‘Outrageous’ and ‘chilling’: Local orgs react to new DEI restrictions from the National Endowments for the Arts
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Like many arts organizations nationwide, local arts outfits received emails this month from the National Endowment for the Arts. The topic: updates on grants and grant guidelines following executive orders issued by President Donald Trump.
Among these new guidelines are restrictions that forbid grant recipients from promoting diversity, equity, inclusion and “gender ideology.”
Some local arts organizations are speaking out.
“It's outrageous,” said Nicole A. Watson, the producing artistic director at the Playwrights’ Center of Minneapolis. “I don't understand how, if I live in the United States of America, we're going to disparage the idea that we, as an arts organization, or any arts organization, should try and limit who we should support. This is a country that's supposed to have an expansive view of who gets to be here.”
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In January, 35 Minnesota arts organizations were awarded NEA grants, including the Playwrights’ Center, Guthrie Theatre, Twin Cities PBS, Mizna, Penumbra Theatre, FilmNorth, Milkweed Editions and Ragamala Dance Company. The 2025 NEA grant funds for Minnesota arts organizations total $882,500.
The updated restrictions are outlined in the NEA’s “Legal Requirements and Assurance of Compliance.”
The changes include:
“The applicant will not operate any programs promoting “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) that violate any applicable Federal anti-discrimination laws, in accordance with Executive Order No. 14173.”
“The applicant understands that federal funds shall not be used to promote gender ideology, pursuant to Executive Order No. 14168, Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government.”
In January, the NEA awarded the Playwrights’ Center a $35,000 grant to support new play development activities and partnerships. The center announced that it is rejecting the funds because of these new requirements.
“Freedom of expression is the cornerstone of our organization, and we cannot accept federal funding or any funding that says we have to censor what our artists want to say,” Watson said.
The NEA hosted a webinar Feb. 18 that went into further detail. Michelle Hoffmann, the NEA arts education director, stated that “applicants must certify that they do not operate any programs promoting DEI that violate anti-discrimination laws, including programs outside of the scope of their NEA project.”
“Fundamentally, this language is actually saying, ‘No, you have to change the way you act, and you do actually have to tell your writers what they can and can’t write,” said Robert Chelimsky, the executive director of the Playwrights’ Center.
The center has a membership of about 2,500 playwrights worldwide. Through fellowships, mentorships, residencies and commissions, the center also directly financially supports about 45 playwrights a year.
“It's not just about the program that you're being awarded money for,” Chelimsky explained.
He said the new restrictions don’t only apply to programs labeled “DEI,” but any projects that touch on diversity, equity, inclusion and gender ideology.
“Anything that we do that somebody might decide somewhere along the lines is promoting diversity, or promoting equity, or promoting inclusion or gender ideology can be a target,” Chelimsky said.
The NEA requirement could have potentially been applied to events like the Feb. 21 interactive musical performance “How to Watch An Immigrant Have a Racial Nervous Breakdown” by the playwright SEVAN.
Together, Watson and Chelimsky penned emails to the center’s community stating the rejection of NEA funds and soliciting donations to make up the funding gap.
The center joins hundreds of arts organizations and individuals nationwide who are condemning the NEA restrictions.
A discontinued grant
The NEA also announced it was discontinuing its “Challenge America” grant in fiscal year 2026. The grant focused on smaller arts organizations that could “extend the reach of the arts to underserved groups/communities.”
In January, four Minnesota organizations were awarded this $10,000 grant, including Theatre Novi Most, St. Paul Conservatory of Music, the Exposed Brick Theatre and Zenon Dance Company and School.
Lisa Channer is the co-artistic director of Theatre Novi Most in Minneapolis, as well as an associate professor in the Department of Theatre Arts and Dance at the University of Minnesota. She said the new NEA restrictions are “chilling.”
“We got this notice about what feels like a loyalty pledge to me,” Channer said. “So for us, the effect is it feels chilling that the grant we received is no longer going to be offered and might be withheld. And then if we want to apply for arts projects grants next year, there's going to be all these new sort of weird stipulations.”
Channer said she personally feels in a state of limbo. She is still uncertain if the cancellation of the Challenge America grant moving forward will have any effect on the grant Theatre Novi Most was awarded in January.
In the NEA webinar, Hoffmann herself said that many policies are still under review since the executive orders were only issued weeks ago.
