May 5, 2025, 2:22pm

In the last few days, publications, theater groups, arts organizations, and many other National Endowment of the Arts grant recipients have been notified that their funding has been “terminated” or “withdrawn.” 41 of the 51 Literary Arts grantees for 2025 have received a form letter cancelling their funding, despite some having already received payments. Even some Literary Arts grants that are open from previous years have also received termination letters, reflecting this administration’s one-shiv-fits-all approach.

N+1, The Public Theater, and Transit Books posted online about their funding cancellations, but the emerging list of affected organizations is staggering: the Hub City Writer Project, the Center for the Art of Translation, The Oxford American, the Alice James Poetry Cooperative, Nightboat Books, One Story, Red Hen Press, AGNI Magazine, Arte Publico Press, Words Without Borders, ZYZZYVA, The Common, Electric Lit, Milkweed Editions, The Paris Review, Aunt Lute Books, Bennington Review, River Styx magazine, BOA Editions, and too many other literary, theater, and dance groups. There’s a shared document tracking grantees who have lost funding, and it’s growing longer every time I refresh it.

Transit Books shared the letter they received, which is one of two form terminations that I’ve seen:

The strangest part of this note is the section outlining the White House’s new artistic priorities:

The NEA will now prioritize projects that elevate the Nation’s HBCUs and Hispanic Serving Institutions, celebrate the 250th anniversary of American independence, foster AI competency, empower houses of worship to serve communities, assist with disaster recovery, foster skilled trade jobs, make America healthy again, support the military and veterans, support Tribal communities, make the District of Columbia safe and beautiful, and support the economic development of Asian American communities.

There’s not really a through line to any of these priorities that I can discern, other than it’s clearly coming from a team that loves fashy AI art and is probably “awash in speed.” The letter’s claims to also want to champion marginalized communities seems out of place—I’d guess they’re cynically included for plausible deniability.

In addition to grants, the NEA’s Literary Arts staff were also notified that they’re being fired, and sent out a touching letter announcing that May 30th will be their last day. What I found most striking was the list of everything the NEA has done for literature in its 60 year history:

In addition to supporting many hundreds of nonprofit organizations and publishers, the NEA has awarded fellowships to nearly 600 translators to render literature from more than 80 languages and 90 countries expertly into English, and to more than 3,800 poets and writers, often at critical stages of their careers and years before their work was acknowledged by other awards and appointments. And there have been many impactful initiatives over the decades. The NEA Big Read, for example, has reached every Congressional district in the country and has attracted partnerships from more than 40,000 community organizations, and we’re excited to be celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Poetry Out Loud national finals this week.

Of course none of this means nothing to a White House that repeatedly takes the wrong lessons from art. Steven Miller, for example, apparently styles himself like a Scorsese mobster, which is a tellingly monstrous choice.

Mary Gannon from the Community of Literary Magazines and Presses pointed out that this clear-cutting of the NEA is similar to “reductions in force” at other agencies, including the National Endowment For The Humanities and the Institute of Museum and Library Services, both of which had their funding and staffing decimated. Lawsuits seeking to halt these cuts are making their way through the courts: the NEH sued “to reverse the recent actions to devastate” its mission and a team of 21 Attorneys General are suing to save America’s libraries.

There’s not much new to say about the cruel world being forced upon Americans by this White House. There’s no room for kindness, beauty, or art in the small, fetid minds of men who reach for a revolver whenever they hear the word culture. Beyond the desire to punish anything that reads as left of center, all of these cuts seem designed to funnel all government spending through a series of handshake deals. Funding will only be restored to those who are willing to grovel on bended knee to Trump and his hogmen.

If you have money to spare, now is a great time to support a small literary organization.