• President Trump’s proposed elimination of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) has led to withdrawn funding for numerous arts organizations across the U.S., including many in Michigan.
• Michigan arts organizations are facing significant budget shortfalls, impacting jobs, programming, and the creative economy.
• While some larger institutions remain unaffected, smaller organizations are struggling to find alternative funding sources and are concerned about long-term sustainability.
• The cuts are forcing organizations to reevaluate their budgets, consider collaborations, and explore new operational models.
• The move has sparked concern about the broader impact on the arts and cultural sector, with some viewing it as a devaluation of the arts’ role in society.

It was a Friday night — May 2, to be exact — and the first weekend of Detroit Public Theatre’s (DPT) “Soft Target,” a world premiere drama about the aftermath of a grade school shooting and an urgent message about America’s obsession with guns over the safety of its children.

The theater’s producing artistic directors were particularly proud of this presentation, one for which they had secured a $25,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA).

Everything was set for the performers to begin at 8 p.m. And then, at 7:42 p.m., DPT co-founder and producing artistic director Sarah Winkler received an email.

“Pursuant to the Offer letter,” it read, “the tentative funding recommendation for the following application is Withdrawn by the Agency and the National Endowment for the Arts will no longer offer award funding for the project.”

With the show already written, rehearsed, and running — with dozens of actors and crew members actively working and being paid — the entire grant was being rescinded.

Hundreds of arts organizations around the United States received similar letters that night, just hours after President Donald Trump proposed eliminating the NEA altogether in his next budget.

In 2024, the NEA granted more than $3 million to arts organizations in Michigan. In the last two weeks, the majority of funds earmarked for 2025 have been snatched back as the effects of Trump’s slash-and-burn tactics reach this region and beyond, leaving hundreds of nonprofits in the red and frantically searching for solutions.

Larger regional institutions, such as the Kresge Foundation, CultureSource and Michigan Humanities, are forecasting a sweeping sea change across southeast Michigan as the ramifications settle in, searching for answers and working to reform their visions for the region’s future and the state’s vital arts workforce.

In 2022, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis reported that arts and cultural production added over $15 billion in value to the state economy, contributing almost 110,000 jobs. Those numbers will be significantly impacted by the Trump administration’s latest moves.

“It was fairly devastating,” Winkler said of DPT’s grant loss, “and it was specifically supporting salaries of artists. So it is really specifically targeting jobs, and has an impact on the creative economy of our region. And there are other funding sources (for us) that get some of their funding from the federal government, that we are really looking at probably not being available to arts organizations like ours for the foreseeable future. For this season, it’s a really painful blow mixed with a precarious economy.

“It puts a lot more pressure on ticket sales. It puts a lot more pressure on individual giving to make up the gap of state, federal and local giving. It’s really, really difficult. We’re in a place where we are now needing to raise quite a bit more money this season than we had anticipated.”

Winkler said the theater relies on federal funding for anywhere from $25,000 to $200,000 annually, accounting for as much as 10% of its budget some years.  

The move affects next season, as well, she said; plans for a large-scale musical were scrapped due to budgeting concerns.

“We got cautious, and I’m glad we did,” she said. “It’s a scary time for arts organizations all around the country and in our own state, and I am very worried for the creative economy. The arts organizations of the city and state contribute a lot to the economy, and this lack of support is going to result in some constriction.”

The impact around metro Detroit

The evening the termination letters were sent out, the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (MOCAD) opened a powerful traveling exhibition on the destruction left by gun violence, which had been made possible by an NEA grant.

“On Friday, May 2, MOCAD was notified that the National Endowment for the Arts had terminated its award for The Gun Violence Memorial Project, an important and timely exhibition that honors the victims of gun violence and raises awareness for the over 700 weekly deaths in the U.S. caused by gun violence,” wrote MOCAD co-directors Jova Lynne and Marie Madison-Patton.