Channer said the grant would help develop and produce projects such as “An Ocean Away” and “Sickle” scheduled for this spring season. The documentary play “An Ocean Away” is a collaboration with Belarusian playwright Andrei Kureichik and tells the collected stories of the Ukrainian diaspora in Minnesota. “Sickle” tells the story of four Ukrainian women surviving “Holodomor,” or the famine in Soviet-era Ukraine that killed millions of people.
No matter what happens with federal funding, Channer said, “we are not altering or changing in any way our season plans and the two projects we are making that center Ukrainians and call Russia to account.”
Watson and Chelimsky said the Playwrights’ Center has received NEA funding for decades. But with these new restrictions, the center will not be applying in the future.
“I pay enough attention to know that these attacks, these restrictions, are old restrictions in new clothing. DEI is their updated word for whoever you want to condemn,” Watson said. “I challenge anyone to explain to me why having a value of diversity or equity or inclusivity or accessibility should be condemned or restricted.”
Chelimsky agreed.
“I actually believe broadly that if we're in a position that we can hear more stories coming from more different directions, that probably we're going to be in a somewhat more vibrant, maybe safer, and for sure more empathetic world,” Chelimsky said.
“I'm trying to understand why that is so bad that we must be threatened financially and with criminal exposure if we actually try and lift people up who are trying to tell stories.”
The Guthrie will decline its grant
On Wednesday, the Guthrie Theater offered the following response.
"We recognize the significant impact the NEA has on our national arts community and the vital role it plays in supporting organizations, including our own. Despite this crucial funding, the Guthrie will decline the 2025 NEA grant it was awarded, due to the newly outlined requirements in place.
“Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility (DEIA) is a core value for the Guthrie, and we strive to embed this commitment across the organization, both on and off the stage.
“DEIA makes our work meaningfully stronger, as it better connects to and reflects the various communities we serve — a responsibility we view both as a moral obligation and a business imperative. Accepting the NEA funding under the new guidelines would both compromise DEIA as a core value for the Guthrie and restrict the theater from programming or promoting certain types of artistic activities.
“This is tantamount to censorship, an action that is antithetical to our mission as an arts organization."
Other grantees respond
MPR News also heard from Brownbody, a Twin Cities nonprofit performing arts repertory company led by artistic director, choreographer and ice skater Deneane Richburg. They received a $15,000 grant to develop a performance by Richburg and fellow choreographer Lela Aisha Jones.
“These criteria are asking Brownbody to buy into, believe and perpetuate the lies and myths that this work is not necessary or, be punished. Further, these new criteria are asking all that apply to ensure that no parts of their organization does this work and denies the existence of non-binary, gender-fluid and transgender individuals,” Brownbody said.
“This type of erasure and denial is the antithesis of Brownbody’s mission, vision and values and we simply can not participate in this.”
VocalEssence is a nonprofit choral music organization based in Minneapolis. Amy Jaine Wielunksi, the organization’s executive director, said that NEA has funded the VocalEssence WITNESS program, which “celebrates the contributions the Black community makes to the fine arts and to our common cultural heritage.”
“When it comes to federal funding, there’s a lot we don’t know right now — but what we can say for certain is that here at VocalEssence, we aren’t shifting our values,” Wielunksi said. “Our goal has always been to go beyond the acronyms to create an organic and tangible sense of belonging for our singers and our audiences. We are not backing down from that.
“While we were selected as a 2025 grant recipient by the NEA, we have not yet received those funds — and are preparing internally for what we might do if that commitment is not fulfilled.”
According to Wielunksi, if the NEA rolls back the funding for the WITNESS program, the organization will have to look to community support to make up the difference.
Bethany Gladhill is the Business Affairs director for FilmNorth, a nonprofit that supports local filmmakers. It has two NEA grants totaling $60,000. Gladhill says that’s about 10 percent of the FilmNorth budget. “I am not at all confident we will not have to terminate these grants as I believe the projects are unsustainable when following the new [executive orders],” Gladhill said.
Gladhill says FilmNorth works with clients across the state.
“My clients are all over the board on this. I have spoken to a few who believe their funding is not at risk because they have signed contracts already. I believe that’s a naive assumption,” Gladhill says. “Others are taking it very seriously. I have one client with a partially funded grant who believes she’ll have to return money already awarded.”
Gladhill says relief may be found in Minnesota’s strong philanthropic community.
“My greatest hope is that local foundation leaders will work with arts organizations to weather this storm.”
This is a developing story. Check back for more information.
