'Air out of the sails': Arts groups scramble to respond to NEA grant terminations
Editor's note: Federal Fallout is a Tribune-Democrat news series addressing the potential local impact of funding cuts.
JOHNSTOWN, Pa. – The Steeples Project has worked for years to revitalize historic churches in the Cambria City section of Johnstown, often leveraging grants, with the latest undertaking focused on turning the former St. Columba Catholic Church into a theater for live dramatic arts.
Dave Hurst, project executive director, said the group needs 'every penny' of those dollars to help accomplish its aims, but recent changes to the federally funded National Endowment for the Arts has caused a disruption of its plans.
Hurst said he was alerted by the NEA in early May that a previously awarded $20,000 grant had been terminated effective May 31.
'When I first read it, it was just air out of the sails,' he said.
The funding was allocated for the Columba Theatre Project, and was set to pay for part of the construction documents.
According to an email notification shared with The Tribune-Democrat, The Steeples Project award was terminated because the 'project no longer effectuates agency priorities.'
The NEA, a federal arts group established by Congress in 1965, announced in May that updated grant-making policy priorities will 'focus funding on projects that reflect the nation's rich artistic heritage and creativity as prioritized by (President Donald Trump).'
'Consequently, we are terminating awards that fall outside these new priorities,' the notice said. 'The NEA will not prioritize projects that elevate the nation's (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) and Hispanic-serving institutions, celebrate the 250th anniversary of American Independence, foster (artificial intelligence) competency, empower houses of worship to serve communities, assist with disaster recovery, foster skilled trade jobs, make America healthy again, support the military and veterans, support Tribal communities, make the District of Columbia safe and beautiful and support the economic development of Asian American Communities.'
The Learning Lamp also lost a $10,000 NEA Challenge America grant for the nonprofit's Children's Book Festival. However, that funding gap was bridged by a donation from The Andy Warhol Foundation for Visual Arts and the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation.
The National Endowment for the Arts has a 2024 congressional allocation of more than $200 million, roughly half of which was requested for director endowment grants, including arts projects, including the Challenge America and Our Town programs.
'A scary time'
The White House's budget request for the 2026 fiscal year calls for elimination of the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Institute of Museum and Library Services, according to the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies.
'It's a scary time,' Hurst said of the situation.
Despite his grant being terminated, Hurst said he consulted with the federal arts group, and was told he should be able to draw down the $20,000 and not lose anything.
The theater project is in its final design phase of a multi-year project that will cost several million dollars to complete. That includes development of dressing rooms, seating, a lobby, expanded event space, a box office, lighting, acoustical reflector and several other improvements.
'To do that, we will definitely need federal funding, and that will be an 'open question' now,' Hurst said, 'because at this point, I don't think anybody really knows what the parameters will be.'
He submitted the request for the money May 13 and is waiting for a response.
'A lot of uncertainty'
Matthew Lamb, executive director of the Bottle Works arts center in Cambria City, is also awaiting word regarding an NEA grant application he submitted in April.
That funding would help develop the arts center's public art initiative and match funding from the Pennsylvania Council of the Arts' Creative Communities grant that Bottle Works was awarded. However, Lamb is unsure what the future of his application is now that the NEA has updated its grant-making policies.
He said the momentum Bottle Works has built with public art installations – such as the murals on the Cambria County Library in downtown Johns-town, the Spider-Man mural on Stone Bridge Brewing Co. and the Steve Ditko display on the Tulip Building – feels as if it's stalled, Lamb said.
'There's a lot of uncertainty,' he said.
Bottle Works has earned NEA grants in the past, which have helped support operations and undertakings at the facility in Cambria City, including the murals on the jersey barriers on Power Street.
When he heard the national arts group was terminating grants, he said his reaction was that of 'sheer terror.'
'Defunding at the NEA doesn't just affect our arts organizations, but it affects all the small businesses in our communities,' Lamb said.
He said investments in the arts offer significant returns for communities.
'Hurdle to overcome'
The National Assembly of State Art Agencies notes arts and creative industries generate 'a $36.8 billion trade surplus and add $1.2 trillion in value to the U.S. gross domestic product.'
'The NEA and state arts agencies catalyze cultural production and grow the talent pool for this important American industry that creates 5.4 million jobs on American soil,' the NASAA said.
