The president’s administration considers the elimination of the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Plans of Trump’s team on reducing federal spending include significant cuts for the arts and culture. According to the budget plans proposed by the new president’s transition team, the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities may be eliminated. Both agencies support humanities projects in the arts and culture.
Trump’s administration plans to take measures to reduce spending on government programmes in various sectors by $10.5 trillion. The step will affect 4.74 million people working in the arts and culture, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis.
The National Endowment for the Humanities was founded in 1965. It supports museums, libraries, publishers, public television and individual scholars. The National Endowment for the Arts, which was founded in the same year, provides grants to artists, funds projects that promote art and supports local initiatives and programmes in visual arts, music and theatre. The agency’s projects include a famous video of David Bowie talking about working with Lou Reed and an Esperanza Spalding performance at the Baryshnikov Arts Center in New York.
Suzanne Nossel, executive director of PEN America, said in an official statement the plans to eliminate the agencies and cut spending were outrageous.
“The Trump administration’s plans … to abolish wholesale the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Endowment for the Arts are an outrageous abdication of the U.S. government’s proud history of support for groundbreaking research and creative endeavors that have served as engines of innovation and bolstered America’s stature as a haven for free thinkers and a global leader in humanity’s shared quest for knowledge,” she said.
The announcement on federal spending cuts may be expected from the White House in 4-6 weeks. The budget and its analysis are expected to be released in April. It’s too early to bury American culture and art, but two things are evident right now: they are in serious danger, but artists and those who support them won’t give up without a struggle.
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