Latest news with #NationalQueerTheater
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
LGBTQ+ festival fights back after Trump's cuts National Endowment for the Arts funding
A festival featuring the works of playwrights from countries where LGBTQ+ rights are suppressed is turning to fundraising after President Donald Trump's National Endowment for the Arts cut its grant to the group. The National Queer Theater said they have created a GoFundMe page where the community can support the Criminal Queerness Festival taking place during NYC Pride 2025, NBC News reports. The Criminal Queerness Festival takes place at the HERE Art Center in NYC on June 11-28. According to its website, the festival 'showcases the works of international LGBTQ+ playwrights from countries where queer identities are criminalized or censored.' This year's festival features plays reflecting queer life in Cuba, Indonesia, and Uganda. Related: Smithsonian Museum postpones LGBTQ+ African art show The festival, which was created during WorldPride 2019, is the creation of Brooklyn's National Queer Theater. The group depended upon a $20,000 grant from the NEA to fund the festival, which represented 20 percent of the festival's budget for 2025. The group was notified via email on Friday that their grants no longer aligned with Trump's priorities, and the request for this year's grant was denied. 'It's devastating and upsetting, because we're a very small organization,' Jess Ducey, co-chair of the company's board, told NBC News. 'That grant is absolutely integral to the funding.' Related: Dem senators condemn plan to cut LGBTQ+ crisis hotline While the news was devastating, Ducey and the National Queer Theater do not view it as fatal. The group has created a GoFundMe page (@national-queer-theater) to help cover the lost grant. So far, the page has raised over $8,000 of its $20,000 goal. The three plays to be performed this year reflect a mix of queer identities set in places hostile to the LGBTQ+ communities, both in foreign countries and the U.S. Tomorrow Never Came by Jedidiah Mugarura is set in Uganda and tells the story of a gay man in a heterosexual marriage and also a same-sex love affair. What Are You to Me by Dena Igusti is about a lesbian romance in Indonesia cut short by the Jakarta riots and crackdown in 1998. The story is discovered years later by an 'emerging zine writer in Queens' looking to share their story. frikiNATION by Krystal Ortiz explores the lives of young punks in Cuba of the early 1990s who injected themselves with tainted blood to acquire HIV, knowing they would live better lives isolated in state-run sanitariums than trying to survive under Fidel Castro's oppressive, homophobic regime. Related: Sundance shines light on real-life LGBTQ+ stories The National Theatre Group is party to the suit, Rhode Island Latino Arts v. National Endowment for the Arts, filed by the ACLU in a Rhode Island federal district court. The suit has unsuccessfully sought to reinstate funding cut from the NEA by Trump.
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Federal agency axes LGBTQ festival's funding, says it 'does not align' with Trump's priorities
An annual theater festival dedicated to showcasing the work of playwrights from countries that criminalize or censor the LGBTQ community has turned to online fundraising after the National Endowment for the Arts revoked the New York festival's grant. In December, the independent federal agency awarded a $20,000 grant to the National Queer Theater, a nonprofit theater company based in Brooklyn, for its 2025 Criminal Queerness Festival. It was the third year the company was awarded an NEA grant, which made up 20% of the festival's total budget, according to Jess Ducey, co-chair of the company's board. The NEA began revoking arts funding for a number of organizations, including the National Queer Theater, on Friday. That day, the agency told the theater in an email that it '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,' according to a copy of the email that Ducey shared with NBC News. 'Consequently, we are terminating awards that fall outside these new priorities,' the email continued. 'The NEA will now prioritize projects that elevate the Nation's HBCUs and Hispanic Serving Institutions, celebrate the 250th anniversary of American independence, foster AI 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 Criminal Queerness Festival, the email stated, 'does not align with these priorities.' The NEA did not immediately return a request for comment. The agency is currently experiencing a broader upheaval, with several of its senior leaders stepping down this week after President Donald Trump released a proposed budget Friday that would eliminate its funding, The Washington Post reported. 'It's devastating and upsetting, because we're a very small organization,' said Ducey, who uses they/them pronouns. 'That grant is absolutely integral to the funding.' Ducey said the festival, scheduled for June 11-28, has already hired a production manager and started casting and scheduling rehearsals for the three plays it will feature, which are set in Uganda, Indonesia and Cuba. The bulk of the grant goes toward paying the 50 artists hired for the festival, they said. If the company can't make up that funding, it might have to scale back the set design for performances, pay some of the artists late and/or borrow funding intended for programs like Staging Pride, its free after-school theater program for LGBTQ youth. Ducey organized a GoFundMe fundraiser to try to make up the grant funds. 