NEA Grant Terminations and NEA Funding Threatened

On Friday, May 2, 2025, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) sent out letters to FY24 and FY25 grantees. Some were told their funding would be cut off by May 30, while others had their grants pulled entirely, because their projects supposedly no longer aligned with the current administration’s priorities. At the same time, we’re seeing a mass departure of incredible NEA staff, people who have long championed community arts and education, leaving the agency. And now, just weeks after dismantling the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), the administration has proposed eliminating the NEA in the FY26 federal budget.

For nearly 60 years, the NEA and NEH has helped make the arts and humanities accessible in every corner of the country. From rural towns to big cities, it’s funded programs that bring people together, strengthen schools, and build community.

This isn’t just about “art for art’s sake.” This is about jobs, healing, culture, democracy, and joy.

Here’s what you can do right now:
 

Received a Letter from the NEA? Start Here.

• Check out these helpful next steps from our colleagues at the Film Festival Alliance, with clear steps on what to do next (click here)
• Here is a nonprofit checklist created by the Council of Nonprofits if your federal grant or contract has been terminated (click here)
• Organizers in the sector are collecting data on organizations affected by the NEA's sudden grant cancellations. Please fill out this form to let them know how you've been affected.

Activate Your Power

• Find and call your members of Congress (click here to find your members).
• Share what losing NEA/NEH funding means for your org, your students, your community.

Don’t wait for someone else to do it. Our stories move policy.

Show Love to NEA/NEH Staffers
A lot of incredible folks have been holding it down at the NEA/NEH for years, fighting for our field behind the scenes. If they’ve supported you or your work, take a moment to say thank you, write a note, or shout them out. Let’s remind them they matter.

YOU Can Run for Office
Seriously. We need artists, cultural workers, educators, and organizers making decisions about our communities. The Guild will be partnering with orgs that train and support folks like you to run for office (all aligned with our nonprofit status, of course). More info coming soon. If you’ve been thinking about it, this is your sign.


What's At Stake

The National Guild joins so many other orgs in saying, “Cutting the NEA and NEH is a mistake.”

For nearly 60 years, the NEA and NEH has helped make the arts and humanities accessible in every corner of the country. From rural towns to big cities, it’s funded programs that bring people together, strengthen schools, and build community.

This isn’t just about “art for art’s sake.” This is about jobs, healing, culture, democracy, and joy.
 
We believe:

The arts are infrastructure.
Culture is not expendable.
Our creativity is political and powerful.

We’re in a moment that calls for all of us to show up. Let’s do it together with purpose, with heart, and with each other.

Published: May 06, 2025