Five local arts organizations on coping with the chaos of cancelled National Endowment for the Arts grants. by Abe Asher When Donald Trump reassumed the presidency in January of 2025, arts organizations around the country anticipate d changes at the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA)—particularly those the president accused of having a “woke agenda.” But they were not prepared for the chaos that would quickly develop. Last spring, numerous organizations, including in Portland, received emails stating that their NEA grants—provisionallly approved before Trump took office—were canceled. Portland Playhouse, a longtime recipient of NEA money, learned about the fate of its grant on opening night of its spring show, John Turner’s Come and Gone. Now, nearly a year later, a wide array of Portland theaters, museums, and dance companies are trying to get by without NEA support they’d counted on for years, amid a broader federal decline in support for the arts. Here’s a look at how several of them are navigating the current landscape. Portland Playhouse Prior to last year’s opening night grant cancellation, Portland Playhouse had received NEA funding for ten consecutive years—a feat that served as a clear signal of the theater’s quality, said artistic director Brian Weaver. “Ten years ago when we got our first NEA grant, it was a really big deal—and it leads to other funding, because once you hit that high standard, it’s a signal to other funders that you’ve made it,” Weaver said. Weaver said the theater is preparing another grant application this year and is attempting to tailor it to fit the NEA’s new, nationalistic priorities—all while staying true to a vision that is “intentionally antiracist.” In the meantime, the theater is counting largely on individual donations to fill the gap left by the NEA and a decrease in state funding. Artists Repertory Theatre Aiyana Cunningham, managing director of Artists Repertory Theatre (ART), was at a conference in Minneapolis last spring when news began landing in her colleagues’ inboxes that their NEA grants would not be paid—an experience she called “chilling.” ART itself did not have an NEA grant canceled, but the theater had been a consistent recipient of NEA funding before that—recieving eight grants between 2007 and 2022. Now, however, the days of that kind of support appear over. Cunningham said the loss of NEA funding is just one piece of a larger problem facing the city. “If Portland wants to continue to have this identity as a very rich cultural creative DIY landscape, our leaders need to step up and try to find a way to fund the arts better here,” she said. “Collectively, we need to find a way to do that.” Portland Center Stage Like many other arts organizations in the city, Portland Center Stage (PCS) had an NEA grant canceled last spring. That did not come as a shock. The real shock came when, several months ago, the theater received word that the NEA had approved a separate grant application of theirs—$35,000 to support a new play festival celebrating, as luck would have it, LGBTQ+ playwrights. But Edwina Kane, director of development, said the theater isn’t counting on any future NEA grants—especially given the departure of the NEA program officer they previously worked closely with. PCS has a larger operating budget than many other local arts organizations and has received significant support from the city and state. Still, they’ve had to make cuts to staff hours and the size of a production even as they’ve raised nearly $7 million as part of an emergency fundraising campaign. “We’ve cut back as far as we can until we hit the point of diminishing returns,” Kane said. Portland Institute for Contemporary Art Each September, Portland Institute for Contemporary Art (PICA) hosts its Time-Based Art Festival—often with NEA support. The agency had initially been approved for a $30,000 grant for last year’s showcase, but it was, like many others, canceled. “The award was for our flagship program, and with our modest organizational budget, the effect was felt instantly,” said Reuben Roqueñi, PICA’s executive director. The City of Portland awarded PICA a grant of $10,000 following the NEA cancellations, but the organization nevertheless had to scale the festival back and ultimately did not invite a larger company that was set to participate. PICA’s application to the NEA for this year’s Time-Based Art Festival was rejected. Oregon Humanities As much as cuts in NEA funding have hurt local arts organizations, the situation facing Oregon Humanities last spring was even more dire: Oregon Humanities received 40 percent of its annual operating budget from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), making the abrupt elimination of that funding a crisis. “Unlike NEA, where they had some kind of process, they just ended everything,” Ben Waterhouse, the communications director and editor of Oregon Humanities magazine, said. “That meant we laid off four staff, we had everyone working reduced hours for a while, [and] we had to scramble to find other funding sources.” Oregon Humanities received help from organizations like the Mellon Foundation and is hopeful a lawsuit will help restore its NEH funding in the near future, but nevertheless had to cancel its annual public program grants and remains in operation with a reduced staff. ...read more read less