Minnesota arts leaders worry NEA grant cuts will leave the field 'impoverished'
A production of the Igor Stravinsky opera "The Rake's Progress" at the Lakes Area Music Festival in Brainerd in 2024. The NEA terminated a $20,000 grant to the 2025 festival, which begins in July.
Courtesy of David Boran
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The Trump administration has canceled grants from the National Endowment for the Arts.
These grants were promised to arts organizations nationwide, including many in Minnesota that are now scrambling to cover the shortfall.
Senior arts reporter Alex V. Cipolle has spoken to some local arts leaders about the cuts. She joins MPR News host Nina Moini to share what she has learned.
Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.
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Audio transcript
NINA MOINI: The Trump administration is canceling grants from the National Endowment for the Arts. These grants were promised to arts organizations nationwide, including many here in Minnesota. Many are now scrambling to cover the shortfall. Senior MPR News Arts Reporter Alex V. Cepolli has spoken to some local art leaders about these cuts. She's here to tell us more. Thanks for being here, Alex.
ALEX V. CEPOLLE: Thanks, Nina.
NINA MOINI: So, what have you been hearing?
ALEX V. CEPOLLE: Well, Friday night, many grantees, so many arts organizations across the state, received an email from the NEA, the NEA is a major federal funder of the arts, telling them that their grants had been withdrawn. So these were confirmed, approved grants that were retroactively pulled.
We've heard from many folks Theater Mu, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Lakes Area Music Festival, Ragamala Dance Company, and I'm hearing from more and more each day.
NINA MOINI: So if these grants were already awarded, like you mentioned, and then pulled, what does that mean for these recipients?
ALEX V. CEPOLLE: It's really tough. They were awarded in 2024. And in Minnesota alone, that means about almost $900,000 going to dozens of arts organizations. And the key to this is, these are reimbursable grants.
So essentially, a theater or a dance company pays for something and then invoices the NEA.
NINA MOINI: Mm-hmm.
ALEX V. CEPOLLE: So many of these organizations have already spent the money or already budgeted for it. To Dance, of Saint Paul already spent $15,000 in grant money on a 20th anniversary show that was performed in April. Ananya Dance Theater also spent their $10,000 grant. I spoke to Ananya Chatterjee, who is the artistic director and a dance professor of the University of Minnesota. She says she's still in shock. Here's Chatterjee.
ANANYA CHATTERJEE: Suddenly, we are out of this chunk of money that we have spent already. That was a first shock. But also what is going to happen to the field? My head has been spinning. It's not just one organization going away. It's the biggest national organization going away. The whole field is going to be impoverished.
ALEX V. CEPOLLE: Yeah, and Chatterjee says they will appeal the decision, but she is not hopeful.
NINA MOINI: What reasoning, if any, did the NEA give Alex?
ALEX V. CEPOLLE: It seems that everybody's received the same email from the NEA, which stated that funding was shifting to focus on, quote, "projects that reflect the nation's rich artistic heritage and creativity as prioritized by our president." unquote.
It cites a bunch of examples of projects that would be funded, like celebrating the country's 250th anniversary next year, projects that empower houses of worship and that support the military and veterans. Projects that don't fit these goals were eliminated. And this is also tied to an earlier executive order this year that restricted funding for NEA projects with diversity, equity and inclusion goals.
NINA MOINI: And what is the local impact?
ALEX V. CEPOLLE: So, for example, the Lake Area Music Festival in Brainerd, they're a classical musical festival, and they now have a $20,000 budget gap just months before opening in July. And for these small organizations, that's a hefty sum of money.
NINA MOINI: Sure.
ALEX V. CEPOLLE: The Penumbra Theater in St Paul lost $55,000. I spoke to Amy Thomas, who is the Chief Operating Officer of the Penumbra. And she said the grant was going to help produce a play about racial trauma in the healthcare system. Thomas says she's worried about arts censorship. Here is Thomas.
AMY THOMAS: Certainly, the arts are on the list of the federal administration's interest in terms of containing what can be produced and communicated to the public. So I have really grave concerns about what all this means in terms of freedom of artistic expression.
NINA MOINI: And with that in mind, Alex, are these organizations responding in any Way
ALEX V. CEPOLLE: I feel like everybody is scrambling right now. There's a bit of a panic going on. People are reworking budgets. They're trying to raise money. Some are cutting programming.
Many are also very concerned about the larger implications of this and a little bit confused. Because the reasons that these grants were canceled was to support other projects that support the nation's rich artistic heritage. However, the President Trump administration also proposed eliminating the NEA and the National Endowment for the Humanities altogether starting in 2026.
