Terminally Misguided

On the illegal defunding of the National Endowment for the Arts and Institute of Museum and Library Services

National Endowment for the Arts. Photo by F. Delventhal. CC-BY 2.0.

On May 2, nonprofit organizations around the United States received an email from the National Endowment for the Arts informing them that their multi-year funding awards already approved by the agency would be terminated effective May 31. Organizations swiftly flew into action, soliciting supporters for emotional and financial support, while curators and arts organizers built spreadsheets to track the magnitude of lost funding and build the grounds for a class action lawsuit. The federal administration has issued a number of executive orders that violate due process and the separation of powers and this is yet another. On May 6, a federal judge granted an injunction against a similar order that dismantled the Institute of Museum and Library Services earlier this year.

The order to rescind funds already granted and allocated for the upcoming 2025-26 fiscal year is almost definitely illegal. First there is the obvious fact that Congress and not the Executive appropriates funds, and these funds were already appropriated before the current administration even took office. The Administrative Procedure Act, which was invoked to stay the order dismantling IMLS, mandates that government agreements cannot be retroactively canceled or rules and procedures changed without public comment. Despite this fact, the timeline to reverse the executive order is long. Legal challenges are slow. In the meantime, organizations are left wondering what to do in the face of a dismal overall funding climate and these unexpected cuts to their operating budgets.