“We stand in solidarity with the hundreds of other cultural institutions and nonprofit organizations across the country facing an impossible reality — one where we must continue to serve our communities through transformative, courageous work despite all obstacles.”

Just a few miles away, another playhouse, Detroit Repertory Theatre, is also feeling the squeeze.

“The termination of grants to us and to so many other arts organizations is the opposite of what should be happening in our country,” said executive artistic director Leah Smith. “It is reckless. The arts are an economic driver and crucial to our collective emotional health, and the government should be subsidizing it. Instead, now we have to turn to our patrons, tax-paying citizens, to support us and fill in the gap. When part of our mission is to democratize the arts, reaching all people, including those who do not have disposable income, this becomes very difficult. NEA grants have supported our Actors Workshop, a program that offers professional theater training to Detroiters seeking a creative outlet. 

“I am concerned about the financial state of the Detroit Rep, and more for the artists across the country that will lose jobs and opportunities now as well as the art lovers who will be left with less and less.”

The Detroit Historical Museum took an especially hard hit from the cuts.

“The Detroit Historical Society stands to lose over $300,000 in federal grants annually, funding that has helped cover the salary of critical digitization staff as well as our oral histories team,” said Detroit Historical Society president and CEO Elana Rugh. “These cuts hit the core of our mission to serve as keepers of our region’s history. We are proactively reaching out to our foundation partners, our donors and corporate contacts to help us fill in these newly created gaps. It’s definitely a critical and very uncertain time for all cultural institutions.”

The Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History had a $300,000 grant pending, but it was rescinded.

“The NEA grant was meant to support Wright Conversations and our upcoming season of performances,” said Wright President and CEO Neil Barclay. “Without this funding, we must now turn to other sources to ensure we can continue bringing meaningful arts and cultural experiences to the Detroit community.”

The Sphinx Organization, a renowned, Detroit-based nonprofit that elevates opportunities for African American and Latino youths in classical music, is affected as well.

“Sphinx, like many of our peer institutions, received a cancellation notice,” said President and Artistic Director Afa Dworkin. “While our most recent NEA-supported project was completed, this unexpected change will unfortunately impact future programming that was already in development.”

Some organizations, such as Cranbrook Academy of Art, Cranbrook Art Museum, College for Creative Studies, the Detroit Jazz Festival Foundation and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, are not affected by the cuts, nor is the Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA).

“The Detroit Institute of Arts, like most arts organizations, regularly applies for competitive federal grants to support special initiatives that expand access to the arts and advance our mission, but we do not rely on federal government support for our operating budget,” said DIA media relations manager Megan Hawthorne.

“At present, we are following the guidance of the Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD). Federal grants remain an essential tool for innovation, preservation and public engagement in museums across the United States, and we remain hopeful that this vital funding stream will be restored.”

Northville’s Tipping Pointe Theatre was not immediately affected, but producing artistic director Julia Glander acknowledged that regional repercussions of the NEA cuts will cause problems for them.

“We will likely need to raise our ticket prices and hope that corporate and private donors fill in the gap left by these cuts,” Glander said. “The pandemic put us in survival mode; fortunately, we climbed out of that, but now face this.

“Life is better for everyone when art is valued rather than bullied.”

Detroit Opera received a $40,000 NEA grant to support its performances of Anthony Davis’ “The Central Park Five,” which opened on May 10 and concludes this weekend, but will have used all funding by the cutoff date.

“We received a notice on Friday, May 2, informing us that our National Endowment for the Arts award has been terminated, effective May 31, 2025,” the organization said in an emailed statement. “We have received all of the funds and will have completed our project by May 31, 2025, so this does not impact us in the same way it does many of our colleagues around the country.”

Midtown Detroit’s Carr Center also recently completed a grant cycle, at the end of March, but there is now uncertainty about what happens in the future without access to NEA funding.

“Our concern is now about the lack of future opportunities from the NEA and the potential shifting of support from institutional supports from arts to other areas and the impact to our work and the greater community,” said Carr Center President and CEO Oliver Ragsdale Jr.

