Hundreds of artists wrote a letter to the National Endowment for the Arts, urging them to fight back in response to many of President Donald Trump’s recent executive orders.
These recent orders are primarily those that prohibit federal funds from being used for the promotion of diversity, equity, and inclusion that violate any applicable federal anti-discrimination laws, as well as the promotion of “gender ideology,” a well-known dog whistle used to demonize queer and namely, transgender individuals.
With the executive orders recently set forth by Trump, many artists felt the NEA wasn’t taking a firm stance to defend the pillars the agency and artists in the industry stand on.
The 463 writers, dancers, and visual artists alike claimed within their letter to 26 NEA officials that the Trump administration is using doublespeak to remove systems set in place that help advance historically disenfranchised groups and that it is the job of the NEA to ensure these safeguards are not removed.
The NEA is a federal agency dedicated to creating opportunities for all Americans to partake in the arts. They are the largest funder of domestic art endeavors for both public and private entities.
The loss of funding for projects that fall under these broad classifications will be felt throughout the art world. While some projects may no longer be funded, many projects will likely never see funding at all due to the manipulation of the purposefully ambiguous language within the executive orders.
The NEA maintains that it is a federal entity beholden to any directives given to it. Elizabeth Auclair, a spokesperson for the agency, in response to questions surrounding the letter, claims “presidential executive orders have the full force and effect of law and within the executive branch must be implemented consistent with applicable law. The National Endowment for the Arts is a federal agency and will fully comply with the law.”
The implications set forth in these executive orders could have a national effect on American artistic output. The removal of affirmative action from the University of California system during the 90s is an indicator of what can happen when protections ensuring equity are removed: Institutions become more homogenous. A revolving door process comes to pass where minority students are accepted less and, as a result, are less likely to even apply for prestigious institutions.
Hundreds of artists are working to prevent the exclusion of minorities from federally funded projects to protect American Art.
