“It’s been the most tumultuous week ever,” Brian Weaver said recently, days after being notified that the National Endowment for the Arts was withdrawing a $25,000 grant intended to support the Portland Playhouse production of August Wilson’s “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone,” one of the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright’s series of works that explore Black life in America.

Weaver, Portland Playhouse’s producing artistic director, isn’t alone in being caught off-guard by the National Endowment of the Arts canceling and withdrawing grants, decisions that multiple arts and cultural groups learned about in emails sent out on May 2.

According to Subashini Ganesan-Forbes, the chair of the Oregon Arts Commission, at least $590,000 previously earmarked for 27 Oregon NEA grantees has been cut. As a statement from the arts commission notes, the emails rescinding grants stated that “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.”

As has been reported, President Donald Trump has proposed eliminating agencies including the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Institute of Museum and Library Services in his budget blueprint for the next fiscal year.

Ganesan-Forbes said that as of now, National Endowment for the Arts funding to state arts agencies, such as the Oregon Arts Commission, remained in place. The arts commission gets about $1 million a year from the NEA, Ganesan-Forbes said, which combines with funding from the state and other sources with the Oregon legislature.

The impact of the National Endowment for the Arts canceling grants is, Ganesan-Forbes said, “Devastating. If it’s a performing arts organization, they’re looking at this money to pay their artists, and create projects. If it’s a visual arts organization, they’re planning on their next season of gallery openings. So, when the money has been promised and it doesn’t come, then you are left with figuring out how you’re going to backfill that money that you believed you would get in May or in June.”

People who don’t work in arts administration may not understand that the applications for NEA grants are lengthy, complicated and must be done far in advance of when the money is expected, Ganesan-Forbes said. “It’s devastating for organizations to get this news at this moment, because the question is, what does next year’s programming look like?”

News of the National Endowment for the Arts grants being pulled comes as arts and cultural organizations have already been facing steep challenges, and struggling to survive.

As The Oregonian/OregonLive reported Thursday, Portland Center Stage, one of the city’s most respected theater groups, has announced a $9 million emergency fundraising campaign, stating that without support from the community, “the theater will cease operations.”

Oregon Children’s Theatre has also announced that it is pausing programming effective Sept. 1, a move that includes all mainstage productions, camps, classes, in-school programming, and more.

As a notice on the Oregon Children’s Theatre website says, “You may be asking, ‘Is Oregon Children’s Theatre closing for good?’ The truth is, we don’t know.” The company is asking for donations to help keep staff employed, and assess potential next steps.

Oregon Children’s Theatre was among the arts groups that lost National Endowment for the Arts grants. Attempts to reach Oregon Children’s Theatre for a comment were unsuccessful.

Weaver, of Portland Playhouse, agrees that “things were already really tough. Before this happened, our staff was already on reduced hours.”

While some arts organizations have cited the pandemic as a contributor to their difficult financial situation, noting that some people haven’t felt comfortable returning to live performances, Weaver said for Portland Playhouse, a big hurdle has been rising expenses.

“We’re already suffering under increased prices, the fact that it’s just more expensive to do everything,” Weaver said. “We’re just fighting to try to continue paying people living wages.”

“It’s not just the NEA,” Weaver said, noting that there’s been a decrease in many kinds of funding sources.

Like other arts groups, Portland Playhouse asked for donations to help make up for the lost National Endowment for the Arts grant, an appeal that worked.

“We completely made up the gap of what was lost with the NEA,” Weaver said. That success inspired a GoFundMe campaign called “Keep the Story Alive: Oregon Arts Rising,” which has the goal of raising $590,000, or “every dollar that the NEA withdrew from Oregon’s Arts Organizations, and to distribute those funds evenly across all affected groups.”

Scalehouse, a multidisciplinary arts center located in Bend, had a $20,000 grant canceled that was intended to support 2025 Bend Design, an event that Scalehouse describes as a celebration of Bend’s creative culture, involving artists, designers, and other creators.

“It’s a big, big loss,” said Marley Weedman Lorish, Scalehouse executive director. “This is the 10th anniversary of the conference. Part of the grant also supported our work with the Warm Springs Community Action Team, bringing in stories from our tribal community.”

Losing the National Endowment for the Arts grant means, Lorish said, “I’m having to go back and take a big look at our annual budget, deciding if, and how, the conference goes on.” Scalehouse has applied for other grants for the conference, “but we still haven’t received a yes or no on those. So, there’s some uncertainty about funding for the program.”

Even with funding questions looming, Lorish said Scalehouse will continue. “We are committed to our mission,” to displaying work in Scalehouse gallery space by members of “under-represented communities. That will never change. We really see contemporary art as a vessel for teaching critical thinking, and that’s how we’re going to get through that.”

While some supporters of the Trump administration cuts to agencies may object to their tax dollars going to support arts and culture, Ganesan-Forbes, of the Oregon Arts Commission, said, “I think what’s beautiful about a democracy is that there are many ways that my tax dollar gets used, some of which I agree with, and some where I’m, like, not so sure. But it is for the public good. If you want to ‘curate’ the art that your tax dollars should go to, you’re asking for a different form of government. The value of my tax dollars is supporting community members to thrive by having a sense of connection and of humanity. And I think that’s what’s important. And that is more important than nitpicking what arts organizations are doing or not doing.”

Weaver, of Portland Playhouse, said, “Artists have always found a way. We are here for the long haul.”

As for what comes next, Weaver said, “Our next steps are that we are appealing” the rescinding of the grant. “We hope there will be a legal process to legally contest it, however that goes. Aside from that, we’re going to try to just be artists, and let our creativity flow, and do what we do, which is offer insight into what it means to be human. Theaters in Portland need support right now. They need people to come out and see a show. Theaters need it, and people need opportunities to come together, and celebrate, and enjoy life.”