Latest news with #NoelleTrent
CNN
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- CNN
Trump's cultural overhaul throttles local arts, humanities programs nationwide
For 60 years, Boston's Museum of African American History has transported people to the past, letting visitors to a 200-year-old meeting house see where abolitionists like Frederick Douglass spoke and walk through halls where young Black soldiers once rallied to fight in the Civil War. But recently, the museum's history programs for schoolchildren were put at risk after the Trump administration canceled its federal grant, saying in a letter that the funding 'no longer serves the interest of the United States.' 'I will forever remember that line,' the museum's director, Dr. Noelle Trent, told CNN.'We were very much embedded into key moments of this country's history. How is that not of interest to the United States and the American people?' The museum had won a $500,000 grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, one of the agencies at the center of President Donald Trump's cultural overhaul, to build its capacity to support school trips and educational programs. Now, the museum is planning for a future without the funds, Trent said. In Washington, Trump has forged ahead with efforts to exert control over which cultural pursuits the government backs, from taking the reins of the Kennedy Center to targeting 'improper ideology' at the Smithsonian. But his administration's push to align federal support with his cultural agenda – and combat what he sees as 'woke' ideology and 'anti-American propaganda'– has extended beyond the nation's capital. It has left museums like the Museum of African American History in Boston as well as libraries, archival projects, arts programs, and film festivals reeling after the IMLS and the National Endowments for the Arts and the Humanities canceled tens of millions of dollars in federal grants. Trump, who has promised to scale back the size of the federal government, has asked Congress to eliminate the agencies. If Congress grants his request, it will amount to an unprecedented gutting of federal support for arts and humanities. The National Endowment for the Arts helps fund everything from free music and theater programs to film festivals and literary magazines. The National Endowment for the Humanities supports research, historic sites, book programs, and museum exhibits. And the IMLS, which Trump deemed 'unnecessary' bureaucracy in March and ordered 'eliminated to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law,' pays for job training programs, interlibrary loans, and free e-book and audiobook services for libraries in rural areas. Several lawsuits across the country are challenging how the Trump administration is gutting or overhauling the grant programs at IMLS, NEA and NEH. The challengers have prevailed in some of the cases, but the administration is seeking to reverse the rulings against it. The African American history museum in Boston received a letter from IMLS on Wednesday indicating that the agency will adhere to a court order earlier this month from a federal judge in Rhode Island requiring it to reinstate grants. However, the reinstatement of the grant is contingent on an appeal, which is pending, the letter said. Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency has touted some of the cuts on social media, declaring that NEH grants will be 'merit-based and awarded to non-DEI, pro-America causes' going forward. A lawsuit filed by the American Historical Association and other groups alleges that two DOGE employees 'demanded lists of open NEH grants and then indiscriminately terminated the vast majority of the grants.' Conservative groups like the Heritage Foundation have long argued that arts and humanities programs shouldn't receive taxpayer money because they have enough financial support from private sources. The Trump administration has already started to redirect federal funding towards cultural initiatives the president backs. A portion of canceled NEH funds will help pay for The National Garden of Heroes, a sculpture garden Trump first floated in 2020. Slated to be completed in time for the nation's 250th anniversary next year, it will feature '250 great individuals from America's past,' according to a release. 'We're going to be honoring our heroes, honoring the greatest people from our country. We're not going to be tearing down. We're going to be building up,' Trump said in February. The IMLS, NEA and NEH did not respond to a request for comment on this story. As the Trump administration shifts its priorities, arts advocates say programming for children is at risk. In Nebraska, String Sprouts, a 'no-to-low-cost' music education program hosted by the Omaha Conservatory of Music, had received an NEA grant for a decade. Now, the group may be forced to scale back the number of classes it offers, according to Neidy Hess, the conservatory communication's manager. In New York, Opera on Tap's Playground Opera program, which immerses students in low-income communities in production and performance, will also have to be dialed back without federal support, co-founder and general director Anne Hiatt told CNN. Meanwhile, the South Dakota Humanities Council lost $950,000, or 73% of its total budget. While it will be able to continue some programming, it may have to stop its Young Reader Program, which provides free books to third-graders, said the council's executive director, Christina Oey. Oey's group is one of the 56 councils across the country that saw their general operating and support grants slashed in April. She said the National Garden of Heroes project won't have the same kind of reach as the programs and events councils put on, particularly in rural communities. 