Lamb said the economic impact apart from the arts centers is also noteworthy.
Attendees at nonprofit arts events spend more than $34 per outing beyond entrance fees, at local retailers and restaurants, according to the NASAA.
'While many industries produce jobs and revenue, only the arts offer a fivefold bottom line that strengthens our nation,' the assembly said. 'Arts activity supported by the NEA and state arts agencies boosts economic productivity, improves education outcomes, fosters civic cohesion, facilitates good health, and preserves cherished traditions that tell our country's story. These are consensus values that all Americans want for their families and communities.'
Although the Community Arts Center of Cambria County does not have an active endowment grant, Executive Director Angela Godin said she was notified that the Challenge America grant her nonprofit has relied on was terminated in the update.
In the past, the arts center has used the Challenge America grant for outreach initiatives for what she called underserved and underrepresented populations.
'This was a shock and a disappointment,' she said. 'Fortunately, the Community Arts Center of Cambria County does not rely on this particular funding stream for annual programmatic needs. Nevertheless, it is still a loss and hurdle to overcome, especially with the uncertainty of other grant programs from the NEA.'
Hurst said he's hopeful the situation will work out, but everyone will have to 'wait and see' what comes next.
Lamb shared a similar note of positivity.
'The arts organizations in the area will find a way to navigate these situations,' Lamb said. 'That's what we do. We're creative.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
an hour ago
Judge and lawmakers question the Trump administration's plan to gut Job Corps centers
Members of Congress and a federal judge are questioning the Trump administration's plan to shut down Job Corps centers nationwide and halt a residential career training program for low-income youth that was established more than 50 years ago. The Department of Labor last week announced a nationwide 'pause of operations' for dozens of Job Corps centers run by private contractors. The department cited an internal review that concluded the program was costly and had a low success rate. The review also identified safety issues at the residential campuses. The Department of Labor said it would transition students and staff out of the locations by June 30. The program was designed for teenagers and young adults who struggled to finish high school in traditional school settings and then go on to obtain training and find jobs. Participants received tuition-free housing, meals and health care. Critics have argued that closing the campuses would leave young people homeless and deprive them of opportunities and hope. They also maintained the Trump administration did not have legal authority to suspend Job Corps because it was created by Congress. Lawmakers asked Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer about the decision when she appeared before the House Education and Workforce Committee on Thursday. 'Job Corps, which you know has bipartisan support in Congress, trains young, low-income people, and helps them find good-paying jobs and provides housing for a population that might otherwise be without a home,' U.S. Rep. Bobby Scott said. Scott, a Virginia Democrat, read from a letter Chavez-DeRemer wrote in support of Job Corps last year. The letter said the program increased participants' employment and wages, and decreased their reliance on public benefits. 'You've made a starkly abrupt shift from a champion to a destroyer of this important program,' said Democratic Rep. Suzanne Bonamici of Oregon, adding that students in her district were distraught. In response, Chavez-DeRemer said she recognized that only an act of Congress could eliminate Job Corps. She said the Labor Department had instead used its authority to halt the program's operations but planned to comply with a federal court order that temporarily blocked the action. U.S. District Judge Andrew Carter of New York issued a temporary restraining order on Wednesday that prohibited the Labor Department from terminating jobs, removing students from the 99 contractor-run centers or eliminating the Job Corps program without congressional authorization. The order was sought as part of a lawsuit filed Tuesday by the National Job Corps Association, a trade group which includes business, labor, volunteer and community organizations. The group alleged the Labor Department's decision would have disastrous consequences, including displacing tens of thousands of vulnerable young people and forcing mass layoffs. During Thursday's House committee hearing, Scott asked several Job Corps students in attendance to stand. 'These students were on their way to getting a good job and earning a living wage. On behalf of them, I urge you to immediately reverse the decision to effectively shut down all Job Corps centers,' Scott said. Chavez-DeRemer responded that the Trump administration wanted to eliminate ineffective training interventions. The report released in April by the Labor Department's Employment and Training Administration said Job Corps operated at a $140 million deficit during the last fiscal year and had an average graduation rate of under 39%. 'Our recently released Job Corps transparency report showed that in 2023 alone, more than 14,000 serious incidents were reported at the Job Corps centers, including cases of sexual assault, physical violence, and drug use,' Chavez-DeRemer said. 'This program is failing to deliver safe and successful outcomes our young people deserve.' The National Job Corps Association maintained the statistics were misleading. It said the 14,000 serious incidents included power outages, inclement weather, athletic injuries that required treatment and adult students leaving campus without prior approva. The group also said that Job Corps' graduation rates have historically been above 60%, but were depressed by COVID-19 policies during the year the Labor Department reviewed. Seth Harris, senior fellow at the Burnes Center for Social Change at Northeastern University, said in an interview that Job Corps is wildly popular on Capitol Hill. He recalled having to slow down Job Corps due to funding challenges when he served as acting secretary of labor during former President Barack Obama's administration. 'I got angry calls from elected members of the House and Senate on both sides of the aisle,' Harris said. The Job Corps program was designed to help young people who were not succeeding in school or who had left school without a place to go, placing them in a residential setting outside their community and providing them with vocational training, he said. The Labor Department shutting down Job Corps would be illegal because there's a process outlined for closing down the centers which includes publishing performance data, justifying the closure and allowing time for public comment and remediation, he said. 'This is plainly illegal,' Harris said. 'But it is entirely on brand for Donald Trump to beat up on poor kids, largely kids of color, who are trying to make their lives better.'
