Federal humanities cuts means halting programs in Minnesota communities

Artists, filmmakers, writers and others who were counting on funding through the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) now find themselves scrambling after existing grants were canceled and grant awards were cut for this year. Earlier this week, the Trump administration terminated all major NEH grants to state humanities councils, which includes the Minnesota Humanities Center. Kevin Lindsey, CEO of the Minnesota Humanities Center, spoke to MPR News host Cathy Wurzer about the changes.

The transcript below has been lightly edited for clarity and length. To hear the interview, click on the audio player above.

What’s this week been like?

It's been very busy, very chaotic. All the councils are trying to figure out what they’re going to do with this drastic elimination of funding. Many of them had programs that they were seeking to roll out, and all of a sudden, near midnight on April 2, they're told that everything has to come to a halt.

How much of your budget is based on federal grants?

We’re fortunate in Minnesota that we do have a Legacy Amendment which provides us with funding so we are not as dependent on federal funding as others. It’s about 20 percent, but for many of my colleagues, it’s just the opposite: About 80 to 90 percent of their funding is dependent on the federal government.

Are there smaller centers around Minnesota or just across the country?

There’s one humanities council in every state and one in each of the six territories of the United States. This state affiliation partnership with the National Endowment for Humanities has been going on since the early 1970s. It has allowed humanities scholarship and opportunities for telling stories, for seeing the vision of how people see their democracy and what it means to be an American to be fully realized. Congress specifically put in the last congressional appropriation a specific line about the federal-state partnership to make sure that state humanities councils get funding.

We should say that NEH funding not only goes to artists but also to museums, libraries, historic sites and the like. How might cuts affect access?

Well, the cuts are going to impact access. There’s no doubt about that, and it has already started to happen. Some programs are being scaled back.

We use some of those dollars to leverage artists from outside of Minnesota. That’s something that the state dollars can’t do, but the federal dollars can. Then there are partnerships. For example, the Library of America has a program on Latino anthology that captures the stories of the Latino experience. That type of partnership we could do on our own here in Minnesota, but with federal funds we are able to leverage that program to bring it to places around our state.

The lack of funding jeopardizes the retrospective Museum on Main Street program we have done with the Smithsonian. Communities throughout the United States see the humanities councils partnering with the Smithsonian to bring traveling exhibits. And many of these traveling exhibits are in smaller-population communities that wouldn’t otherwise have access to this kind of program.

Can you make up the money the federal government money with private donations and foundation grants?

I don’t think we’ll be able to make all of this up with private foundations and individual donations. This is going to impact the unique thing about the National Endowment for Humanities. What it has tried to do over the last 50 years is to create a unique state-federal-community partnership to really meet the need. 

What are the next steps for your organization?

Well, I think for my organization specifically, we’re going to be taking a look to see what type of reductions have started to happen at the national level. We’re also starting to see cuts with the National Endowment for Humanities as relates to its staffing. They've already cut about 80 to 85 percent of the staff there at NEH. That’s going to slow down what remains as it relates to grant opportunities.

The Trump administration has identified that they wish to spend some of the money. It appears through press releases that they’re taking the money that would go into state councils, and then they're going to build a monument park. And again, if you take a look at the language from the National Endowment for Humanities, it doesn’t talk about building any monuments. What it talks about is facilitating scholarly research and opportunities for people to understand our democracy, understand and listen to authors and creatives. That’s very concerning to all the councils.