Organizers of some prominent Chicago cultural events have received official notices that their federal grants are canceled as President Donald Trump’s administration moves to hollow out the country’s leading federal arts funder.
After announcing major changes to the National Endowment for the Arts’ grantmaking programs, Trump said Friday that he is clawing back grant dollars that have already been promised for this year. He’s also proposing eliminating the organization’s budget for the future, a move he tried during his first term that was ultimately rebuked by Congress.
Reached this week, several Chicago-area arts leaders said that for now, the show will go on. But with the long-term impact unclear, they are calling upon state and local leaders in government and private philanthropy to step up. Other local grantees said they had not yet received any notice from the NEA and are waiting nervously, as several key staff members of the federal funder announce resignations.
Among the Chicago events losing NEA dollars is Open House Chicago, the free annual festival hosted by the Chicago Architecture Center each fall for exploring nearly 200 sites of architectural, historical and cultural significance. Organizers received notice Friday that a $30,000 federal grant which underwrites the event has been rescinded.
“Our grant loss strains our resources, but is not a large enough percentage of the total Open House Chicago operating budget to prevent the festival from happening,” the organization said in an email.
The Black Harvest Film Festival, which takes place in the fall at downtown’s Gene Siskel Film Center, received an email Friday saying that its $20,000 award had been canceled. This year’s event is being programmed, and Film Center staff say it will proceed as planned.
In January, just days before Trump was inaugurated for a second term, the NEA announced nearly $37 million nationally to 1,474 recipients across several grant programs. That funding cycle, the NEA pledged $2 million for 80 Illinois arts organizations. (Leaders say the NEA annually sends between $4 million and $5 million to the state, accounting for all grant cycles and pass-through organizations.)
Other Chicago arts organizations have yet to receive official word from the NEA. That includes the Grant Park Music Fest, which programs a slate of popular summer concerts downtown. The group is set to receive a $75,000 NEA grant to support this summer’s lineup.
Jeff Jenkins, who founded Midnight Circus, is also waiting. He said his organization — which brings high-flying acrobatic entertainment to city parks at a low ticket cost throughout the summer months — has not yet definitively heard if they will lose out on the $20,000 that NEA pledged earlier this year. He said those dollars are “crucial” in allowing them to bring programming “to communities who otherwise wouldn’t be able to host us.”
Jenkins did receive notice via email on Friday that many of his contacts at NEA were resigning from their posts, part of a staff exodus. Without contacts at the agency to answer questions, his organization is in a bind.
“For a small mom-and-pop like us, we don’t have time to wait,” he said. “Putting together a circus with artists from all over the world and bringing it to communities all across Chicago isn’t something you slap together in a weekend.”
For now, Jenkins and his team are charging forward, planning to put on their full slate of programming, which typically includes four to five shows a weekend in city parks for about six weeks.
“I can’t say this strongly enough: Our state officials and our city officials need to step up,” Jenkins said. He said some recent turmoil at the city’s Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE) is also “not helping.” WBEZ asked a DCASE spokeswoman what the federal changes would mean for the city department and its events but did not hear back by deadline. DCASE also receives NEA funding.
Federal grants require organizations to first complete full projects, then apply for reimbursement for costs after completion. Last week, two different letters went out to NEA grant awardees: one that terminated grants prematurely and another that rescinded in advance future spending that had been nominally approved for reimbursement. Some but not all organizations can appeal, depending on the type of letter received.
Arts Alliance Illinois Executive Director Claire Rice said her organization is still trying to assess the fallout for Illinois groups, noting that they don’t believe that all funds pledged to organizations have been rescinded or terminated.
The cuts on Friday do not include dollars sent to state arts organizations, including the roughly $1 million that goes to the Illinois Arts Council. Rice said her organization is now calling on public officials and private philanthropists to help soften the blow.
“We are encouraging both private philanthropy and the public sector, our government, to lean into this space and really support arts and culture organizations who have been impacted by this,” Rice said.
But when asked if she is hopeful that will happen, Rice hedged: “I’m certainly cautiously optimistic. I do know that our city and our state believe in the power of arts and culture and the importance of that in Illinois communities, so we are certainly working toward filling these gaps.”
Complicating matters is the timing of budget cycles. Illinois Arts Council Executive Director Joshua Davis-Ruperto said in a statement that the state is nearing the end of its fiscal year, so the department has spent down allocated funds and does not have any remaining dollars to hand out.
Davis-Ruperto said that as the state heads into its next budget cycle, the arts will not be alone in their need.
“We are not the only sector taking major hits on a federal level,” Davis-Ruperto said. “It will be a tough budgeting year in Illinois all around.”
One of the private groups helping rally support is the Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, which funds 160 local arts organizations. Ellen Placey Wadey, the program director of Chicago Art and Collections for the foundation, said the organization is working with other funders to address the federal cuts and try to help small arts groups carry on.
“We’re talking with each other collectively. It’s very similar to what we did during the pandemic shutdown,” said Wadey. “We all kind of came together and mobilized as quickly as possible. The thing that’s a little more challenging this go around is that we suspect the timeline will be longer.”
The NEA grants have “touched every American,” Erin Harkey, the former Chicago cultural commissioner and now head of Americans for the Arts, said over the weekend.
“Any attempt to dismantle the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) — by eliminating funding, reducing staff, or canceling grants — is deeply concerning, shortsighted, and detrimental to our nation,” Harkey said in a statement. “Now more than ever, Congress must defend and restore the NEA to ensure the arts remain accessible to all Americans.”