To say that our national cultural infrastructure is in crisis is an understatement. Historically, the U.S. government has allocated a very small percentage of the federal budget to support arts and culture. Despite this, one can only point to the enormous impact of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and its sister agencies, the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Institute of Museum and Library Services, as catalysts for the development of arts and culture ecosystems in all 50 states. 

Created by Congress through the National Foundation on the Arts and Humanities Act of 1965, NEA has long been targeted by some who fundamentally oppose government support of the arts. Through the decades, multiple administrations and members of congress have targeted NEA for draconian cuts and even elimination. Yet, bipartisan support has always rallied to keep the NEA intact. 

Ensuring that all voices and histories are heard and striving to provide access to arts by and for all, NEA has supported literature, visual arts, music, theater, media, arts education, dance and more both in rural communities and major cities. The prestige of receiving an NEA award has not only been an imprimatur of excellence but also a multiplier of additional dollars and support. 

Today, the Trump administration, shored up by Project 2025 and DOGE, has targeted NEA for elimination, significantly damaging art ecologies in Atlanta and the nation. The strategy is to have no strategy but rather to shatter the agency through staff firings, resignations and the withdrawal of grants, even before Congress considers the fate of the NEA. The situation is dire.

The Chaos of Uncertain Times

On Friday evening, May 2, 2025 (a favorite day and time for the Trump administration to deliver bad news), arts organizations across the country, including in metro Atlanta, received notices that their current NEA grants and applications were withdrawn, terminated or eliminated. 

In some instances, grants were contractually awarded, and funds had been received for programs that have taken place. The 2025 Atlanta Film Festival was a wrap when it learned that its $20,000 NEA grant was rescinded, although the Festival had its award in hand. Similarly, Flux Project’s Our Mothers, Our Water, Our Peace by Gyun Hur, supported by a $20,000 grant, had been completed and the funds had been received. Horizon Theatre, on the other hand, had not finalized its $30,000 grant to support its annual New South Young Playwrights Festival scheduled for June. Although it was apparent that the NEA was encountering major hurdles with the Trump administration, Horizon began to incur expenses with no NEA contract in hand. Now it is working to address this shortfall, primarily through the support of loyal donors.

The May 2 notice gave arts organizations a one-week appeal deadline. One appeal avenue is based on the Trump administration’s new set of priorities. Each with some merit (including “empowering houses of worship to serve communities,” “fostering AI competency” and “making America healthy again”), accumulatively, these priorities are restrictive and disparate. 

Many arts organizations chose this appeal option, including the Atlanta Ballet whose Centre for Dance Education received a $15,000 grant to offer dance instructions in Boys and Girls Clubs and schools in underserved communities. According to Executive Director Tom West, the Ballet’s appeal is based on the priority to foster skilled trade jobs. 

True Colors Theatre Company had partially drawn down its $75,000 grant that supports its multiyear Drinking Gourd: Black Writers at Work when it learned that the award had been rescinded. A national consortium led by True Colors, the initiative focuses resources on the development and production by Black playwrights. According to General Manager Chandra Stephens-Albright, True Colors’ appeal takes issue with the termination process. 

Even before the infamous May 2 emails, the Trump administration had taken steps to fracture and dismantle the agency, framing many actions based on the abolishment of programs that could be linked to the administration’s war on DEI — diversity, equity and inclusion. On February 6, the NEA announced the indefinite removal of its FY 2026 Challenge America grant program. This initiative has provided $10,000 annual arts grants since 2001 to promote equal access to the arts in communities across America.

Four metro Atlanta arts organizations lost 2025 funding: Callanwolde Fine Arts Center and ArtsXChange in Atlanta; Lift2Enrich in Marietta; and Paint Love in Decatur. On May 7, the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation responded to this acute situation by making a joint commitment to fund all 80 Challenge America grantees. 

National advocacy groups such as Americans for the Arts Action Fund are currently on high alert and working around the clock to challenge the legality of these actions. They are lobbying Congress to preserve the NEA and providing timely information and guidance to arts organizations across the U.S. 

Locally, Arts Capital | Atlanta — a nimble coalition of arts organizations that came together in 2023 in response to critical funding issues — has been a first responder in gathering data and information specific to Atlanta. Arts Capital has been working with agencies such as the Georgia Council for the Arts and South Arts to understand the impact of NEA grant withdrawals on our arts infrastructure.  

The Future

The impact on artists, cultural organizations and arts agencies caused by the obliteration of the NEA is unmeasurable at this point in time, but we know it is significant. As I write this article, we don’t yet know whether Congress will once again rally to save the agency, but I’m not optimistic. Regardless, the agency has incurred irreparable damage.

Thankfully, Arts Capital is well positioned to effectively tackle new models of funding to address Atlanta’s weak funding infrastructure that long existed before this current crisis. 

Chris Escobar, director of the Atlanta Arts Festival, firmly believes Atlanta’s path forward is through a dedicated revenue stream from a vehicle such as a hotel/motel tax; Atlanta is the only major city without such a mechanism. Alternatively, Horizon Theatre’s Lisa Adler and Flux Projects’ Anne Dennington believe their survival may be reliant on their individual donor bases. 

In my opinion, Atlanta must approach this crisis as an opportunity to radically rethink our art ecology. Arts organizations must firmly make the case based on the well-measured impact of the arts on our local and state economies. Government, funders, arts leaders and individuals must all rally, together to ensure the future success of artists and art organizations. If there is any silver lining to be found in the face of this devastating news, it’s that we have an opportunity to develop new systems of support for art here in Atlanta.

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Louise E. Shaw served as executive director of Nexus Contemporary Art Center (now Atlanta Contemporary) from 1983 to 1998 and as curator of the David J. Sencer CDC Museum at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a federal agency, from 2002 to 2025. This commentary is informed by these experiences.