Artists and arts organizations are speaking out in defiant response to the Trump administration’s newly announced directives regarding eligibility for funding from the National Endowment for the Arts.

On Monday, the NEA posted new guidelines for its grant programs stipulating that federal funds may no longer be used for arts projects that promote “diversity, equity and inclusion” or “gender ideology.”

And that, said Arvada Center President and CEO Philip Sneed, “is anti-democratic. It is anti-American. And it is anti-constitutional. This will have a chilling effect on freedom of speech. It is wrong in every way.”

The new Trump-backed leaders of the NEA have abruptly canceled the organization’s “Challenge America” grants, which have long supported small arts organizations that primarily serve children and rural communities, veterans, people with disabilities and other historically excluded groups. For example, the Aspen Santa Fe Ballet, which is using an NEA grant to support an after-school program based in Mexican Folklórico dance.

Instead, the NEA will prioritize programs that celebrate the upcoming 250th anniversary of the United States. To Sneed, that means “they are turning the federal arts agency into a jingoistic propaganda machine – and I really hate it.”

The new orders and their potential ripple effects – including President Trump declaring himself the new chairman of the Kennedy Center, are stirring confusion, concern and outrage.

“The arts are a human right, serving all people in our community,” the Denver-based Bonfils-Stanton Foundation said Wednesday in a collective statement.

“Art and culture belong to us all – including the poor, the broken, the disenfranchised, the forgotten and the unnamed. Its economic and cultural benefits to society are vast and profound. A polarized nation needs art more than ever to bridge the misunderstandings that create ‘the other.’ ”

Bonfils-Stanton does not seek nor receive federal funding. It’s a private arts funder that has distributed more than $90 million in grants since 1981. That, President and Executive Director Gary Steuer said, gives the organization both “the freedom and the flexibility to use our voice, and to reaffirm our commitment to our values in the face of those things that are really threatening those values.”

Days before Trump’s second inauguration, the NEA announced its latest 1,474 awards totaling $36.8 million to support specific arts projects in all 50 states, including 22 in Colorado totaling $435,000. Now those same companies are wondering if they still qualify for those approved grants – though it is believed that the new guidelines will apply to 2026 project proposals.

Creating further anxiousness, Steuer said, is new language in the NEA’s grant applications that says any recipient organization must fully comply with all current Trump executive orders to receive grants. Two weeks ago, Trump banned DEI in all federal programs. That means any organization that accepts NEA money must not promote DEI in any of its day-to-day business, such as programs honoring Black History Month, Steuer said.

“Every arts organization that relies on federal funding is going to have some decisions to make,” Steuer said. “Some of them might comply. Some might feel like they simply can’t sign the contract, and will no longer accept federal funding. Or they might decide, ‘I’m just going to keep doing the work, and let them come after me.’ Every organization is going to make some decisions about how much risk they are willing to take on.”

Look no further than PBS, which today announced it is shutting down its DEI office because, CEO Paula Kerger said, the network receives about 16% of its funding from the Department of Education and National Science Foundation.

If that is the case, Sneed said: Game on.

“We are not going back, to borrow a phrase,” Sneed said. “No, we are not going to back away from our commitment to DEI, and if that means we have to forego NEA funding – so be it.”

Since 1965, the NEA has supported specific projects largely in service to underserved communities, many of which would likely fall under the contemporary umbrella known as DEI.

For example, one of the NEA’s first grant recipients in 1966 supported a performing-arts festival that gathered 75 Native American performers from 31 tribes.

Among the NEA’s newest round of recipients is Denver’s Cleo Parker Robinson Dance, a legendary African American company that was approved for $25,000 to present an evening celebrating the works of several legacy Black dance choreographers. Boulder’s Motus Theatre was to receive $35,000 to develop and tour “Youth Behind & Beyond Bars: Stories from the Juvenile Justice System,” a series of monologues written by system-impacted youth. Because Motus is primarily project-based, Steuer said, “The threat to that company is existential – and it will be for other arts groups that are impacted by this as well.”

Betty Hart, president of the Colorado Theatre Guild and director of Local Theater Company’s upcoming world-premiere play “Chasing Breadcrumbs,” believes the NEA’s actions will have negative ramifications for some time to come.

“This makes me concerned about the arts nationally because serving the community with art is a benefit, and to put a clause in there saying, ‘These funds have to go toward celebrating the semiquincentennial’ makes me wonder why people are so afraid of the arts when the arts have been repeatedly shown to benefit society psychologically, emotionally and economically,” said Hart, also Local’s co-artistic director. “And we were there for the world during the pandemic.”

The NEA was founded in 1965 under President Johnson as an independent agency of the U.S. federal government to offer funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. Funding over the years has ebbed and flowed, but the Biden administration brought about the largest-ever increase to the NEA’s budget at $207 million. That is just 0.004% of a $9 billion federal budget.

Sneed says if it comes to a fight, then it is time to fight.

“We can’t let ourselves be bullied,” he said.

A national response gathering

The national Theatre Communications Group is hosting an emergency online panel to discuss how Trump’s moves will affect the theater ecology on Feb. 19.  “This virtual gathering is an opportunity to build our solidarity and collective power to respond,” the TCG said in a statement. Go to tcg.org to register.

Meanwhile, at the Kennedy Center

Trump was elected chairman of the Kennedy Center board Wednesday after replacing 14 board members with loyalists, including the wife of Vice President JD Vance. In response, Kennedy Center President Deborah Rutter announced her immediate resignation. Trump then named Richard Grenell, who has no background in the arts or arts administration, as interim president.

“Much like our democracy itself, artistic expression must be nurtured, fostered, prioritized and protected. It is not a passive endeavor,” Rutter said. “Indeed, there is no clearer sign of American democracy at work than our artists, the work they produce, and audiences’ unalienable right to actively participate.”

Among those stepping down from positions within the Kennedy Center in the wake of these appointments included Board treasurer Shonda Rhimes (TV producer), National Symphony Orchestra artistic advisor Ben Folds (recording artist), and artistic advisor at-large Renée Fleming (opera superstar).

Fleming praised David Rubenstein, whom Trump replaced as chair, as “the greatest patriot I know.”

According to Playbill, the Kennedy Center president is typically tasked with programming choices, while the board chair usually acts in an advisory capacity. But that was before Trump, who, according to CBS News, plans to ban “woke culture” from the Kennedy Center, including drag shows.

“It is a great honor to be chairman of The Kennedy Center, especially with this amazing Board of Trustees,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “We will make The Kennedy Center a very special and exciting place!”

On Wednesday, nearly 4,000 people had signed an online petition asking Trump to reverse course, calling his self-appointment “censorship, plain and simple.”