Austin arts groups facing budget cuts after cancellation of NEA grants

An assortment of arts organizations in Austin were among the hundreds across the nation that learned late Friday that their most recent round of funding from the National Endowment for the Arts was being withdrawn. The Austin Monitor has confirmed at least four Austin organizations — Cine Las Americas, Women & Their Work, Tapestry Dance Company, and American Short Fiction — were among the groups whose awards have been canceled after being approved under the Joe Biden administration last fall.

The loss of a $30,000 grant that had been tentatively approved in November has caused Tapestry Dance to cancel its upcoming Soul 2 Sole Festival, a jazz dance event that was scheduled to take place in June. Acia Gray, founder and executive artistic director for the group, said the loss of 40 percent of the festival’s budget made it impossible to proceed as planned.

While potential donors had started to step forward over the weekend to try to make up the funding shortfall, she said the uncertainty pushed her to cancel and let out-of-state performers avoid the risk of the event not happening.

“Without the $30,000 there’s just no way. I waited because I had to be sure it wasn’t spam, then I had to verify it. Then the first thing I think about are the artists coming in from out of town, and how long do you have them wait?” said Gray, who is also a member of the city’s Arts Commission. “I didn’t think the administration would go this far. Not to say I didn’t think that perhaps the NEA would change over time, in a year or something. But to pull the rug out from under projects and cancel things that were already written… it’s beyond imagination to me.”

Groups affected by the grant cancellations received an email Friday night that stated:

The NEA 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.

Consequently, we are terminating awards that fall outside these new priorities. 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. Funding is being allocated in a new direction in furtherance of the Administration’s agenda.

The most recent round of NEA recipients included 17 groups who had been approved for $485,000 to fund planned events or other programming.

Chris Cowden, executive director for Women & Their Work, said the group had signed its NEA contract in November to fund planned arts exhibitions but was unable to begin receiving funding in January when the NEA’s portal for recipients was shut down.

“We thought that it would not be shocking if the NEA was zeroed out. Every day that it didn’t gave us hope that it might not, and that somehow it might escape,” she said of the funding that would have made up about 5 percent of the organization’s 2025 budget. “It’s a huge loss to organizations all over the country, because what was so wonderful about the National Endowment for the Arts was it was a national stamp of recognition. It was extremely competitive and you had to match it, and so it leveraged money throughout the country for art.”

Gabriel Ornelas, executive director for Cine Las Americas, said the $10,000 from the NEA was dedicated toward the production costs, payroll, awards and other expenses for filmmakers participating in the Cine Las Americas International Film Festival scheduled for later this month.

“We were greatly disappointed to learn our previously awarded grant of $10K has been withdrawn,” he said in a prepared statement. “But for 27 years, Cine Las Americas has been an integral contributor to Austin’s artistic and cultural fabric. Throughout our history, we have screened 1000’s of films that represent over 30 countries celebrating Latinx/e, Indigenous and international stories and voices through film and this loss will not stop us. We will continue to move forward and share these stories with the Austin community – celebrating and living the beautiful, thought provoking, engaging and entertaining works for people to experience.”

John Riedie, president and CEO of the Austin Creative Alliance, said he spent the weekend hearing from organizations making decisions about how to carry on and restructure without a previously reliable source of funding.

“I imagine we’ll see other ripple effects as people figure out how and if they can proceed with their programs,” he said.
“Obviously we’ve been expecting some action against the NEA, but I don’t think it was expected that existing grants would be canceled. This is the most difficult environment to be an arts nonprofit that I’ve ever seen.”

Photo made available through a Creative Commons license.

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