The numbers in this story reflect funding loss as of May 8, 2025 and are likely to change.
Plans to transform a former KKK auditorium into a community center. Sensory-friendly dance performances. A play focused on Harriet Tubman. These are a few of the local projects that lost support from the National Endowment for the Arts over the past week.
Local arts organizations are facing a deficit of more than $280,000 after the NEA abruptly pulled funding nationwide last Friday.
About 45% of the 24 North Texas arts groups that expected to receive NEA money in the last year have had their funding canceled.
“Funding is being allocated in a new direction in furtherance of the Administration’s agenda,” the agency wrote in an email to art groups reviewed by Arts Access. “The NEA will now prioritize projects that elevate the Nation’s HBCUs and Hispanic Serving Institutions, celebrate the 250th anniversary of American independence, foster AI competency, empower houses of worship to serve communities,” the email continued.
So far, The Welman Project in Fort Worth lost the largest amount: a cut of $74,900, which was awarded for a project to increase arts access in underserved communities in Fort Worth through a maker space and tool library. Other organizations that have lost funding include the Dallas Contemporary, Deep Vellum and Kitchen Dog Theater.
“What this kind of means for us right now is confusion and chaos,” Will Evans, founder of Deep Vellum, said in a phone interview.
The news comes at an already turbulent time for the arts, with the looming possibility of a recession. In addition, many organizations are still struggling to return to pre-pandemic ticket sales and audience numbers. The Dallas Center for Photography, Dallas Video Festival and Cry Havoc Theater Company are some of the North Texas groups that have shuttered in recent years.
Other Texas cities have been harder hit. Austin has lost the most with about $495,000 in funding cuts while Houston has lost $308,000.
Along with the cuts, President Donald Trump’s administration has called for eliminating the National Endowment of the Arts entirely from the federal budget. In recent days, senior officials in the NEA started announcing their resignations while Trump nominated a new head of the agency Thursday evening.
At least 600 arts groups across the country have lost over $17 million in support that would have paid for arts education, exhibitions, workshops and artist residency programs, according to a data set of affected organizations gathered by Rob Deemer, a music professor at the State University of New York, Fredonia.
Arts Access is an arts journalism collaboration powered by The Dallas Morning News and KERA.
This community-funded journalism initiative is funded by the Better Together Fund, Carol & Don Glendenning, City of Dallas OAC, The University of Texas at Dallas, Communities Foundation of Texas, The Dallas Foundation, Eugene McDermott Foundation, James & Gayle Halperin Foundation, Jennifer & Peter Altabef and The Meadows Foundation. The News and KERA retain full editorial control of Arts Access’ journalism.
