On May 2, Jennifer Benoit-Bryan opened a distressing email.
“The National Endowment for the Arts will no longer offer award funding for the project … ”
Benoit-Bryan, director at Southern Methodist University DataArts, said the research center for the arts will now need to put the AI project on hold indefinitely. The project focuses on using AI to improve decision-making for arts funding.
Selecting grant recipients for the arts is often a complicated task that involves detailed criteria and multiple reviewers. In the past, many artists have expressed frustration about the lack of transparency and equity in the decision-making process.
The DataArts’ research project aimed to examine the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council’s past funding decisions to see if it is meeting its goals to equitably fund local arts groups.
“I think one of the benefits of this work is that it helps to identify what some of those biases may be that we may not even be aware of to be able to sort of track or look at,” she said.
For example, in previous pilot data from another city, DataArts found larger-budget arts organizations were more likely to receive funding. Benoit-Bryan said her team could help draw attention to this finding or even help identify unconscious bias reflected in the decision-making of individual reviewers.
While many are wary of AI’s own issue with unconscious bias, Benoit-Bryan said this is a way to use technology not to replace human decision-making but to hopefully make it better.
“So we are very deliberate and strategic in using this as a guide, as a check, as a feedback mechanism into decisions that we still believe should be made by humans going forward,” she said.
For over a decade, SMU DataArts has been one of the few research centers in the country providing data and research into the arts. Amid the pandemic, the research center provided key insights on the nationwide decline in attendance numbers, ticket sales and funding.
In recent weeks, like many other arts organizations across the country, Benoit-Bryan has had to navigate what to do after National Endowment for the Arts grants were abruptly cut. So far, 13 arts groups in North Texas have lost over $345,000 in NEA funding, according to reporting from Arts Access.
Patrick Fisher, CEO of the Greater Pittsburgh Art Council, said in an email that he can’t speak directly to the funding cut for SMU DataArts, but said he’s concerned about “the broader significance of this federal disinvestment.”
He said there’s been a concerning shift from President Donald Trump’s first administration, where bipartisan congressional support helped protect the NEA and National Endowment of the Humanities.
“We were deeply concerned about what the outcomes of last November’s elections might mean for federal support of the arts and humanities,” Fisher said. “What’s different, and deeply troubling now, is that the current wave of federal disinvestment is happening through executive action, not the legislative process. That makes it much harder to challenge.”
Benoit-Bryan said she’s confused. The NEA recently announced new priorities under the Trump administration. One of those that was listed in the termination email Benoit-Bryan received includes “foster AI competency,” which she said seems to directly align with the SMU DataArts project that just lost funding.
“We have actually appealed this grant on the grounds that it does support some of the national priorities around learning about artificial intelligence as a tool for more efficient, better government,” she said.
Daniel Fonner, associate director for research at SMU DataArts and an adjunct lecturer at SMU, submitted an appeal letter to the NEA. Fonner is also the person who first came up with the project idea.
“I think this would have been a really good starting place, especially within the arts sector where we have a lot of discussions around where funds should go for arts and culture, to lead the way in that discussion of AI and administration,” he said.
Benoit-Bryan said it’s difficult to lose funding when she doesn’t understand how the decision was made.
“It's disappointing to see this project cut and to not have a better sense of what the rationale is for that,” she said.
All they can do now is wait for a response to their appeal.
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.
