Overview

• The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) terminated over half of its open grants via a May 2 email, citing updated priorities aligned with presidential directives.
• All 10 NEA discipline directors and several senior leaders announced their resignations this week, further destabilizing the agency.
• The Trump administration's 2026 budget proposal seeks to eliminate the NEA, NEH, and IMLS, redirecting funds toward patriotic projects, including the U.S. semiquincentennial and the National Garden of American Heroes.
• Arts organizations across the country are filing appeals, with deadlines by the end of the week, and pursuing legal challenges to contest the legality of the cancellations.
• Local arts groups, especially in the Bay Area, are mobilizing community support and fundraising to sustain programming threatened by the federal funding cuts.