Washington arts organizations are questioning whether changes to a federal program will disqualify them from receiving grants. New guidelines are tied to President Trump’s efforts to get rid of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs.
The National Endowment for the Arts recently updated guidelines for its Grants for Arts Projects. The new guidelines point to orders signed by Trump. They state applicants will not operate any programs to promote DEI or gender ideology. A legal challenge filed in federal court Wednesday claims that the orders disadvantage people of color, women, LGBTQ people and people with disabilities.
The updated guidelines for the Grants for Arts Projects also require that applicants have completed a five-year history of arts programming. The grant program previously required only three years.
The NEA told NPR that it will continue to support "excellent arts project of all kinds," including "those that engage with individuals whose opportunities to experience and participate in the arts are limited."
In the first round of funding for fiscal year 2025, 41 organizations in the state of Washington received a little more than $1 million in total from the NEA program. In Oregon, 27 organizations received $590,000.
The news has left some nonprofits in Washington scratching their heads. Organizations that have made it their mission to be equitable and inclusive while serving diverse populations are questioning whether the work they do will disqualify them from receiving these grants. If they don't receive that money, they said they would likely serve fewer people.
Seattle-based Urban ArtWorks runs a mural apprenticeship program that pays teens $500 to work alongside artists to install public art throughout King County. Teens who participate in the program face systemic barriers to the arts, education and employment.
Amanda Hashegan, Urban ArtWorks executive director, said the program prioritizes working with youth who come from families that are low income.
“It’s really impactful,” she said. “Some of them, that’s their first quote, unquote job. And we're able to be a reference for them later — you know, they have something to put on a resume. It’s an art program, but it’s also a job training program.”
Urban ArtWorks recently received $25,000 from the Grants for Arts Project for fiscal year 2025. But the fine print on the application process now has Hashagen questioning whether the nonprofit will be eligible for the next round of funding.
“It’s core to our mission to prioritize BIPOC and LGBTQ youth and low income youth, and so my interpretation of that is that we can’t do that anymore. If we want funding from the federal government, we can’t prioritize anybody in that way,” she said.
Path With Art, a Seattle-based organization that connects people recovering from homelessness, addiction and other trauma with art, recently received a $40,000 grant from the NEA. The money will be used to support free arts education programs for adults from underserved communities.
Holly Jacobson, executive director for the nonprofit, said her organization serves roughly 2000 people annually. Jacobson's unsure whether the updated guidelines would affect her eligibility for the grants, but she said if the organization lost that federal funding it wouldn't be able to serve as many people.
Jacobson said that’s an issue of censorship.
“When you cut of or restrict an artist voice or an arts program’s ability to uplift different voices, you’re basically silencing — not just a whole set of people and perspectives – but you’re harming the sector as a whole,” she said.
Jacobson and Hashegan said they would apply for the grants but that they do not plan to change language on their applications to hide or distort why they are seeking funding.
The National Endowment for the Arts also canceled a program that doled out up to $10,000 in grants to smaller organizations. The Challenge America grant focused on "historically underserved communities that have limited access to the arts relative to geography, ethnicity, economics, and/or disability." The endowment said organizations that planned to or had already applied for the Challenge America program are encouraged to apply to the Grants for Arts Projects category. Under the new guidelines, the NEA is also encouraging applications for projects that celebrate the 250th anniversary of the United States.
According to the NEA, between 2019 and 2023, arts and cultural industries employed roughly 191,000 workers in Washington, and arts and cultural productions added $70.2 billion to the state's economy in 2022.