'A lot of our time and attention is now going into scrambling to get this money, rather than preparing these shows, doing all the outreach we would be doing,' they said. Ducey said the National Queer Theater suspected that it could lose the grant after it joined a lawsuit filed against the NEA by the American Civil Liberties Union in March on behalf of arts organizations over a new certification that required artists applying for 2025-26 grants to attest that they wouldn't 'promote gender ideology' with any potential funding. The NEA added the provision due to an executive order from Trump that declared there are two unchangeable sexes and prohibited the 'federal funding of gender ideology.' Days after the ACLU filed the lawsuit, the NEA removed the provision and said it will decide how to implement Trump's order. As a result, a court denied the ACLU's request for a preliminary injunction last month. The lawsuit is still active, as the ACLU expects the provision to be reinstated. Additionally, the NEA, which provides awards as reimbursements to projects rather than providing them upfront, did not remove separate new eligibility criteria that would revoke awards from any projects that appear to 'promote gender ideology.' The ACLU argues that the initial certification requirement and the eligibility criteria violate the Administrative Procedure Act, the First Amendment and the Fifth Amendment. Ducey said the theater feared that joining the lawsuit could flag its current project to the NEA and result in the funding being revoked, but that the requirements would have made it ineligible for much-needed funding in the future. 'If you care about the arts, if you care about representation, this is about more than a grant,' Ducey said. 'This is about the attack on artists and stories and the viewpoints that are considered American. The broader issue is of who's being targeted — migrants, people of color, queer and trans people, gender-nonconforming people. The arts are one avenue.' This article was originally published on
NBC News
08-05-2025
- Entertainment
- NBC News
Federal agency axes LGBTQ festival's funding, says it 'does not align' with Trump's priorities
An annual theater festival dedicated to showcasing the work of playwrights from countries that criminalize or censor the LGBTQ community has turned to online fundraising after the National Endowment for the Arts revoked the New York festival's grant. In December, the independent federal agency awarded a $20,000 grant to the National Queer Theater, a nonprofit theater company based in Brooklyn, for its 2025 Criminal Queerness Festival. It was the third year the company was awarded an NEA grant, which made up 20% of the festival's total budget, according to Jess Ducey, co-chair of the company's board. The NEA began revoking arts funding for a number of organizations, including the National Queer Theater, on Friday. That day, the agency told the theater in an email that it '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,' according to a copy of the email that Ducey shared with NBC News. 'Consequently, we are terminating awards that fall outside these new priorities,' the email continued. 'The NEA will now prioritize projects that elevate the Nation's HBCUs and Hispanic Serving Institutions, celebrate the 250th anniversary of American independence, foster AI 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 Criminal Queerness Festival, the email stated, 'does not align with these priorities.' The NEA did not immediately return a request for comment. The agency is currently experiencing a broader upheaval, with several of its senior leaders stepping down this week after President Donald Trump released a proposed budget Friday that would eliminate its funding, The Washington Post reported. 'It's devastating and upsetting, because we're a very small organization,' said Ducey, who uses they/them pronouns. 'That grant is absolutely integral to the funding.' Ducey said the festival, scheduled for June 11-28, has already hired a production manager and started casting and scheduling rehearsals for the three plays it will feature, which are set in Uganda, Indonesia and Cuba. The bulk of the grant goes toward paying the 50 artists hired for the festival, they said. If the company can't make up that funding, it might have to scale back the set design for performances, pay some of the artists late and/or borrow funding intended for programs like Staging Pride, its free after-school theater program for LGBTQ youth. Ducey organized a GoFundMe fundraiser to try to make up the grant funds. 'A lot of our time and attention is now going into scrambling to get this money, rather than preparing these shows, doing all the outreach we would be doing,' they said. Ducey said the National Queer Theater suspected that it could lose the grant after it joined a lawsuit filed against the NEA by the American Civil Liberties Union in March on behalf of arts organizations over a new certification that required artists applying for 2025-26 grants to attest that they wouldn't 'promote gender ideology' with any potential funding. The NEA added the provision due to an executive order from Trump that declared there are two unchangeable sexes and prohibited the 'federal funding of gender ideology.' Days after the ACLU filed the lawsuit, the NEA removed the provision and said it will decide how to implement Trump's order. As a result, a court denied the ACLU's request for a preliminary injunction last month. The lawsuit is still active, as the ACLU expects the provision to be reinstated. Additionally, the NEA, which provides awards as reimbursements to projects rather than providing them upfront, did not remove separate new eligibility criteria that would revoke awards from any projects that appear to 'promote gender ideology.' The ACLU argues that the initial certification requirement and the eligibility criteria violate the Administrative Procedure Act, the First Amendment and the Fifth Amendment. Ducey said the theater feared that joining the lawsuit could flag its current project to the NEA and result in the funding being revoked, but that the requirements would have made it ineligible for much-needed funding in the future. 'If you care about the arts, if you care about representation, this is about more than a grant,' Ducey said. 'This is about the attack on artists and stories and the viewpoints that are considered American. The broader issue is of who's being targeted — migrants, people of color, queer and trans people, gender-nonconforming people. The arts are one avenue.'
