Chicago’s former cultural commissioner, who now runs the nation’s leading arts advocacy organization, says she remains “strangely optimistic” even as President Donald Trump’s administration moves to zero out the budget for the National Endowment for the Arts, claw back grants from cultural organizations across the country and commandeer programming at the Kennedy Center.

Erin Harkey was tapped to lead Americans for the Arts just weeks into Trump’s second term. Now, she’s been catapulted into the center of a national conversation as she leads the effort to resist the administration’s attacks on the sector.

The national advocacy position is one Harkey says she has wanted her entire professional career, even if she could not have foreseen it coming at this turbulent moment.

Harkey cut her teeth as an arts administrator in California, then rose in the ranks at Chicago’s Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, eventually being appointed commissioner by former Mayor Lori Lightfoot. She was ousted from the gig by Mayor Brandon Johnson in early 2024, who later appointed Clinée Hedspeth to the role.

Harkey, who recently gave the keynote address at a conference of Chicago arts leaders, spoke to WBEZ arts reporter Courtney Kueppers about how she’s advocating for the arts with Congress and what role Chicago can play in this uncertain moment. This interview was lightly edited for length and clarity.

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What is your goal in this position, as you get settled in?

Americans for the Arts (AFTA) is certainly one of the leaders in the arts advocacy space in this country and is unique in the fact that it is not discipline- or geographic-specific. So, we’re able to connect on multiple levels to lots of different people that are advocating for different things which affect the arts community.

I think my goal is really to help bring AFTA into the moment and to have us emerge as a real collaborator and thought partner in the space. We like to talk about how our work locally helps to inform federal and national policy, and that’s what I’m interested in strengthening, is that network of advocacy support in the country.

How hopeful are you that Congress will include funding in the 2026 budget for the National Endowment for the Arts and National Endowment for the Humanities after Trump proposed eliminating those funds?

I’m very hopeful. That’s what we’re working on. We’re working on making sure that in fiscal year 2026, that full funding to these federal agencies is restored. You know, it is a tricky time, but I know that we have a lot of support for the arts. And I’m optimistic that that support, that bipartisan support that has really protected and in some ways uplifted the arts in tough moments, I think will still be there.

People understand that this is important. And people, I think, recognize that it is a challenging and different time, but I think folks’ belief that these institutions are important, and people see the impact that these NEA, NEH and [Institute of Museum and Library Services] grants have on their direct constituents. I think that support is still there, and I think it’s our job as advocates to ensure that it’s still there.

You led Chicago’s arts sector through the crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic. What did you learn then that you are applying to this role and this moment?

I think the power of community and your ability to bring folks together, to get creative and to find solutions. The way the creative community — and it wasn’t just me, right? It was me and lots of other people that were rolling up their sleeves to make sure that folks had what they needed or to find the resources that we needed to survive. So, there’s that.

I also think there’s something to remaining nimble and responsive, because you really have to be listening, right? You have to be listening to what the needs are in order to be able to design the response that is going to address the need. And if you’re not in some dialog, then you’re going to miss both the need and the opportunity. So, I think that was an important part of it for me too.

Public support for the arts is incredibly important, and it has a unique ability to get into parts of the ecosystem that private philanthropy cannot reach. The dollars are more nimble in that way.

What role do you think the city of Chicago, a blue city, has to play in this moment in terms of setting an example for supporting the arts and artists?

Well, as federal support for the arts becomes unstable or uncertain, it’s even more important that we fortify the other areas of public support that we get. So, state and local leadership is incredibly important, because we need to make sure that that infrastructure is strong. So, not just Chicago, but especially in Chicago, where arts and culture are so deeply tied to the health and vitality of the city, there needs to be a plan in place to make sure that organizations are not struggling through this.

And that’s the same for any city, small or large — but certainly in Chicago, where there’s a lot to consider, people need to be thinking thoughtfully.

How concerned are you about the state of arts leadership right now in Chicago? [Editor’s note: Hedspeth, Harkey’s successor, has been under public scrutiny prompted by a wave of staff departures and allegations of bullying.]

It’s disappointing. I think especially in a time like now, when local support for the arts is incredibly important to help people navigate through challenges, local leadership is really, really important. Like everybody, I just want to see Chicago win and Chicago be the best that it can be. I think everybody just has that as the goal.

The staff at DCASE are incredibly talented. I think those that remain are also incredibly talented people, and I believe in their ability to continue to do good things. I think some turnover is expected, and I’m excited to see that a lot of my colleagues that have left DCASE are now doing extraordinary things for the field in other spaces. I think institutional knowledge is an important thing, but I do really believe in the DCASE staff, and I know that they’re doing their very, very best to deliver quality results to the public.

One thing you said last week is that typical advocacy tools, like signing petitions, are maybe not working in the same way right now. What strategies do you think arts advocates should maybe be looking to instead?

It’s a little bit of a pie. So, there’s a number of strategies that need to be employed all at once. Petitions certainly have a certain level of effectiveness, but I think in isolation, we need to be thinking a little bit more creatively.

I think that the direct appeals to our elected officials and the connectivity that we can make to demonstrate to them, not only just in their offices on [Capitol] Hill but in their actual communities, that this is an issue that is important to their constituents, I think, is the most important thing that we need to do.

Courtney Kueppers is an arts and culture reporter at WBEZ.