'Yes, a monument is educational. It can provide learning opportunities, but you have to travel to that. I mean, I can attest to that in South Dakota: Mount Rushmore is five and a half hours away from me, right?' she said. 'If you fund the humanities, you also fund programming that can change, that can travel, that can be in your community.' While South Dakota Humanities Council has received some emergency funding from the Mellon Foundation, a private foundation for the arts and humanities, some councils that are more reliant on federal funds say they could close if Congress grants Trump's proposal to gut the NEH. National History Day, a nonprofit that hosts a nationwide competition for students in grades 6-12 to present their own historical research projects, may not have as many participants without federal support, executive director Cathy Gorn said. 'Kids, when they study history effectively, they learn empathy, and we really need a whole lot more of that in this country, in this world,' Gorn said. 'And so, losing this opportunity is a real crisis for American education. For Trent, the museum director in Boston, the impact of the Trump administration is more than federal funding cuts. She said corporate support started drying up after the president took office, a trend she blames partly on his efforts to quash diversity, equity and inclusion programs. When asked why taxpayer dollars should go to museums like the one she leads, Trent said they make communities unique and leave a positive impact on visitors. 'There are places all across this great country, that have really great programs, that have qualitatively changed to peoples lives,' she explained. On a recent trip to the museum, seventh grader Excel Alabi found herself moved by the stories about young people around her age fighting to end slavery in the Civil War. 'They were fighting for us. I think that's really beautiful,' she told CNN. 'When I was starting school, it was just like 'People are going to war to fight for rights.' I didn't know that it was teenagers trying to fight for their families too.' 'It's important for kids to learn history because it's just such a big impact on what we've been through,' she added. 'I think we should face those tough subjects because those tough subjects are the reason why we're here.'
CNN
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- CNN
Trump's cultural overhaul throttles local arts, humanities programs nationwide
For 60 years, Boston's Museum of African American History has transported people to the past, letting visitors to a 200-year-old meeting house see where abolitionists like Frederick Douglass spoke and walk through halls where young Black soldiers once rallied to fight in the Civil War. But recently, the museum's history programs for schoolchildren were put at risk after the Trump administration canceled its federal grant, saying in a letter that the funding 'no longer serves the interest of the United States.' 'I will forever remember that line,' the museum's director, Dr. Noelle Trent, told CNN.'We were very much embedded into key moments of this country's history. How is that not of interest to the United States and the American people?' The museum had won a $500,000 grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, one of the agencies at the center of President Donald Trump's cultural overhaul, to build its capacity to support school trips and educational programs. Now, the museum is planning for a future without the funds, Trent said. In Washington, Trump has forged ahead with efforts to exert control over which cultural pursuits the government backs, from taking the reins of the Kennedy Center to targeting 'improper ideology' at the Smithsonian. But his administration's push to align federal support with his cultural agenda – and combat what he sees as 'woke' ideology and 'anti-American propaganda'– has extended beyond the nation's capital. It has left museums like the Museum of African American History in Boston as well as libraries, archival projects, arts programs, and film festivals reeling after the IMLS and the National Endowments for the Arts and the Humanities canceled tens of millions of dollars in federal grants. Trump, who has promised to scale back the size of the federal government, has asked Congress to eliminate the agencies. If Congress grants his request, it will amount to an unprecedented gutting of federal support for arts and humanities. The National Endowment for the Arts helps fund everything from free music and theater programs to film festivals and literary magazines. The National Endowment for the Humanities supports research, historic sites, book programs, and museum exhibits. And the IMLS, which Trump deemed 'unnecessary' bureaucracy in March and ordered 'eliminated to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law,' pays for job training programs, interlibrary loans, and free e-book and audiobook services for libraries in rural areas. Several lawsuits across the country are challenging how the Trump administration is gutting or overhauling the grant programs at IMLS, NEA and NEH. The challengers have prevailed in some of the cases, but the administration is seeking to reverse the rulings against it. The African American history museum in Boston received a letter from IMLS on Wednesday indicating that the agency will adhere to a court order earlier this month from a federal judge in Rhode Island requiring it to reinstate grants. However, the reinstatement of the grant is contingent on an appeal, which is pending, the letter said. Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency has touted some of the cuts on social media, declaring that NEH grants will be 'merit-based and awarded to non-DEI, pro-America causes' going forward. A lawsuit filed by the American Historical Association and other groups alleges that two DOGE employees 'demanded lists of open NEH grants and then indiscriminately terminated the vast majority of the grants.' Conservative groups like the Heritage Foundation have long argued that arts and humanities programs shouldn't receive taxpayer money because they have enough financial support from private sources. The Trump administration has already started to redirect federal funding towards cultural initiatives the president backs. A portion of canceled NEH funds will help pay for The National Garden of Heroes, a sculpture garden Trump first floated in 2020. Slated to be completed in time for the nation's 250th anniversary next year, it will feature '250 great individuals from America's past,' according to a release. 'We're going to be honoring our heroes, honoring the greatest people from our country. We're not going to be tearing down. We're going to be building up,' Trump said in February. The IMLS, NEA and NEH did not respond to a request for comment on this story. As the Trump administration shifts its priorities, arts advocates say programming for children is at risk. In Nebraska, String Sprouts, a 'no-to-low-cost' music education program hosted by the Omaha Conservatory of Music, had received an NEA grant for a decade. Now, the group may be forced to scale back the number of classes it offers, according to Neidy Hess, the conservatory communication's manager. In New York, Opera on Tap's Playground Opera program, which immerses students in low-income communities in production and performance, will also have to be dialed back without federal support, co-founder and general director Anne Hiatt told CNN. Meanwhile, the South Dakota Humanities Council lost $950,000, or 73% of its total budget. While it will be able to continue some programming, it may have to stop its Young Reader Program, which provides free books to third-graders, said the council's executive director, Christina Oey. Oey's group is one of the 56 councils across the country that saw their general operating and support grants slashed in April. She said the National Garden of Heroes project won't have the same kind of reach as the programs and events councils put on, particularly in rural communities. 'Yes, a monument is educational. It can provide learning opportunities, but you have to travel to that. I mean, I can attest to that in South Dakota: Mount Rushmore is five and a half hours away from me, right?' she said. 'If you fund the humanities, you also fund programming that can change, that can travel, that can be in your community.' While South Dakota Humanities Council has received some emergency funding from the Mellon Foundation, a private foundation for the arts and humanities, some councils that are more reliant on federal funds say they could close if Congress grants Trump's proposal to gut the NEH. National History Day, a nonprofit that hosts a nationwide competition for students in grades 6-12 to present their own historical research projects, may not have as many participants without federal support, executive director Cathy Gorn said. 'Kids, when they study history effectively, they learn empathy, and we really need a whole lot more of that in this country, in this world,' Gorn said. 'And so, losing this opportunity is a real crisis for American education. For Trent, the museum director in Boston, the impact of the Trump administration is more than federal funding cuts. She said corporate support started drying up after the president took office, a trend she blames partly on his efforts to quash diversity, equity and inclusion programs. When asked why taxpayer dollars should go to museums like the one she leads, Trent said they make communities unique and leave a positive impact on visitors. 'There are places all across this great country, that have really great programs, that have qualitatively changed to peoples lives,' she explained. On a recent trip to the museum, seventh grader Excel Alabi found herself moved by the stories about young people around her age fighting to end slavery in the Civil War. 'They were fighting for us. I think that's really beautiful,' she told CNN. 'When I was starting school, it was just like 'People are going to war to fight for rights.' I didn't know that it was teenagers trying to fight for their families too.' 'It's important for kids to learn history because it's just such a big impact on what we've been through,' she added. 'I think we should face those tough subjects because those tough subjects are the reason why we're here.'
