Earlier today, the White House revealed its 2019 upkeep proposal, and just similar final yr, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) are on the chopping cake. The déjà vu continues with the call for also eliminating the Corporation for Public Dissemination, the Woodrow Wilson International Eye for Scholars, and the Constitute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), amid other programs. President Donald Trump's upkeep proposal includes a spending increase for the military machine, border security, and the ongoing opioid crunch, with his proposed budget for defense force in 2019 swelling to a whopping $716 billion.

Although it's Congress that passes the federal upkeep each year, and the president'due south recommendations are just that, this is the second year in a row that Trump has called for the emptying of the NEA and NEH. Trump's 2019 "Major Savings and Reforms" document calls for slashing the NEA'southward upkeep from $150 million in 2017 to $29 million in 2019. The NEH would similarly exist cut downwardly from $150 million in 2017 to $42 one thousand thousand in 2019.

The document cites as justification that plenty funding exists outside of the federal government to keep the NEA'southward projects afloat:

The Budget proposes to begin shutting down NEA in 2019, given the notable funding support provided by private and other public sources and because the Administration does not consider NEA activities to exist core Federal responsibilities. In 2014, NEA funding represented just four percent of full public and private support for the arts in the United States.

The argument put along in Trump's budget for slashing funding for the NEH is near identical:

The Upkeep proposes to brainstorm shutting down NEH in 2019, given at that place are non-Federal sources of funding for humanities and the Administration does non consider the activities within this bureau to be core Federal responsibilities. Not-Federal funding for humanities in the United states of america comes from private donations from individuals, corporations, and foundations.

Whether or not Congress heeds the president's recommendations in next year's budget remains to exist seen. For now, funding for both the NEA and NEH has remained stable at Obama-era levels.

Update, 2/13/2018, noon: Following the release on Mon of the White House's 2019 federal budget proposal, NEA Chairman Jane Chu and NEH released the following statement:

February 12, 2018
Today nosotros learned that the President's FY 2019 budget proposes emptying of the National Endowment for the Arts. We are disappointed because we see our funding actively making a difference with individuals in thousands of communities and in every Congressional District in the nation.

In FY 2018 to date, the NEA has awarded 1,134 grants totaling $26.68 1000000 to organizations and individuals in all 50 states plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, launched a national songwriting competition for high schoolhouse students, convened four summits across the country as part of Creative Forces: NEA Military machine Healing Arts Network, issued a research report on the economic impact of the arts in rural communities, and distributed emergency funding to arts agencies in Florida, Texas, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands, amongst other activities.

We understand that the President's budget asking is a offset step in a very long budget process. We stand set to assistance in that process every bit we keep to operate as usual.

As a federal government bureau, the NEA cannot appoint in advocacy, either directly or indirectly. We will, however, continue our practise of educating about the NEA's vital function in serving our nation's communities.

The NEH released a statement of its own, bachelor in total on the agency'south website, in which its Senior Deputy Chairman Jon Parrish Peede says: "As NEH awaits Congressional action on the President's proposed budget, the agency is continuing normal operations and will be making the next round of FY 2018 awards following the meeting of the National Quango in March."

Update, 2/14/2018, 11:40 am: Lori Fogarty, the president of the Association of Art Museum Directors and managing director of the Oakland Museum of California has addressed a letter to President Trump in light of his 2019 federal budget proposal. It is included in full here:

Dear Mr. President,

Equally the president of the Association of Art Museum Directors and the director of the Oakland Museum of California, I was deeply distressed to learn that your Administration's proposed budget calls for the defunding and "orderly shutdown" of the National Endowment for the Arts, National Endowment for the Humanities, and Found of Museum and Library Services. Distressed—and concerned that perhaps you are unaware of how the funding these three agencies provide helps people in our communities in tangible ways.

Our organizations provide arts pedagogy for kids that—repeated studies have shown—helps them practice better in school. And these are not but for public or private school groups, but for homeschool families, as well. We run programs that can help professionals from police officers to doctors meliorate their skills in investigating item. We provide classes that assist adults and children with disabilities, or those struggling with diseases similar Alzheimer's, every bit well as their families. And between us we utilise thousands of people on both a total- and a part-time ground, playing an important function in our local economies and our communities.

Funding from the NEA, NEH, and IMLS are all crucial to this work. Not considering these Federal funds pay for all these programs—they don't even come close. Simply for museums like ours, these funds validate our work and help us concenter private back up. In fact, each dollar awarded by the NEA attracts 9 dollars from other sources, and the ratio is similar for the other organizations. This dynamic is also truthful for the theaters, and libraries, and myriad other organizations that rely on NEA, NEH, and IMLS support to service their communities as best they tin can. In effect, these agencies deed like incubators working in the private sector, seeking out and analyzing opportunities and making targeted investments.

Whether one is a Republican or a Democrat, we can all concur that in that location are many things in government that demand fixing. But these three Federal agencies aren't broken. They run effectively and efficiently, accomplishing an incredible amount in a wide range of states and communities. And they do information technology with 0.012% of the Federal budget.

I promise you will reconsider your determination, and keep in listen how many jobs and families depend on information technology.

Sincerely,

Lori Fogarty
President, Association of Fine art Museum Directors
Managing director, Oakland Museum of California

Elena Goukassian is an arts writer based in Brooklyn. Originally from Bulgaria, she grew up in Washington state and lived in Washington, DC before moving to New York in 2017. Her writing has also appeared... More by Elena Goukassian