MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
A new wave of federal grants is supporting humanities projects that follow President Trump’s agenda. They’re worth $40 million. NPR’s Chloe Veltman reports.
CHLOE VELTMAN, BYLINE: Nearly one-third of the total funding for the National Endowment for the Humanities this grant cycle is going towards dozens of projects celebrating the country’s 250th anniversary. The Mariners’ Museum and Park in Newport News, Virginia, received a grant to conserve artifacts excavated from the site of the 1781 Siege of Yorktown, a significant Revolutionary War battle. Sabrina Jones is the museum’s spokesperson.
SABRINA JONES: Getting this grant from NEH was such a big deal for us.
VELTMAN: Sarah Weicksel is executive director of the American Historical Association.
SARAH WEICKSEL: Given that it’s the 250th anniversary, makes sense that we would have some funding opportunities that are focused on this period.
VELTMAN: Weicksel says the NEH’s funding decisions reflect Trump administration directives, such as a January 2025 executive order calling for efforts celebrating the Founding Fathers’ statehood transitions and the Revolutionary War.
WEICKSEL: The question is whether or not the funding opportunities for the future continue to have this kind of an emphasis. We have been seeing a real focus in on the founding generation at the exclusion of other topics.
VELTMAN: Certainly, recent funding trends in the humanities reflect a break with the past. The Biden administration also funded programs ahead of the 250th through the NEH, but its grant-making included work exploring underrepresented communities and systemic inequalities. The Trump administration abruptly terminated more than 1,400 humanities grants deemed to have a diversity and equity component in 2025. In May, a federal judge declared the cuts unconstitutional and ordered the NEH to restore some of the slashed funds, but it remains unclear when the money will be distributed.
PHOEBE STEIN: Certainly, understand that with each administration, there are new priorities.
VELTMAN: Phoebe Stein is the president of the Federation of State Humanities Councils. She says many of these councils, which receive funding from the NEH to support local projects, are still waiting to receive their money.
STEIN: The folks who suffer are those who are in local communities all over the country. So think literacy programs in Kentucky. Think veterans’ programs in Michigan.
VELTMAN: The NEH did not respond to NPR’s requests for comment. Meanwhile, the Trump administration’s proposed 2027 budget calls for the elimination of the NEH.
Chloe Veltman, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF GOTTS STREET PARK’S “STRAWBERRY DREAM”) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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