CNN
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- CNN
Trump's cultural overhaul throttles local arts, humanities programs nationwide
For 60 years, Boston's Museum of African American History has transported people to the past, letting visitors to a 200-year-old meeting house see where abolitionists like Frederick Douglass spoke and walk through halls where young Black soldiers once rallied to fight in the Civil War. But recently, the museum's history programs for schoolchildren were put at risk after the Trump administration canceled its federal grant, saying in a letter that the funding 'no longer serves the interest of the United States.' 'I will forever remember that line,' the museum's director, Dr. Noelle Trent, told CNN.'We were very much embedded into key moments of this country's history. How is that not of interest to the United States and the American people?' The museum had won a $500,000 grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, one of the agencies at the center of President Donald Trump's cultural overhaul, to build its capacity to support school trips and educational programs. Now, the museum is planning for a future without the funds, Trent said. In Washington, Trump has forged ahead with efforts to exert control over which cultural pursuits the government backs, from taking the reins of the Kennedy Center to targeting 'improper ideology' at the Smithsonian. But his administration's push to align federal support with his cultural agenda – and combat what he sees as 'woke' ideology and 'anti-American propaganda'– has extended beyond the nation's capital. It has left museums like the Museum of African American History in Boston as well as libraries, archival projects, arts programs, and film festivals reeling after the IMLS and the National Endowments for the Arts and the Humanities canceled tens of millions of dollars in federal grants. Trump, who has promised to scale back the size of the federal government, has asked Congress to eliminate the agencies. If Congress grants his request, it will amount to an unprecedented gutting of federal support for arts and humanities. The National Endowment for the Arts helps fund everything from free music and theater programs to film festivals and literary magazines. The National Endowment for the Humanities supports research, historic sites, book programs, and museum exhibits. And the IMLS, which Trump deemed 'unnecessary' bureaucracy in March and ordered 'eliminated to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law,' pays for job training programs, interlibrary loans, and free e-book and audiobook services for libraries in rural areas. Several lawsuits across the country are challenging how the Trump administration is gutting or overhauling the grant programs at IMLS, NEA and NEH. The challengers have prevailed in some of the cases, but the administration is seeking to reverse the rulings against it. The African American history museum in Boston received a letter from IMLS on Wednesday indicating that the agency will adhere to a court order earlier this month from a federal judge in Rhode Island requiring it to reinstate grants. However, the reinstatement of the grant is contingent on an appeal, which is pending, the letter said. Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency has touted some of the cuts on social media, declaring that NEH grants will be 'merit-based and awarded to non-DEI, pro-America causes' going forward. A lawsuit filed by the American Historical Association and other groups alleges that two DOGE employees 'demanded lists of open NEH grants and then indiscriminately terminated the vast majority of the grants.' Conservative groups like the Heritage Foundation have long argued that arts and humanities programs shouldn't receive taxpayer money because they have enough financial support from private sources. The Trump administration has already started to redirect federal funding towards cultural initiatives the president backs. A portion of canceled NEH funds will help pay for The National Garden of Heroes, a sculpture garden Trump first floated in 2020. Slated to be completed in time for the nation's 250th anniversary next year, it will feature '250 great individuals from America's past,' according to a release. 