There's a little bit of a contradiction there. Some folks are fighting back. The National Americans for the Arts Network has started a campaign to protect the NEA, and they are advising all grantees to file appeals as soon as possible. They're actually also hosting a webinar today to offer guidance to those who have lost their grant money.
NINA MOINI: Alex, thank you for giving us the very latest on this. I appreciate it.
ALEX V. CEPOLLE: Thank you Nina.
NINA MOINI: That was Senior Arts Reporter Alex V. Cepolli. There's more about this at mprnews.org. Alex's reporting was made possible by the Minnesota Legacy Amendment's Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.
ALEX V. CEPOLLE: Thanks, Nina.
NINA MOINI: So, what have you been hearing?
ALEX V. CEPOLLE: Well, Friday night, many grantees, so many arts organizations across the state, received an email from the NEA, the NEA is a major federal funder of the arts, telling them that their grants had been withdrawn. So these were confirmed, approved grants that were retroactively pulled.
We've heard from many folks Theater Mu, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Lakes Area Music Festival, Ragamala Dance Company, and I'm hearing from more and more each day.
NINA MOINI: So if these grants were already awarded, like you mentioned, and then pulled, what does that mean for these recipients?
ALEX V. CEPOLLE: It's really tough. They were awarded in 2024. And in Minnesota alone, that means about almost $900,000 going to dozens of arts organizations. And the key to this is, these are reimbursable grants.
So essentially, a theater or a dance company pays for something and then invoices the NEA.
NINA MOINI: Mm-hmm.
ALEX V. CEPOLLE: So many of these organizations have already spent the money or already budgeted for it. To Dance, of Saint Paul already spent $15,000 in grant money on a 20th anniversary show that was performed in April. Ananya Dance Theater also spent their $10,000 grant. I spoke to Ananya Chatterjee, who is the artistic director and a dance professor of the University of Minnesota. She says she's still in shock. Here's Chatterjee.
ANANYA CHATTERJEE: Suddenly, we are out of this chunk of money that we have spent already. That was a first shock. But also what is going to happen to the field? My head has been spinning. It's not just one organization going away. It's the biggest national organization going away. The whole field is going to be impoverished.
ALEX V. CEPOLLE: Yeah, and Chatterjee says they will appeal the decision, but she is not hopeful.
NINA MOINI: What reasoning, if any, did the NEA give Alex?
ALEX V. CEPOLLE: It seems that everybody's received the same email from the NEA, which stated that funding was shifting to focus on, quote, "projects that reflect the nation's rich artistic heritage and creativity as prioritized by our president." unquote.
It cites a bunch of examples of projects that would be funded, like celebrating the country's 250th anniversary next year, projects that empower houses of worship and that support the military and veterans. Projects that don't fit these goals were eliminated. And this is also tied to an earlier executive order this year that restricted funding for NEA projects with diversity, equity and inclusion goals.
NINA MOINI: And what is the local impact?
ALEX V. CEPOLLE: So, for example, the Lake Area Music Festival in Brainerd, they're a classical musical festival, and they now have a $20,000 budget gap just months before opening in July. And for these small organizations, that's a hefty sum of money.
NINA MOINI: Sure.
ALEX V. CEPOLLE: The Penumbra Theater in St Paul lost $55,000. I spoke to Amy Thomas, who is the Chief Operating Officer of the Penumbra. And she said the grant was going to help produce a play about racial trauma in the healthcare system. Thomas says she's worried about arts censorship. Here is Thomas.
AMY THOMAS: Certainly, the arts are on the list of the federal administration's interest in terms of containing what can be produced and communicated to the public. So I have really grave concerns about what all this means in terms of freedom of artistic expression.
NINA MOINI: And with that in mind, Alex, are these organizations responding in any Way
ALEX V. CEPOLLE: I feel like everybody is scrambling right now. There's a bit of a panic going on. People are reworking budgets. They're trying to raise money. Some are cutting programming.
Many are also very concerned about the larger implications of this and a little bit confused. Because the reasons that these grants were canceled was to support other projects that support the nation's rich artistic heritage. However, the President Trump administration also proposed eliminating the NEA and the National Endowment for the Humanities altogether starting in 2026.
There's a little bit of a contradiction there. Some folks are fighting back. The National Americans for the Arts Network has started a campaign to protect the NEA, and they are advising all grantees to file appeals as soon as possible. They're actually also hosting a webinar today to offer guidance to those who have lost their grant money.
NINA MOINI: Alex, thank you for giving us the very latest on this. I appreciate it.
ALEX V. CEPOLLE: Thank you Nina.
NINA MOINI: That was Senior Arts Reporter Alex V. Cepolli. There's more about this at mprnews.org. Alex's reporting was made possible by the Minnesota Legacy Amendment's Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.
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