Trump cuts to arts and humanities are a tragic loss
The cuts to the National Endowment for the Humanities have resulted in the loss of programs such as Agora New York, a Museum Association of New York project sponsored by the NEH and produced in partnership with Humanities NY.
This guest essay reflects the views of Andrew Newman, professor of English at Stony Brook University, and Jonna Perrillo, professor of English Education at the University of Texas at El Paso.
Last week, the National Endowment for the Humanities became the latest federal agency to be gutted by the Department of Government Efficiency. This tragic loss for our communities and our country is without benefit. For a cut that won’t move the needle on our budget deficit — the NEH's $200.1 million annual appropriation amounts to roughly 0.003% of the total annual federal budget — we are losing one of the most far-reaching supporters of our nation’s museums, libraries, historical archives, and schools.
The NEH and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) were established during the Cold War because the humanities and arts are integral to the culture of a democratic society. Democratic governments do not dictate which ideas of the past should be taught in schools and which art should be exhibited, screened and performed. Instead, they foster the production of knowledge and creativity by the people. That’s why, in September 1965, overwhelming majorities in Congress passed the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act, declaring that "the arts and humanities belong to all the people of the United States." A clause in that act provided the NEH with its motto: "Democracy demands wisdom and vision in its citizens."
Since then, the NEH has funded programs in all 50 states — enriching humanities education from kindergarten through adulthood, promoting civic education, preserving and celebrating local histories and cultural heritage, and supporting veterans. Forty percent of the endowment goes to state humanities councils, which distribute funding to local organizations. Since 1974, Humanities Texas has awarded 4,860 grants across 400 Texas communities. In the past year, Humanities New York awarded more than $1.1 million across all 10 regions of the state.
We have been fortunate to join the NEH’s mission twice, as co-directors of an NEH-sponsored two-week summer institute for K-12 teachers. Our program focused partly on the role of English education in a democratic society; it connected our campuses with 45 other communities across more than 20 states. The teachers came from public, independent, and religiously-affiliated schools — rural, suburban, and urban.
During the institute, our participants created collaborative lesson plans centered on strengthening democracy through reading. Since then, they have used those lesson plans to educate students, provide professional development workshops for their district colleagues, lead presentations at national teaching conferences, and serve as the basis of articles they have written for the public and their profession.
The NEH has funded approximately 60 summer institutes for K-12 in the last three years, serving thousands of teachers. The number of American students who have profited since 2021 likely exceeds 250,000. The cumulative effect through this one grant program — and the NEH offers many — is staggering.
It is difficult to know how to respond when so much destruction abounds. We’re losing programs such as A New Agora for New York, a Museum Association of New York project sponsored by the NEH and produced in partnership with Humanities NY. In conjunction with the traveling Smithsonian exhibition "Voices and Votes: Democracy in America," this program has brought discussions about democracy, community, and cultural institutions through museums across the state. It began a year ago at Preservation Long Island, just wrapped up at the Long Island Museum, and was scheduled to visit five other museums before concluding next January at the Underground Railroad Exhibition Center in Albany — but the grant has been terminated. A necessary conversation, stopped in its tracks.
It will take a robust effort to overturn this threat, but it can be done. Contact your congressional representatives. If you can, consider donating to Humanities New York, which like every other state affiliate, found its NEH funding terminated on April 3. Until the time that the federal government renews its support, they will need our help to survive.
This guest essay reflects the views of Andrew Newman, professor of English at Stony Brook University, and Jonna Perrillo, professor of English Education at the University of Texas at El Paso.
