Across America, artists are searching for answers about Trump's planned funding cuts
President proposed slashing funds for arts, humanities endowments, Corporation for Public Broadcasting
There's no time to wait-and-see. American artists, researchers and media people are already planning what comes next should President Donald Trump's plan to cut all funding for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) pass through Congress.
The president laid out the plan in his proposed budget earlier this month. The funds the trio of organizations gets from Washington make up a miniscule portion of the overall federal budget — in the 2016 fiscal year total federal spending was an estimated $3.9 trillion US. The NEA got $147.9 million US and the NEH requested the same amount (that's about 0.004 per cent each) while the CPB received $445 million US (around 0.01 per cent).
That's not a lot of money next to the trillions spent overall, but it's vital for hundreds of recipients, scattered in galleries, universities, museums, radio booths and television studios throughout the United States.
CBC News spoke to five different groups — pictured on the map above — who were recent recipients of funding from the NEA, NEH and the CPB, about what the money meant to them and what would happen if it was pulled.
Jackson Hole Public Art (Jackson, Wyo.)
Most recent NEA grant: $50,000 to plan for public art in a part of town that's being redesigned. At the moment, the project is a wildlife viewing platform, designed by sculptor Buster Simpson.
What the money means: Carrie Geraci, the program's director, said the funding has brought in big money from other donors. "I think when anyone receives an NEA grant, anyone in the arts world and anyone who invests in projects like this understand the high level of scrutiny they go through."
Geraci said the grants are "vital" in small towns like Jackson, Wyo., home to about 10,000 people and a lot of artists. She said the high cost of living can make it hard for artists to make a living.
What would happen if it got pulled? "We wouldn't do this project. We wouldn't have enough funds," she said.
Geraci said any cut would have a bigger impact on smaller towns like hers, which don't have as easy access to other funders as urban centres.
Her message for Trump: "It's just absolutely unbelievably shortsighted to think that this type of investment does not have an economic impact. It's felt just as strongly in rural communities as it is in urban ones," she said. "I would tell him to look at his own children and [see] how they have benefited from arts and culture education."
Ideastream (Cleveland)
Most recent CPB grant: About $2 million a year, divvied up between the three public media stations it runs — PBS member WVIZ, NPR member WCPN and classical station WCLV.
What the money means: Kevin Martin, Ideastream's president and CEO, said it makes up eight per cent of the annual operating budget and goes into programming.
"There is just no viable alternative to replace those dollars," he said, adding that it is a "mystery" why Trump wants to cut funding.
How he's feeling: Martin's faced cuts before, but said he is particularly worried this time because of the administration's "unpredictability."
He remains optimistic: "We have broad bipartisan support and sometimes the president's budget is used as a statement."
His message for Trump: "Public media is a national treasure. I think citizens all over the country rely on this service ... I don't know of another service or agency that the government funds that yields that kind of return."
Quantitative Criticism Lab (Austin, Texas)
Most recent NEH grant: $74,921 to fund the lab's research into parallels between computational biology and classical literature. The lab is researching literature using scientific techniques from biology, hoping to find out more about the ancient texts and be able to share that with others.
What the money means: Pramit Chaudhuri, who co-directs the lab with Joseph Dexter at the University of Texas at Austin, said the money goes towards recruiting and paying people with the broad set of skills the project needs.
"If funding like this isn't available, I won't say it's impossible, but it certainly raises the bar," said Chaudhuri.
What would happen if it got pulled? "It could be devastating for projects like mine," he said. "I think after a very small amount of time, we would no longer to be able to keep doing it."
And though there's no guarantee the cuts will happen, Chaudhuri's already been looking into other funding models, like individual donations.
His message for Trump: "He certainly talks a great deal about the strengths of the United States, making the case for a kind of U.S. exceptionalism. And regardless of what you think about that, one of the ways the U.S. has been able to do that is through education."
A Studio in the Woods (New Orleans)
Most recent NEA grant: The studio just got two — $50,000 for a neighbourhood fruit tree planting project and $15,000 for artist residencies.
What the money means: Ama Rogan, the director of the artist community which sits on the Mississippi River, said the grant helps validate what they do. "Those monies are really key to us because we directly fund artists, we put money into their hands," she said.
"It means something to us to have something that's national funding. It's like, we're representing the country's interest in what we are doing."
How she's feeling: "The conversations are still in a 'Oh my god, I can't believe this is happening' mode," she said. "We're not giving up on the NEA."
Rogan's prepared to "hustle" to keep it going.
Her message for Trump: "I think the NEA should continue to be funded because arts are an integral part of this country and the citizens within it. Art is the way we are able tell our stories to each other."
Catticus Corp. (Berkeley, Calif.)
Most recent NEH grant: $400,000 to make Mad as Hell!, a documentary about the 1978 California tax revolt.
What the money means: Jason Cohn, the director, said his career as a documentary filmmaker has depended on NEH funding — he thinks this is the fifth or sixth film he has worked on that's received funding and he's been rejected many other times.
"I don't think there's any way to make this film without the NEH funding," he said. "There's this idea that it's an elite thing and it's just so misguided and wrong … it's a ridiculous place to look for savings."
What would happen if it got pulled? "I personally will have to come up with a new way of making films," he said. Cohn has given it some thought; he said if NEH funding is killed entirely, it would also kill history documentary filmmaking in the U.S.
"At the moment, these films simply don't get made without the endowment."
His message for Trump: "I would just say that culture is crucial to a civilization," he said. "Our history matters and our culture that we create matters and if we don't have ways of sharing it and making it accessible to everyone, then something that's just incomprehensibly valuable is lost."