'We're going to be honoring our heroes, honoring the greatest people from our country. We're not going to be tearing down. We're going to be building up,' Trump said in February. The IMLS, NEA and NEH did not respond to a request for comment on this story. As the Trump administration shifts its priorities, arts advocates say programming for children is at risk. In Nebraska, String Sprouts, a 'no-to-low-cost' music education program hosted by the Omaha Conservatory of Music, had received an NEA grant for a decade. Now, the group may be forced to scale back the number of classes it offers, according to Neidy Hess, the conservatory communication's manager. In New York, Opera on Tap's Playground Opera program, which immerses students in low-income communities in production and performance, will also have to be dialed back without federal support, co-founder and general director Anne Hiatt told CNN. Meanwhile, the South Dakota Humanities Council lost $950,000, or 73% of its total budget. While it will be able to continue some programming, it may have to stop its Young Reader Program, which provides free books to third-graders, said the council's executive director, Christina Oey. Oey's group is one of the 56 councils across the country that saw their general operating and support grants slashed in April. She said the National Garden of Heroes project won't have the same kind of reach as the programs and events councils put on, particularly in rural communities. 'Yes, a monument is educational. It can provide learning opportunities, but you have to travel to that. I mean, I can attest to that in South Dakota: Mount Rushmore is five and a half hours away from me, right?' she said. 'If you fund the humanities, you also fund programming that can change, that can travel, that can be in your community.' While South Dakota Humanities Council has received some emergency funding from the Mellon Foundation, a private foundation for the arts and humanities, some councils that are more reliant on federal funds say they could close if Congress grants Trump's proposal to gut the NEH. National History Day, a nonprofit that hosts a nationwide competition for students in grades 6-12 to present their own historical research projects, may not have as many participants without federal support, executive director Cathy Gorn said. 'Kids, when they study history effectively, they learn empathy, and we really need a whole lot more of that in this country, in this world,' Gorn said. 'And so, losing this opportunity is a real crisis for American education. For Trent, the museum director in Boston, the impact of the Trump administration is more than federal funding cuts. She said corporate support started drying up after the president took office, a trend she blames partly on his efforts to quash diversity, equity and inclusion programs. When asked why taxpayer dollars should go to museums like the one she leads, Trent said they make communities unique and leave a positive impact on visitors. 'There are places all across this great country, that have really great programs, that have qualitatively changed to peoples lives,' she explained. On a recent trip to the museum, seventh grader Excel Alabi found herself moved by the stories about young people around her age fighting to end slavery in the Civil War. 'They were fighting for us. I think that's really beautiful,' she told CNN. 'When I was starting school, it was just like 'People are going to war to fight for rights.' I didn't know that it was teenagers trying to fight for their families too.' 'It's important for kids to learn history because it's just such a big impact on what we've been through,' she added. 'I think we should face those tough subjects because those tough subjects are the reason why we're here.'
CBS News
11-04-2025
- General
- CBS News
African-American history museum in Boston worried about future as its federal grant is cut
A museum dedicated to the African-American history of Boston is now concerned about its future, as their federal grant has been cut. "If you look at the ground, you will see that the planks are over 200 years old, these are original," said Dr. Noelle Trent, the president and CEO of the Museum of African-American History Boston and Nantucket . The museum is home to the African Meeting House of 1806, as well as the country's first public school built specifically for Black students in 1835. "There were lectures by Frederick Douglass here and William Lloyd Garrison." Last June, the museum received a $500,000 three-year federal grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services. But Trent said that is no longer the case. "Yesterday, we received notice from the federal government that our grant had been terminated and part of the reasoning was that we no longer align with the White House policies," said Trent. Trent said the capacity building grant was supposed to support school field trips, educational programs and to increase staff. "There is frustration because we worked very hard to create something new for the museum," said Trent. In addition, the museum may have to pay back any undistributed funds it has already received from the grant. "It will affect our ability to do programming moving forward," said Trent. "We're talking over $100,000." Now this national treasure located in the heart of Beacon Hill has a different fight ahead of it. "If you care about this place, we need you. We need you to join us in this fight," said Trent. "And what's important for us is to engage with our community and continue to make sure that these stories are here and that these buildings remain here for the next 100 years."