Ann Arbor’s University Musical Society (UMS), an arts program in conjunction with the University of Michigan, is in the middle of the appeals process.

“UMS’s grant for $20,000 was to cover a portion of artist fees and production expenses for three concerts that have already occurred in January-April 2025,” said UMS vice president of marketing and communications Sara Billman. “We have appealed the notice of grant termination as we did everything required to comply with the terms of the award.

“Over the past 15 years, UMS has received annual grants from the NEA ranging from $20,000 to $40,000 through the NEA’s presenting program. The loss of any five-figure grant will always have an impact on our organization as those funds must then be raised elsewhere to continue to support our program of domestic and international performing artists and the corresponding community engagement work that happens locally.”

Where is the money going?

A significant portion of the funds rescinded from organizations around the country will now be funneled into Washington, D.C.’s Kennedy Center, a new pet project for Trump.

“With the zeroing out of the NEA budget in President Trump’s recent budget proposal,” Billman said, “there is also a sizable increase in funding for the Kennedy Center, moving from $43 million for capital/maintenance in the past to $257 million in the proposed budget.

“The NEA has awarded over $5.5 billion in grants over its 60-year history, with funding that by design impacts every state and virtually every county in the country. It’s one of the smallest government agencies but one that has a huge (return on investment) for local communities. With this latest proposal, all of that money is being directed to Washington and will no longer support local communities.”

Chelsea’s Purple Rose Theatre, founded and led by acclaimed actor and playwright Jeff Daniels, is another southeast Michigan arts organization being affected by the cuts.

“I’ve always looked at the NEA as our federal government’s way of saying that in America the arts have value, that they matter, and that they enhance the communities in which we live,” Daniels told the Free Press. “This administration’s efforts say the opposite.” 

“We are closely monitoring the changes at the federal level as they continue to evolve,” said Otie McKinley, media and communications manager for the Michigan Economic Development Corp. “Many, though not all, direct grantees of the National Endowment for the Arts received notices of grant terminations. This situation is a significant loss for the arts and cultural sector.

“The NEA is allowing these grantees until the end of May to cover closeout costs and withdraw remaining funds. There is also a process in place for appeals. However, these grant terminations still represent a major setback for the arts and cultural field.”

The small-town effect

Emily Sutton-Smith, executive director and co-founder of Ingham County’s Williamston Theatre, said there’s a “big, empty cell” in her budgeting spreadsheet for next year because she has no idea what’s going to happen.

“We are lucky enough at the Williamston Theatre to have very strong donor support,” she said. “We have really wonderful patrons who believe in the power of storytelling and professional arts, and we sell tickets, so we have an earned revenue stream. But it’s definitely unsettling having this kind of instability coming in a time when we are still recovering from the pandemic and everything that it did to our audiences. The ground’s pretty shaky, and I could see a lot of arts organizations not being able to survive this, especially the ones that don’t have revenue streams. If you can’t sell tickets to something, if you’re doing programming that is free to the community, that’s going to make things a lot harder.

“Our grant funding is not a huge percentage of what we bring in every year, but it’s not insignificant, and every little bit is meaningful because we operate so close to the bone that we don’t have any fat to cut. And we’re required to tighten the budget even further.”

She said she worries about what happens if the NEA is maintained with strict conditions going forward.

“It sounds like they’re on the track to get rid of it entirely,” she said, “but even if they maintain it, there are these restrictions on what you’re able to do with funding based on language that is really gray. Our mission statement says we tell a diverse array of stories. Well, does ‘diverse’ put us in a category that is troublesome? ‘Diverse’ has a lot of meanings, and for us, it means a lot of different things. Does that automatically disqualify us?

“We don’t want to not tell diverse stories. That’s what’s great about what we do: Everything is different. Every time you come here, you get a different genre, a different point of view, a different size of show, a different perspective, playwrights and directors from different walks of life. Is that bad? Is that disqualifying? Because that’s what makes art so vibrant, right? But somehow, ‘diversity’ is a bad word.”

