National Endowment for the Arts Releases Statement Following Trump Administration Budget Proposal

So advocates in the arts, humanities and public broadcasting communities have already started making the case to their representatives – reminding them how this federal funding directly affects their districts.

The blueprint released by the White House “proposes to eliminate funding” for: the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which sends some money to PBS and National Public Radio.

A disclosure, NJTV, like other public television stations, is a recipient of CPB funds. For instance, under Trump’s proposal the National Endowment for the Arts, which previous year had a budget of nearly $150 million, has its budget slashed completely.

Shock and dismay. That’s the reaction in the Arts world to Trump’s proposal to eliminate the National Endowment for the Arts.

“We are greatly saddened to learn of this proposal for elimination, as N.E.H. has made significant contributions to the public good”, William Adams, chairman of the humanities endowment, said in a statement.

The destruction of the NEA will have a domino effect on other arts benefactors and funding sources, including the California Arts Council, which funnels NEA money to state groups and also doles out its own grants.

Government funding for the current fiscal year ends on April 28, and a new budget for fiscal year 2018 needs to be in place by October.

This attempt to destroy the National Endowments for the Arts and Humanities reflects a tragic failure to appreciate the important role that the arts play in American communities, and the importance of literature and history in helping Americans understand and explore our nation’s story. In all, these programs make up.02 percent of the total federal budget.

The four arts organizations combined account for less than 0.02% of the USA government’s $4.6 trillion budget – but apparently, Trump needs all the dough he can get for that dumbass wall Mexico definitely isn’t paying for. President Ronald Reagan had mulled over the idea of eliminating the agency, but the former Hollywood actor was ultimately persuaded to back off of his call to eliminate it completely, in large part by friends in Hollywood. Yesterday, the Trump administration revealed a proposed budget that would reduce NEA funding to zero. Though, both houses of Congress are controlled by Republicans as well.