The National Endowment for the Arts has cut over $345,000 in funding from North Texas arts groups in recent weeks, but there may be a glimmer of hope.
As the Texas Legislature’s most recent session comes to a close, state lawmakers are expected to raise the Texas Commission on the Arts’ budget for the next two years by about $5.7 million, bringing funding from the state to a total of about $39.8 million for the 2026-27 biennium.
The Texas Commission on the Arts first called for additional funding last June. Gary Gibbs, executive director of the Texas Commission on the Arts, said he requested most of the additional funding be channeled towards arts groups’ operating costs.
“That's the most difficult money to fundraise for for arts organizations, paying for the light bill or salaries or something. That's not very sexy but it’s needed in order to operate a successful business,” he said.
Since last summer, Christopher Kiley, executive director for the nonprofit statewide arts group Texans for the Arts, has been advocating for the budget increase to the Texas Commission on the Arts. On Feb. 5, also known as Texas Arts Advocacy Day, Texans for the Arts gathered state arts advocates at the Texas Capitol to push for more arts funding.
For the next two years, the TCA requested a $11 million budget increase. While Kiley said he was hopeful to reach that amount, he said he’s grateful for the proposed budget increase given the complicated funding landscape amid federal funding cuts.
“For us to be able to come out of the session cautiously optimistic that there will be an increase in the budget to the agency is absolutely something we should celebrate. It's wonderful, it's good for the field,” he said.
Beyond the intrinsic value of the arts, Kiley said the arts have a significant economic impact across the state.
The arts and culture sector has generated about $460 million in state sales tax revenue, according to the Texas Cultural Trust’s 2025 State of the Arts report. In addition, the report found roughly 1 in 14 jobs in Texas are in the arts and culture industry.
“It's a really, really good return on investment,” he said.
Still, the funding will not come close to covering funding needs across the state. Gibbs, with the TCA, said the agency receives about $80 million in annual statewide grant requests.
Joanna St. Angelo is the executive director of the Sammons Center in Dallas who sits on the board of directors for Texans for the Arts and is president of the Dallas Area Cultural Advocacy Coalition.
St. Angelo said the TCA has “needed more funding for a long time,” noting rising costs and staff salaries. Following federal funding cuts, she said local funding is more important than ever.
“The state funding and the local funding are going to become even more critically important given that those resources appear to be diminished or even gone,” she said.
St. Angelo said especially for small or rural organizations, the TCA serves an important role in increasing access to the arts.
“A great deal of the TCA funding does go to rural communities that don't have a lot of local philanthropy available, or maybe you're outside of the jurisdiction of the large foundation grantors,” she said.
The TCA offers a rural tour outreach program in which artists can receive grants to perform in rural communities.
A waiting game
While the proposed increase in funding for the TCA provides some assurance, arts leaders across the state remain concerned about the future of arts funding.
Gibbs, the executive director of TCA, said looking ahead, he’s unsure if the state agency will receive the $1.3 million they typically receive annually from the National Endowment of the Arts.
So far, Texas arts groups have lost over $1 million from the NEA. 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 dataset of affected organizations gathered by Rob Deemer, a music professor at the State University of New York, Fredonia.
Since all of the TCA’s funding from the NEA is re-granted to arts organizations across the state, that could mean another hit to arts groups.
“We don't know what the future of the National Endowment for the Arts is going to be,” he said.
For now, Gibbs said he feels like he’s in a holding pattern to decide what the future will look like. He’s waiting for the TCA’s budget to be finalized in the Texas Legislature and for the Department of Government Efficiency to end its work.
St. Angelo, with the Sammons Center, worries how federal funding cuts to K-12 and higher education programs and housing could impact philanthropy to the arts.
“The first thing that usually gets cut is the arts because there's children that need medical care and there are people that need homes,” she said. “I have a great concern that all of the traditional routes for funding are going to be constrained.”
St. Angelo said she’s bracing for what’s to come.
“We're beset on every side right now, is how I feel,” she said. “The arts are still here despite all of these challenges over the years, but it's not going to be an easy time ahead.”
State lawmakers will have their final vote to approve the budget allocations for the next two years before June 2.
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