As Administration Scrutinizes Funding, We Make the Case

On January 20, Donald Trump was sworn in as the 47th president of the United States. Almost immediately afterward, the President lived up to his promise to be bold and active. Within a week of taking office, the administration’s Office of Management and Budget released a memorandum that paused funding programs from all federal agencies, including the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA).

This announcement was met with significant concern, but also extensive questions, as organizations that rely on their support from agencies like the NEA were left wondering if their funding was safe, paused or eliminated altogether.

One week later, organizations across the country in all sectors of our economy were still trying to understand the administration’s intentions and what the impact would be. While the order was ultimately challenged in court and rescinded, we expect the administration to continue to scrutinize funding programs closely. For our part, we want our members to know that NASAA has your back and is constantly meeting with leaders in the executive and legislative branches to gather as much information as possible.

Additionally, this episode indicates that the Trump administration is going to carefully scrutinize every dollar appropriated by Congress. Therefore, we strongly advise you to connect with your elected officials in Washington to update them on your work and explain why funding from the National Endowment for the Arts is so critical to state arts agencies and local organizations, who work to ensure that the money is spent in the most efficient way possible, designed to maximize impact. Emphasize that public funding for arts and creativity is a high-return investment that benefits every American in every city, town and rural community nationwide. (See Arts and Creativity Strengthen Our Nation for additional talking points.)

In closing, I want to convey that we have experienced episodes of uncertainty in the past. We have found that we are most effective when we are unified and deliberate in building and maintaining relationships on both sides of the political aisle.