Foundations and Donors Step in to Fill the Federal Art Funding Gap
As arts organizations across the United States grapple with the sudden loss of federal grants resulting from the Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle culture funding agencies, some private foundations and individual donors are stepping in to meet significant gaps.
The Andy Warhol Foundation and Helen Frankenthaler Foundation jointly committed to funding 80 small- to mid-sized community arts organizations affected by sweeping cuts to the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), which some estimates place at more than $27 million so far.
The organizations selected for the award didn’t apply for relief; the foundations reached out to them based on their status as 2025 recipients of the now-canceled NEA grant program. Challenge America, which supported primarily “underserved communities.” Among the recipients of a combined $800,000 from the Warhol and Frankenthaler foundations are all four 2025 Challenge America grantees that Hyperallergic interviewed in March.
The NEA announced it would cancel the $10,000 grant program in February, effective next year, ending a resource that many small cultural organizations saw as a foot in the door to federal arts funding.
The agency’s decision to scrap the grant appeared to be a preemptive attempt to avoid scrutiny by the Trump administration, which banned diversity, equity, and inclusion programs throughout the federal government. The 2025 Challenge America grant recipients interviewed by Hyperallergic expected that their awards would be fulfilled, but some saw their grants completely rescinded in a Friday night mass email earlier this month identifying their organizations as going against Trump’s “priorities.”
The Warhol Foundation said in an announcement that it identified programs at risk of being “cancelled due to financial uncertainties” to receive emergency assistance.
Among the recipients of the immediate relief is Backstreet Community Arts, a Georgia organization providing studio access for individuals struggling with trauma and mental health issues in an area with limited behavioral healthcare access. The Kids and Art Foundation, a nonprofit providing therapeutic art programs for low-income pediatric cancer patients, and the Alabama-based InToto Creative Arts Forum, which provides arts workshops to veterans and individuals experiencing homelessness, will also receive aid.
“Their work should not be forgotten, paused, scaled back, or eliminated at the whim of the government,” a Warhol Foundation spokesperson told Hyperallergic.
“If foundations can band together to protect the most vulnerable of the arts organizations, it might increase recognition of the essential role they play in weaving the fabric of our country,” the spokesperson added.
InToto’s executive director, Dani Parmer, told Hyperallergic that the organization has already received their $10,000 emergency grant. Kids and Art has not had its NEA grant officially cancelled at this stage, but received the funds from the Warhol and Frankenthaler foundations nonetheless.
Like hundreds of other organizations, however, Latinitas received a May 2 email from the NEA notifying them that their project was no longer a presidential priority. The Austin-based nonprofit, which provides culturally informed science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics (STEAM) programming to girls, received a Challenge America grant to facilitate a public mosaic monument to honor East Austin women of color.
The notice, several copies of which were reviewed by Hyperallergic, announced that the Trump administration was prioritizing new areas for the NEA, including “support [for] the military and veterans,” “skilled trade jobs,” “AI competency,” and the “economic development of Asian American communities.”
In federal court, the American Civil Liberties Union continues to challenge another element of Trump’s NEA crackdown — an anti-trans ban on funding programs that deal with so-called “gender ideology.”
It’s unclear whether next year’s award cycle will occur as planned, as the administration has proposed the complete elimination of the agency along with the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
The need for alternative sources of funding is being felt across the country. At City Hall in Manhattan this week, New York arts and cultural organizations rallied for an additional $30 million to be added to the Department of Cultural Affairs’s baseline budget in response to evaporating federal grants.
While the Warhol and Frankenthaler foundations attempt to aid vulnerable organizations, other cultural groups have reported that private funders have pulled out of commitments. Last month, the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art delayed an LGBTQ+ art exhibition in part due to a lack of private-sector funds due to “shifts in the fundraising environment.”
Amid these fundraising challenges, former NEA grantees that were not recipients of the Challenge America program have called upon their communities for financial assistance.
The Brick Theater in Brooklyn had a $20,000 NEA grant for its annual multi-disciplinary festival revoked. In the weeks since, the arts organization has recovered $11,000 of the lost funds thanks to donations from 91 individuals, Brick said in a fundraising email.
Art in the Twenty-First Century producer Art21 is also fundraising to recoup an $85,000 NEA grant cut that supported the long-running contemporary art documentary series. A spokesperson for Art21 told Hyperallergic that donations as small as $5 and as high as five figures are supporting the gap in funding as the organization formally appeals the NEA’s decision.
The NEA was A21’s first funder, the spokesperson said, noting that the widespread cancellations would be felt for years to come.
“Ultimately, the arts will endure,” the spokesperson continued. “The cultural sector is supported by many sources, both public and private, that share our belief that access to art is not a privilege for the few, but a human right for all. The show will and must go on!”