She believes the issue is critical for local economies.

“This is a very small town,” she said of Williamston. “There are less than 4,000 people who live in the city. We have five restaurants within a half-block of the theater. That wasn’t the case when we opened up the theater 19 years ago. So, if we go away, are those restaurants in jeopardy? There’s going to be trickle-down effects, domino effects, in all of these small economies and in big city economies too.

“Cultural events are economic drivers.”

Other factors at play

Michigan Humanities, the state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), has been entrusted for the last 51 years with federal funds to steward to all of Michigan’s 83 counties. The money received from the NEH through state and federal partnership — approximately $1.4 million annually — makes up 90% of Michigan Humanities’ budget. In early April, their grant was terminated, with no opportunity for appeal.

“We are now left with a $900,000 budget loss this year,” said Michigan Humanities President and CEO Jennifer Rupp. “We’re trying to now pivot our funding model and continue the work that we can do in Michigan. In 2024, we granted out over $600,000 to almost 80 organizations across the state that returned a community investment of over $2 million.

“We impact over 600,000 Michiganders every year. We have a literacy program called The Great Michigan Read that engages over 300 organizations in all 83 counties, and basically this funding termination has brought almost all of that to a complete halt.”

Michigan Humanities works primarily with smaller, grassroots organizations that wouldn’t normally have the capacity to apply for state or federal funding.

“We are that conduit,” said Rupp. “And because we had to cease that grant program this spring, people are going to see that there might be small historic museums in their community that may not be open as often. There’s not going to be the summer special programming that your library might offer. We fund music festivals. We fund book festivals. We fund creative writing classes, after-school programming.

“With these cuts to both the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Institute of Museum and Library Sciences, those two combined, I think people are going to see that all of the things they were probably looking forward to doing this summer are not going to be available.”

The Shepherd and Library Street Collective, two prominent Detroit galleries, were not affected directly by the NEA cuts, but some of their community partners are feeling the strain.

One of the Shepherd’s community partners, PASC Detroit (Progressive Art Studio Collective), an art studio and exhibitions program for adults with developmental disabilities, is nearing the end of its first NEA grant: $20,000 over two years, slated to end June 1. PASC founder and program manager Anthony Marcellini believes the organization can still recoup the funds because there’s still time to submit an invoice, but he doesn’t know what comes next.

“We didn’t apply for a follow-up grant from the NEA,” he said, “because we heard back in January that they were changing the requirements for the NEA to be only projects that engage with the 250th anniversary of the founding of America. It’s pretty ridiculous to basically state that artists with disabilities no longer represent priorities of the U.S. government or the National Endowment for the Arts.

“This grant was to support a curatorial program for our artists, to teach them, work with them to understand curatorial practice. And part of the funding did cover part of one of our staff salaries.”

Marcellini is much more concerned, however, with deeper cuts that may come soon.

“Everybody that works in the world of disability services is really worried about Medicaid funding cuts,” he said. “That’ll be a serious blow to our services, and also to the larger services that people with disabilities need. So, right now we’re dealing with the gutting of the National Endowment for the Arts, which is abhorrent, of course. This is a national organization to support the incredible artistic diversity of our nation. But, tied to this, we’re extremely worried about Medicaid getting cut, then the impact that will have not only on our program, but so many things beyond this.”

He said he believes this moment is a call to action for American citizens.

“There’s power in numbers,” he said. “It should be a call to mobilize. There have been tons of emails calling for people to reach out to their senators, their governor, everybody in Congress, and tell them to resist these cuts to the NEA. I am happy to see how many people are curious and mobilizing; that is a little heartening.”

Midtown Detroit’s Hannan Center, which provides many services, including arts enrichment to adults ages 55 and over, had past NEA grants but none that were current when the cuts were made. However, cuts to the AmeriCorps budget have the Center on its heels.

