Last week, the National Endowment for the Arts posted new guidelines for any grant recipients, saying that any recipient of a grant from the federal agency needs to comply with current executive orders, including those signed by President Donald Trump. In particular, any grantees must certify that they will not promote diversity and gender expression in their work. This news has been met with outcry in the artistic community.
A petition, created by New York-based director Annie Dorsen, has amassed 463 signatures from notable artists, among them Pulitzer Prize-winning playwrights Paula Vogel, Lynn Nottage, and Jackie Sibblies Drury. The petition called for the NEA to "reverse" those compliance requirements, which it classified as "prejudicial" saying: "We recognize that our colleagues at the NEA are in a difficult position. Perhaps the hope is that by making these compromises, the Endowment will be able to continue its important work. But abandoning our values is wrong, and it won’t protect us. Obedience in advance only feeds authoritarianism." The petition also continued: "Trump and his enablers may use doublespeak to claim that support for artists of color amounts to 'discrimination' and that funding the work of trans and women artists promotes 'gender ideology' (whatever that is). But we know better: the arts are for and represent everybody." The New York Times first reported on the petition, which has been sent to the NEA.
Under new grant guidelines, anyone who receives an NEA grant must sign an "assurance of compliance" form, certifying that they are not operating "any programs promoting 'diversity, equity, and inclusion' (DEI) that violate any applicable Federal anti-discrimination laws, in accordance with Executive Order No. 14173" and not promoting "gender ideology, pursuant to Executive Order No. 14168, Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government."
Those two cited executive orders in particular were signed January 20 by Trump. Executive Order No. 14173 eliminated programs supporting diversity in federal agencies; those receiving federal contracts must also comply with the order. Executive Order No. 14168 identified "gender ideology" as "the idea that there is a vast spectrum of genders that are disconnected from one’s sex." It moves to eliminate any federal funds that "promote gender ideology." That executive order also says that "it is the policy of the United States to recognize two sexes, male and female" and dictates that all government ID reflect one of those two sexes (as opposed to using x as a third designation).
As the NEA previously told Playbill, "It is a longstanding legal requirement that all recipients of federal funds comply with applicable federal anti-discrimination laws, regulations and executive orders. The noted legal requirements simply highlight the new executive order and notes that all grantees must not operate 'any programs promoting 'diversity, equity, and inclusion' (DEI) that violate any applicable Federal anti-discrimination laws, in accordance with Executive Order No. 14173."
The open letter was not the only response from artists to the new NEA guidelines. The New Harmony Project, a theatre in Indianapolis, Indiana, also objected to the new guidelines. New Harmony received a $40,000 grant from the NEA last year. "Our values are not for sale," said Executive Artistic Director Jenni Werner in the statement that was sent to Playbill. "For nearly 40 years, The New Harmony Project has served as a wellspring of creativity for writers and a place of nurture and support. At a time when racist, transphobic, and bigoted voices are being amplified at the highest levels of the federal government, The New Harmony Project will continue to be a just, equitable, anti-racist, and anti-oppressive organization. We will prioritize people over process, programs, or federal funding. With the support of our community, we will continue our mission to nurture all writers who interrogate the complexity of hope."
Another organization, the Playwrights' Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, said that it was rejecting a $35,000 grant from the NEA rather than give up its DEI-focused programming. "We cannot comply. We cannot betray our mission. We will not be silent. We will continue to support a beautifully diverse and inclusive group of playwrights, offering them the resources they need to create, for as long as we are able," the organization wrote in an email to subscribers, before adding that it needed donations to make up for the loss of NEA funding.
These changes to the NEA are a sign of how much Trump is taking a heavy-handed approach to the arts since his return to office. Last week, he fired the President of the Kennedy Center and instilled himself and other loyalists as head of the organization. One of the new regime's first actions has been to cancel a musical about a shark who learns self acceptance, as well as the World Pride Day concert A Peacock Among Pigeons (which would have featured the Gay Men's Chorus of Washington, D.C.).
The complete artists' letter that was sent to the NEA is below.
To the National Endowment for the Arts:
We are artists, playwrights, choreographers, performers, musicians, and workers from many parts of the arts and culture sector. All of us have benefited from the NEA’s grant making activities, either directly from the Endowment’s support for the institutions that have developed and presented our work, or indirectly but no less importantly from the role that the Endowment has played in creating the vibrant and diverse arts ecosystem of which we are grateful to be a part.
We are writing to express our tremendous disappointment that the NEA has made the short-sighted decision to change its compliance requirements for the Grants for Arts Projects, conforming to Trump’s reactionary and discriminatory executive orders. The orders in question, Executive Order nos. 14173 and 14168, are being challenged in the courts, and will likely be invalidated on statutory and Constitutional grounds. In fact, parts of EO no. 14168 have already been enjoined.
While the arts community stands in solidarity with the NEA, we oppose this betrayal of the Endowment’s mission to “foster and sustain an environment in which the arts benefit everyone in the United States.” We ask that the NEA reverse those changes to the compliance requirements.
We recognize that our colleagues at the NEA are in a difficult position. Perhaps the hope is that by making these compromises, the Endowment will be able to continue its important work. But abandoning our values is wrong, and it won’t protect us. Obedience in advance only feeds authoritarianism.
Trump and his enablers may use doublespeak to claim that support for artists of color amounts to "discrimination” and that funding the work of trans and women artists promotes “gender ideology” (whatever that is). But we know better: the arts are for and represent everybody. We can’t give that up. The NEA must not abandon these principles—or these artists. Artists are not in the business of promoting ideology (whatever that means). We are compelled to tell our truths, to create community around the stories that give life to those truths, and to make common cause with others while we share this time on earth.
The arts have a particularly important role to play in times of political crisis. When national identities fracture and the public sphere shrinks or becomes increasingly contentious, the arts serve as an indispensable source of memory, imagination, and envisioning. The arts community, which the NEA both supports and is a part of, must stand together in the face of those who would erase our memories, cramp our imaginations, and blinker our vision.
In this spirit, we ask the NEA to reverse these prejudicial changes to its compliance requirements, and refuse to implement any further such restrictions going forward.
