Saving the NEA Won’t Save Culture
We need an expansive, radical vision for art that makes it more than a plaything for the wealthy.
On Friday, President Trump signed into law a $1.1 trillion appropriations bill, preventing a government shutdown and bringing to an end months of debate over his controversial budget, intended “to take an ax to government spending.”
Trump’s original proposal threatened dozens of federal institutions with elimination, including the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Humanities. The new spending agreement preserves funding for these and other organizations through the end of the fiscal year.
Of the many offices on Trump’s chopping block, few attracted more attention than the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA).
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