“Well, the cuts are draconian,” said Hannan Center President and CEO Vincent Tilford. “Essentially, the federal government terminated all AmeriCorps contracts nationwide. No notice or transition period. … We had to let go 20 AmeriCorps members who were helping seniors find food, housing — or stay in their housing, and access health resources. Additionally, these grants are reimbursement grants, so the nonprofit spends the money first and submits documentation for reimbursement. Right now, Hannan is out of $27,000.”

What comes next

Omari Rush is executive director of CultureSource, a southeast Michigan-based association that connects nonprofit arts and cultural organizations with each other and artists in the community. He believes collaboration and consolidation will be necessary for many moving forward.

“From confirmed or proposed cuts to the NEA, NIH AmeriCorps, Head Start, federal law enforcement, et cetera, so much of the country is feeling severe, sharp pain from these sudden changes,” said Rush. “We are encouraging people to take this time to reposition their work for long-term resiliency. Hole-plugging will barely help. At this time we believe that in order for the arts groups to survive, that our community treasures and our economy relies on, they muse reimagine how they operate and explore new structures and agreements for sharing with other groups strongly or loosely aligned with their mission.

“These will be tough times of transition for many groups, but for those that can adapt, there may be increased strength on the other side.”

The Kresge Foundation is known as perhaps metro Detroit’s largest single funding resource for artists and arts organizations, giving more than $30 million annually in the state of Michigan. While the foundation does not receive money from the NEA, Kresge President and CEO Rip Rapson acknowledges that the financial and cultural landscape in the region will be heavily impacted by the NEA’s dissolution.

“I think that beyond the funding, there is sort of the delegitimization of the role of public support for the arts,” said Rapson. “That’s a really devastating message to send into the American system of support for nonprofit organizations. … There are just so many ways in which the arts contribute to the civic fabric of not just Detroit, but of a Grand Rapids or a Lansing or a Traverse City.

“The NEA became, over the last many, many years, a symbol of just how important the arts can be to civil society. By essentially closing up shop for both the Endowment for the Arts and the Endowment for the Humanities, who are so closely intertwined, I think the message is a disturbing and troubling diminution of the importance of the arts.”

He pointed out that it’s become difficult to separate the arts from other sectors of society.

“Our health systems are increasingly relying on arts as forms of therapy. The engine of innovation that the endowment symbolized was really important: that you could try new things, and that somehow the federal government was willing to be a partner with you. So Kresge will be called on to fill funding gaps, probably, and we’ll have to go case by case and figure out how we can be most helpful with limited resources and other foundations.”

Still, Rapson emphasized Kresge’s commitment to the region.

“The good thing,” he said, “is that the local support for artists continues on, and elevation of local artists continues on despite these cuts, and so I hope that that’s a good signal to the community and the state and the nation that we value artists in this community.”

City of Detroit Arts and Culture Director Rochelle Riley views this moment as a time to remind citizens of their voting power to change the course of American progress.

“The loss of America’s creative arts is not a minor thing,” said Riley. “These actions to erase cultures, to diminish the very things that make our lives rich and joyous, may soon change the very thing that makes us American, the very thing that makes people in countries around the world embrace and appropriate American culture in all its forms.

“Dismantling the arts for political reasons is attacking our joy. And while some organizations may not initially be affected by what’s happening, we may be witnessing change on a slippery slope, change that may soon affect all of us, as Detroiters, as Michiganders, as Americans. And the only way to stop what could be a tortuous mistake is to elect people who believe in creativity and the creative workforce and to ensure that our very culture does not depend solely on federal funding at a time when the federal government is in disarray.”

At Detroit Public Theatre, “Soft Target” continues to play to appreciative audiences, even as the producing artistic directors scramble to make up for the funding loss.

“It is heartbreaking,” said Winkler, “and we are working hard not to let it demoralize us. We believe in the power of art to bring people together, and we’re going to keep doing just that. We will have a harder time raising money for it, but we’re going to keep doing it.”

Contact Free Press arts and culture reporter Duante Beddingfield at [email protected].