Black America Web
2 hours ago
- Black America Web
Rep. Jasmine Crockett Announces Run To Chair House Oversight Committee
Source: Jemal Countess / Getty Rep. Jasmine Crockett — one of the few Democratic leaders who has truly been dedicated to keeping her foot on the neck of the Trump administration, and calling it the band of 'idiots' that it is — bid to become the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, a position that was vacated when the late Rep. Gerry Connoll died last month. 'Our country is in an existential crisis driven by an out-of-control Executive with a flagrant disregard for our Constitution, our way of governance, and our very way of life as citizens of a democratic republic,' Crockett said in a letter to Democratic colleagues obtained by POLITICO. 'We must pull back the curtain on the unmitigated chaos under Trump 2.0 and translate our findings to the American people in a way they can digest.' Crockett is now the fourth contestant in line to chair the Oversight Committee, which is expected to take on the Trump administration's autharatorian agenda, especially if Democrats win a House majority after the midterm elections, which might just happen if the MAGA-fied GOP's approval numbers continue to decline due largely to the White House's abysmal leadership. 'From the pulpit of the Oversight Committee, the Ranking Member must lay out our case against Trump 2.0 and his accomplices, the Republicans in the House, and discharge this message across the nation,' the 44-year-old wrote. 'Our work cannot be solely reactive.' The other Democrats who are campaigning for Connoll's spot are Reps. Robert Garcia of California, Stephen Lynch of Massachusetts and Kweisi Mfume of Maryland. Again, Crockett, who is currently serving in her second term representing Texas in the U.S. House, has been lauded by progressives and Democratic voters as one of the up-and-comers who can truly give the Democratic Party the image refresher that it sorely needs. The question is: Will the party embrace change, and is it ready to let leaders like Crockett take up the reins? SEE ALSO Rep. Jasmine Crockett Announces Run To Chair House Oversight Committee was originally published on Black America Web Featured Video CLOSE
Black America Web
2 hours ago
- Black America Web
Op-Ed: Care For Constituents Or Chaos? Medicaid Cuts Will Devastate All Of Us
Source: Jemal Countess / Getty In our country, which has so much abundance, poverty shouldn't be a death sentence. However, proposed cuts to Medicaid will cause many individuals, families and communities to suffer for that very reason–poverty. Significant and potentially massive cuts to Medicaid will cause irreparable harm. Shockwaves will reverberate in rural, urban, and suburban communities, and impact individuals, working families, many of our most fragile elderly and our most vulnerable young and disabled. I offer this perspective as a public health practitioner. I have spent my career supporting and advancing health systems in our country, across Louisiana, the Gulf Coast, and in our nation's capital, Washington, D.C., Medicaid supports our workforce and health systems (hospitals and clinics), in addition to individuals, families, and communities Medicaid provides insurance to people with low incomes and people who have disabilities. This includes many individuals who work, but still don't work jobs with health insurance, work part-time, or don't make enough to cover insurance. It is the nation's single largest health insurance program. And it is wildly popular. More than 96% of Americans believe the program is important in their communities and recent national polls from January 2025 found that 80% of Americans have a favorable view of Medicaid. Some may wonder if I am overreacting. I'm not. More than 70 million Americans receive health care coverage under the Medicaid program. In Louisiana, where I live, one-third of our adult population is on Medicaid, and the percentage of coverage is even higher in rural areas. In fact, Medicaid plays a much larger role in covering rural communities in Louisiana and across our country than it does in metro/areas. In other parts of the South, like rural Kentucky, more than 40% of the population is on Medicaid. These individuals, like all of us, want nothing more than to live healthy and thriving lives while making ends meet for their families and making their children's futures more prosperous. The public may envision people on Medicaid