NEA nixes grant program for 'underserved communities,' shifting priorities

The National Endowment for the Arts said Thursday that it will alter its 2026 grant guidelines, eliminating a fund for underserved communities and prioritizing projects that honor the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

The moves come as the Trump administration’s directives to shut down diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs are forcing changes in Washington’s federally funded cultural institutions and as the executive branch seeks to put its mark on a patriotic celebration planned for next year.

The Challenge America grant will be canceled for 2026, the NEA said in a news release. That program was reserved for projects that “extend the reach of the arts to underserved groups/communities,” according to the NEA’s website. The agency encouraged Challenge America applicants instead to apply with the Grants for Arts Projects program.

Now, however, Grants for Arts Projects will “encourage projects that celebrate the nation’s rich artistic heritage and creativity by honoring the semiquincentennial of the United States of America,” its release said.

Applicants have until July 10 to apply. Organizations that already submitted grant applications under the program must submit a new one that complies with the updated guidelines, the agency said. The agency has numerous other programs for individuals and organizations.

“Funding priority will be given for projects that take place in 2026-2027 that celebrate and honor the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence,” the statement continued.

According to the NEA, the changes were made because of “recent directives” and to “align with the agency’s mission.”

The announcement by the NEA follows an executive order, signed by President Donald Trump on Jan. 29, establishing a new task force — separate from the congressionally appointed U.S. Semiquincentennial Commission — that comprises the president, vice president, various agency leads and the chair of the NEA.

Under the order, the White House task force will “plan, organize and execute” the celebration, relegating the congressional commission to providing “recommendations and advice.” Federal agencies across the government are required to submit their plans for 2026 events no later than March 1. (The same executive order also revived an unrealized plan from Trump’s first term: the creation of a National Garden of American Heroes to feature 250 statues of U.S. historical figures.)

Efforts to prepare for the 250th anniversary predate the Trump administration. The National Endowment for the Humanities, for example, announced an initiative in 2019, “A More Perfect Union,” to fund grants in all 50 states and jurisdictions related to the nation’s founding.

Mary Anne Carter, whom Trump appointed NEA chair in 2019, is leading the organization as a senior adviser. Its previous chair, Maria Rosario Jackson, stepped down Jan. 20.

The NEA receives about $200 million in federal funding every year as it awards grants to theaters, museums and other cultural groups. The agency received 2,195 eligible Grants for Arts Projects applications for the current fiscal year, which were submitted in February 2024. For 2025, the NEA previously said it would award 1,127 grants for a total of $31,825,500 to support arts projects in 15 artistic disciplines and fields.

On Thursday, Elizabeth Auclair, an assistant director of public affairs at the NEA, wrote in an email to The Washington Post: “The FY2025 grants announced earlier this year were all approved by the NEA Chair under the previous administration. The recommended organizations then work with the NEA on finalizing the awards. Today’s update relates to applicants for FY2026.”

The cancellation of Challenge America, which offered $10,000 grants to groups that could find matching funds, will be a particularly large blow to small arts organizations.

Will Bowling, director of education for Relative Theatrics, a theater company in Laramie, Wyoming, which offers a literacy initiative for students, described Challenge America as “crucial.”

“I feel like the Challenge America program is on the chopping block specifically because it helps support communities with lesser access to the arts and, in some verbiage, may be considered ‘marginalized’ or ‘underserved’ — which are now rapidly becoming keywords that are associated with diversity, inclusion, equity and access,” Bowling said. “Wyoming is also one of the most underserved states in terms of access to artistic, cultural resources, and that’s sometimes just based on geography. Our cities are many hundreds of miles apart. One of the schools I serve is about 40 miles outside of town, stuck in the middle of the prairies. So providing arts access to rural communities is a really important component.”

Other grantees who benefited from the Challenge America program worry its elimination could harm the already fragile ecosystem for arts funding.

“We hope that having a track record of successful projects with the NEA would open doors to other funders,” said Diane Dowling, chief financial officer of Carpe Diem Arts, an arts organization in Silver Spring, Maryland. “That’s still to be seen. And with the Challenge America grant going away, I’m not sure what’s going to transpire with that.”

The move by the NEA comes less than two weeks after other cultural organizations across the federal government announced changes to comply with the flurry of new directives from Trump.

At the end of January, the Smithsonian Institution told employees that it would close its diversity office in response to Trump’s executive order that declared DEI initiatives to be “illegal and immoral discrimination programs.”

The Smithsonian made the changes days after the separate National Gallery of Art closed its diversity office and reassigned its staff in the wake of Trump’s executive order. The gallery’s website once listed values such as “diversity, equity, access and inclusion” but has swapped them for the phrase “welcoming and accessible.”

Also in January, Trump’s newly appointed Federal Communications Commission chairman, Brendan Carr, called for an investigation into NPR and PBS over their commercials and suggested that both entities could lose federal funding.

During Trump’s first term, the White House submitted multiple budget proposals before Congress that recommended eliminating the NEA, which has long been a target of some politicians on the right.

Roger Schmidt, executive director of Sitka Fine Arts Camp, which serves students from rural Alaska and more than 20 other states, called the change “a political and ideological stunt.” The camp has regularly received NEA grants, including $60,000 for 2025, and is uncertain about how to craft an application that will fit the new funding priorities.

“What will we do here?” Schmidt said. “I don’t know. We’ll write something about how supporting kids in the arts is the way to celebrate being an American.”

He added: “If I were to tell the kids that this summer was going to be about the Constitution … I think that narrow focus would be really devastating.”