Yahoo
06-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
ACLU, 4 Non-Profit Theaters Sue National Endowment for the Arts Over Trump's ‘Gender Ideology' Order
The ACLU and four non-profit theater companies filed a lawsuit Thursday, challenging President Donald Trump's executive order that requires National Endowment for the Arts grant applicants to comply with his 'gender ideology.' To be eligible for federal grant funding now, applicants must state that they will not 'promote gender ideology,' per Trump's Jan. 20 executive order. The president's decree made it so America only technically observes two genders: male and female, thus putting non-binary and transgender people at risk. Rhode Island Latino Arts, National Queer Theater, The Theater Offensive and the Theatre Communications Group are the lead plaintiffs in the suit, filed by the ACLU. These theaters have all received funding from the NEA for various projects regarding gender expression in the past, but because of the new regulations are now being excluded. 'This gag on artists' speech has had a ripple effect across the entire art world, from Broadway to community arts centers,' Vera Eidelman, senior staff attorney at the ACLU, said. 'Grants from the NEA are supposed to be about one thing: artistic excellence. Blocking eligibility for artists because they express a message the government doesn't like runs directly counter to the NEA's purpose, the First Amendment's prohibition on viewpoint-based regulation and the role of art in our society.' The organizations argue that the new regulations contradict the NEA's previous criteria of 'artistic excellence and artistic merit.' 'Because [these organizations] seek to affirm transgender and nonbinary identities and experiences in the projects for which they seek funding, Plaintiffs are effectively barred by the 'gender ideology' certification and prohibition (together, 'gender ideology prohibition') from receiving NEA grants on artistic merit and excellence grounds,' the suit reads. 'Some of their proposed work appears to be ineligible for NEA funding under the new 'gender ideology' prohibition, even though similar work has been funded in the past.' The suit goes on to say that the NEA administers tens of millions of dollars from Congress each year in arts funding, but now those grants will exclude several diverse stories from being told. The New York-based National Queer Theater celebrates LGBTQ theater artists. The non-profit intends to apply for funding for the Criminal Queerness Festival, which will feature new works from playwrights from countries where queerness is illegal or dangerous, a festival they have hosted since 2019. 'We created Criminal Queerness to give a home to writers who face criminalization or censorship in their own country,' said Adam Odsess-Rubin, founding artistic director of the NQT. 'It is a cruel irony that we may now be ineligible for funding because our so-called 'gender ideology' is being targeted by the U.S. government. These new requirements threaten the expression of not just our organization, but artists around the world whose identities have been criminalized.' Theatre Communications Group is the national organization for theatre that serves over 600 member theaters and affiliate organizations nationwide. TCG reaches over 1 million theatre professionals, students and audience members each year through its programs and services. But now, many of TCG's theaters across the country are at risk of having their federal funding stripped away. 'TCG stands in full support of the NEA's mission to create art that sustains, strengthens and nurtures the diverse fabric of our country,' Emilya Cachapero, co-executive director of National and Global Programming at TCG, said. 'However, efforts to block theatres from receiving NEA funding are a direct attempt to stifle artistic expression and undermine the essential role theatre plays in American society.' The ACLU wants either a preliminary injunction or a temporary restraining order ahead of the March 24 grant application deadline. This is not Trump's first attack on the arts. The president has also assumed the role as chairman of the Kennedy Center, the national performing arts center in D.C. He fired sitting president Deborah Rutter and replaced billionaire donor David Rubenstein as chairman. Since the president has assumed leadership, several artists have publicly stated they will not perform at the respected institution, including Issa Rae, Whoopi Goldberg and, most recently, a touring production of 'Hamilton.' 'This latest action by Trump means it's not the Kennedy Center as we knew it,' said the show's creator, Lin-Manuel Miranda. 'The Kennedy Center was not created in this spirit, and we're not going to be a part of it while it is the Trump Kennedy Center. We're just not going to be part of it.' The post ACLU, 4 Non-Profit Theaters Sue National Endowment for the Arts Over Trump's 'Gender Ideology' Order appeared first on TheWrap.