as unworthy of receiving assistance. But there is no one profile of a Medicaid recipient. They come from all backgrounds, all races and ethnicities, all ages and all communities. In fact, most low-income Americans, whether rural or urban, Black or White, Republican or Democrat, share an economic fate impacted by hardship, and the solution to their support and prosperity is also shared. For instance, 'The number of people earning less than $25,750 for a family of four is rising in both Republican and Democratic districts, and across racial and geographic lines.' It's also important to understand the range of services people receive from Medicaid. Services include everything from general health services, to behavioral health (mental health and substance use) services, disability services, maternal health supports and more. Impacts across all of these areas could be devastating with federal and state cuts to beneficiaries or benefits. For example, maternal health outcomes, particularly maternal mortality, continue to devastate families and communities across our country. Louisiana had the nation's fourth-highest maternal mortality rate in 2021 at 60.9 deaths per 100,000 births, but I know this is not just a Louisiana problem; it's a national one. The March of Dimes reported that '870 maternal deaths occurred each year…and every year 50,000 women experience a life-threatening complication (sometimes called a near-miss)' or severe maternal health complication. With such high risk, good coverage and high-quality care is more important than ever, and over 42% of all births in our country are covered by Medicaid. Reducing these Medicaid benefits would be disastrous to mothers, babies and families. Chancing the lives of mothers and babies is simply too risky! While I referenced maternal health, Medicaid supports the existence of healthier communities. Beyond the immediacy of illness, sick people can't work, study, or play. They can't contribute to their families, our communities, and the country's economy—from kids, to employers, to the GDP, everyone loses. Our nation's health systems, from rural health centers to large urban hospital systems receive critical funding to cover the millions of peoples seeking care. The healthcare sector, one of the most important sectors of our economy overall, relies heavily on Medicaid reimbursement to sustain jobs and services. Cuts of great magnitude will threaten clinics, hospitals and medical providers. We will see the impacts of this immediately in rural regions with the shuttering of services, significant job losses, and further diminishing already challenged access to care. With health care shortages already existing, our conversations need to be continued around closing the gaps in access, not creating new chasms. Now more than ever, we need our leaders and legislative champions to protect our communities and their health and well-being! Given the adverse impact Medicaid cuts would have on the nation, we need to boldly reject proposals that will weaken the program and impact all of our communities. Given its importance, some may wonder why elected leaders would want to cut the program. Some legislators propose cutting Medicaid as part of a broader plan to give $4.5 trillion in tax cuts. Others want to lower the federal deficit, a $1.1 trillion deficit at the end of February 2025. Policymakers should not attempt to bring down federal spending with ill-conceived strategies that will only add to Americans' suffering. They should instead think strategically about taxation. Legislators can bring a great deal of confidence in their leadership by examining other alternatives to drastic Medicaid cuts, by reminding us that they care for all of their constituents, and that they are creating a vision for a healthier future based on their community's needs—timely doctors' visits, healthy births, high quality mental health care and substance use supports—not disregarding, or even worse targeting the thing that keeps us safe and well. Shelina Davis is the Chief Executive Officer of the Louisiana Public Health Institute. SEE ALSO: 'We All Are Going To Die': Joni Ernst's Chilling Defense Of Medicaid Cuts Sparks Outrage At Iowa Town Hall The Midnight Medicaid Cuts: Why The GOP's Reconciliation Bill Is A Raw Deal For The American People SEE ALSO Op-Ed: Care For Constituents Or Chaos? Medicaid Cuts Will Devastate All Of Us was originally published on Black America Web Featured Video CLOSE