Boston Globe
03-04-2025
- Business
- Boston Globe
‘Working on hope': Executive order ushers in era of uncertainty for cultural organizations
The little-known agency awarded $8.5 million to Massachusetts institutions in fiscal year 2024 — supporting everything from the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners and the Museum of African American History to local historical societies and Zoo New England. Advertisement The full extent of the order remains unclear, but on Monday the IMLS placed nearly all of its roughly Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Massachusetts library and museum leaders said lack of clarity has thrust their organizations into a state of profound uncertainty. Grant recipients say they're unsure whether they'll receive the rest of their awarded funds, which often come as reimbursements, making it difficult to chart a course forward for critical programs and initiatives, many of which they've already launched. 'There's a lot that we just don't know,' said Noelle Trent, president and chief executive of the Museum of African American History, with locations in Boston and Nantucket. The museum, which Trent said has an annual operating budget around $3 million, landed a $500,000 IMLS grant last year, its largest federal award in recent memory. Advertisement The grant was intended to help fund four full-time positions that would develop field trip offerings, outreach, and programming at the museum's historic sites. The Museum of African American History is one of numerous Massachusetts-based cultural organizations that may be affected by President Trump's changes to the Institute of Museum and Library Services. David L. Ryan/Globe Staff/file 'It's daunting because we're not sure if we will receive the remainder of the money,' said Trent, whose organization received a tranche of the grant prior to the executive order. 'Our intention is to move forward, because this was the linchpin to our growth as an organization.' The state's largest single IMLS grant recipient — at $3.6 million last year — is the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners. The MBLC uses the funds to support a variety of statewide programs, including research databases, the interlibrary loan service, and the ebook platform LEA. MBLC director Maureen Amyot said cuts to its IMLS funding 'would be felt across the entire state.' 'These services are so heavily used by residents that cuts to the funding would have an impact on every single community,' she said. 'These are services that it would be really difficult for us to absorb into our budget.' Barb Fecteau, a librarian at Beverly High School, said nearly every one of her students uses the research databases the Board of Library Commissioners provides with IMLS support, calling them 'paramount.' 'This is something that's available to every kid in the state,' said Fecteau, who is also president of the Massachusetts School Library Association. She added that most districts wouldn't be able to afford the databases on their own. 'It's just a huge amount of resources we'd be losing.' Advertisement An MBLC spokesperson said Thursday that while some states have received letters to inform them their IMLS grants are terminated, 'we have not received ours yet.' She added that the state agency is planning to cut some services, though the reductions will not immediately affect interlibrary loans, research databases, or the ebook platform. Established in 1996, the The executive order has been criticized by numerous national library and museum groups, which have urged the administration to reconsider. In a statement immediately following Trump's order, the American Library Association called the order ' The agency's board has also weighed in on the matter, stating in 'All such statutory obligations may not be discontinued or delayed under an Executive Order or other executive action,' wrote the board. The IMLS did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Following his installation last month as IMLS's acting director, Sonderling said the agency would 'focus on patriotism, ensuring we preserve our country's core values, promote American exceptionalism and cultivate love of country in future generations.' Changes to the IMLS come as President Trump has sought greater influence in the cultural sphere, taking particular aim at 'wokeism.' He seized control of the Kennedy Center in February, and last week he signed a separate Advertisement Lynda Roscoe Hartigan, executive director and chief executive of the Peabody Essex Museum, said the IMLS has awarded the Salem institution more than $2.4 million over the past 25 years, including two recent grants totaling $500,000. 'IMLS funding plays a crucial role in supporting PEM's mission,' Hartigan said in a statement to the Globe. She added that the awards have gone toward things such as public accessibility and educational programs for area students. 'Without this support, museums like ours — and many others across the country — could face challenges in maintaining the high standards of care, scholarship, and accessibility that our visitors rely on.' Sebastian Belfanti, executive director of the West End Museum, is concerned about a $75,000 award from the IMLS. Matthew J. Lee/Globe Staff Any potential loss of funding would be particularly hard for smaller organizations, some of which rely on IMLS grants to finance staff positions or implement growth-related programs. Boston's West End Museum received a $75,000 grant last year, a sizable award for the neighborhood museum with an annual operating budget of around $500,000. Executive director Sebastian Belfanti said the grant, which funds numerous pilot programs, is key to the museum's long-term growth plan. 'They're not programs that we have any intention of canceling,' said Belfanti. He added that he received notice late Wednesday night that the NEH had terminated a separate $25,000 award to the museum. Belfanti said if the IMLS award doesn't come through, he'll be in the difficult position of having to fund-raise once an event or program has ended. 'We are just working on hope,' he said. 'It isn't a viable strategy to stop.' Advertisement Malcolm Gay can be reached at