Yahoo
06-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
ACLU, Theater Companies File Lawsuit Against National Endowment for the Arts
The ACLU has filed a lawsuit in conjunction with a number of artists and theater groups challenging a new grant requirement from the National Endowment for the Arts. Per the new requirement, potential grant applicants must state that they will not 'promote gender ideology' as part of their project under consideration for funding. This requirement came after President Trump signed an executive order claiming male and female as the only two sexes and said that federal funds should be used to promote gender ideology. More from The Hollywood Reporter ACLU Responds to Trump's Inauguration Speech: We "Have Already Begun to Fight the Administration's Extreme Agenda" Universal Music CEO Touts Streaming 2.0 Deals With Spotify, Amazon: "Where They Go, We Go With Them" 'The Righteous Gemstones' May Be Ending, But Danny McBride Has a Traveling Live Show in Mind The lawsuit, filed by the ACLU on behalf of Rhode Island Latino Arts, National Queer Theater, The Theater Offensive and the Theatre Communications Group, argues that this funding requirement from the NEA violates the First Amendment, the Administrative Procedure Act and the Fifth Amendment. The ACLU is asking for a preliminary injunction or temporary restraining order before the grant application deadline on March 24. 'This gag on artists' speech has had a ripple effect across the entire art world, from Broadway to community arts centers,' said Vera Eidelman, senior staff attorney at the ACLU. 'Grants from the NEA are supposed to be about one thing: artistic excellence. Blocking eligibility for artists because they express a message the government doesn't like runs directly counter to the NEA's purpose, the First Amendment's prohibition on viewpoint-based regulation, and the role of art in our society.' Hundreds of theater artists had previously sent the NEA a letter calling on the organization to stop following orders from President Trump and remove restrictions on awarding grants to projects that promote diversity or gender ideology. Per the new regulations, an applicant is also not allowed to operate any programs promoting 'diversity, equity and inclusion' programs. Among the parties to the lawsuit, Rhode Island Latino Arts had planned to apply for NEA funding to back a production of Faust that may have featured a nonbinary actor or a storytelling program which has previously included discussions of LGBTQ topics. The theater company is changing its project to so it could still receive funding. National Queer Theater in New York plans to apply for funding for the Criminal Queerness Festival, a theater festival that has been ongoing since 2019 and features work from playwrights from countries where queerness is illegal or dangerous. 'We created Criminal Queerness to give a home to writers who face criminalization or censorship in their own country,' said Adam Odsess-Rubin, founding artistic director of National Queer Theater. 'It is a cruel irony that we may now be ineligible for funding because our so-called 'gender ideology' is being targeted by the U.S. government. These new requirements threaten the expression of not just our organization, but artists around the world whose identities have been criminalized.' Best of The Hollywood Reporter How the Warner Brothers Got Their Film Business Started Meet the World Builders: Hollywood's Top Physical Production Executives of 2023 Men in Blazers, Hollywood's Favorite Soccer Podcast, Aims for a Global Empire
