the report is waived. 

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So even if your project isn’t scheduled to happen for months, ArtsWatch recommends doing anything you can (pay people early, buy what you need up front, whatever it takes) to plausibly bite off enough of the hard costs from the budget you submitted to make a play for that cash before it’s gone.

2025-2026 Funding: “Your Grant Has Been Withdrawn”

Twenty-seven Oregon artists and arts organizations were awarded $590,000 in funding in December 2024. Many of them have been left in limbo since February, with little guidance from NEA staff about the future of their programming, as changes at the organization unfolded left and right. The email they received was even more brusque and unhelpful.

“Dear [name]:

Pursuant to the Offer letter, the tentative funding recommendation for the following application is Withdrawn by the Agency and the National Endowment for the Arts will no longer offer award funding for the project.”

It is worth noting that these grants are not generally framed as “tentative funding recommendations.” They do go through a period of review after they’re announced and approved, but the process is as perfunctory as the reverend asking anyone in attendance if they have an objection to the wedding – they do it to ensure the procedures are being followed, but no one expects anything to change. The emphasis in this letter on the word “tentative,” as if to imply that no real commitment was made, feels cruel to organizations who built their budgets around the expectation of funding. 

According to a story today in the New York Times, Portland Playhouse learned their $25,000 for a production of August Wilson’s Joe Turner’s Come and Gone was cancelled just 24 hours before the show opened. “To receive this news on the eve of opening night is deeply disappointing,” they said in a social media post. “While we have no plans currently to cancel our production, moving forward without the support of this critical funding presents a significant challenge for our company.” Board member Stephen Robinson shared the post on Bluesky, saying “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone by the great August Wilson is a wonderful piece of American art, but it’s not a surprise why the government would not see it that way.” 

ArtsWatch is continually updating our tally of organizations whose FY26 grants have been confirmed as withdrawn. To date, in addition to Portland Playhouse, that list includes All Classical Portland, Oregon Children’s Theatre, Passinart: A Theatre Company, and Profile Theatre.

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New priorities

Both letters contain the following paragraph:

“The NEA is updating its grantmaking policy priorities to focus funding on projects that reflect the nation’s rich artistic heritage and creativity as prioritized by the President. Consequently, we are terminating awards that fall outside these new priorities. The NEA will now prioritize projects that elevate the Nation’s HBCUs [Historically Black Colleges and Universities] 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. Funding is being allocated in a new direction in furtherance of the Administration’s agenda.”

A few of these priorities appeared in some form when the NEA rewrote their grant guidelines in February. The “America250” project received the most public visibility, but HBCUs and Hispanic Serving Institutions were in there too, along with Tribal and Asian American communities. I would categorize “foster AI competency” as rather different from “Support existing and new technology-centered creative practices across all artistic disciplines and forms, including work that explores or reflects on the impacts of artificial intelligence (AI) in ways that are consistent with valuing human artistry and improve the public’s awareness and understanding of the use of AI.” 

They appear to have deleted “support the independence of people with disabilities” and “support the health and well-being of people and communities through the arts,” which were two of the only other remaining progressive priorities that made the cut when they chopped up a much longer and more diverse list to reissue it in February. All the rest – churches, disaster recovery, skilled trade, military/veterans, and the two with the most viscerally Trumpian language (“make America healthy again” and “make the District of Columbia safe and beautiful”) – are entirely new additions. 

Recipients of both letters are told they may appeal within seven calendar days (meaning Thursday, May 8) “if you believe your project meets one of the agency’s new priorities.”

Another sign of the agency’s “new priorities” – a new notice on the main Grants For Arts Project page which links to a PDF document explaining how they have decided they will comply with Trump’s executive order about “gender ideology.” ArtsWatch reported earlier this week on the inherent contradictions of lifting an injunction on the NEA to allow them to create their own plan, when the whole reason for legal action in the first place was a reasonable belief that they couldn’t be trusted to make their own plan. Their attempted compromise, as proposed, is frankly absurd. It insists that, by eliminating any box you have to check that says “I disavow trans people” and keeping the multi-step application process the same, they are therefore not breaking the court’s rules by imposing an illegal and discriminatory eligibility bar and therefore “no applicant should suffer harm under this process.” Anyone can propose a project for anything they want. Great! Oh, except for one tiny step that happens at the end:

“… the NEA will implement EO 14168 on a grant-by-grant basis… The statute 20 U.S.C. § 954(d)(1) confers upon the NEA Chair the discretionary authority to award a grant, or to decline to award a grant… the NEA will adhere to Congress’ direction for the Chair to judge applications on the basis of Artistic Excellence and Artistic Merit, taking into consideration general standards of decency and respect for the diverse beliefs and values of the American public… The Chair will implement EO 14168 by evaluating projects that promote gender ideology based on the existing statutory criteria at the final stage of application review.”

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So you can propose whatever project you want, and then Trump’s NEA appointee will simply review them all at the end for “general standards of decency” and then decide on her own which to grant and which to fund. And, because that’s all technically in alignment with NEA policy, if she simply happens not to fund anything which affirms diverse or marginalized gender identities, she has not technically broken the law.

Or at least, so says the NEA. Whether the ACLU takes them back to court over this will be another story. 

Next steps

This story is still developing, and ArtsWatch is committed to helping Oregon artists navigate this process however we can. If you work for an arts organization whose grant was withdrawn or terminated that is not listed above, please contact us at info@orartswatch.org. We are putting together a clearer picture of exactly how many Oregon arts dollars were cut and who has been affected, and we will update the list above as we learn more. 

The Federal Readiness and Leverage Fund, launched last year, may be a valuable resource as well. This is a network of lobbyists and philanthropists working collaboratively across Oregon “to increase access to transformative federal funding and advance high-potential projects led by rural based, BIPOC-led and serving, and other under-resourced organizations and jurisdictions.” They currently have an open form for emergency funding requests for organizations of all types who are experiencing significant funding disruption due to federal cuts.