Arizona Daily Star
Article by Cathalena E. Burch
Tucson and Southern Arizona’s arts organizations are facing a major setback as the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) withdraws funding from dozens of local organizations. In a sudden move to align with new federal priorities under the current administration, the NEA has rescinded previously awarded grants and is reconsidering others, jeopardizing hundreds of thousands of dollars in support for cultural programming across the region. Some of the local organizations impacted include Lead Guitar, which was awarded $35,000; True Concord Voices & Orchestra with $25,000; Tucson Symphony Orchestra; the Loft Cinema, awarded $30,000; and Southwest Folklife Alliance, which received $45,000 to support the 2025 Tucson Meet Yourself Folklife Festival.
Our CEO, Adriana Gallego, discusses how the National Endowment for the Arts’ grant withdrawals could affect the Arts Foundation for Tucson and Southern Arizona and its grantees, even though the notice arrived after the organization had already distributed the funds in question.
Dozens of Tucson arts organizations were among those notified, including the Arts Foundation of Tucson and Southern Arizona, which was told the $500,000 American Rescue Plan grant it was awarded in 2021 was being rescinded.
But Arts Foundation CEO Adriana Gallego said the NEA notice came after she already distributed the last of those funds.
The foundation has two other NEA grants, both for $75,000, that were not highlighted in the letter Gallego received.
“Hopefully we will be able to use the funds if they don’t send out a termination letter,” she said.
Cathalena E. Burch, Arizona Daily Star
Christina You-sun Pak, executive director of the Arizona Commission on the Arts, weighs in on the anticipated impact that the grant cuts will have across the state.
The NEA letters targeted specific grants that won’t be funded after May 31, but the full scope of the grant terminations is unclear, said Christina You-sun Pak, executive director of the Arizona Commission on the Arts, the state agency responsible for dispersing arts funding.
“I think that’s something that we’re trying to find out,” she said.
The NEA is required to distribute 40% of its annual budget to states, which use the money to support local artists and arts organizations. Arizona last year received just shy of $1.2 million from the agency’s $207 million budget; Trump’s so-called “skinny budget” calls for eliminating funding altogether for NEA and 17 other federal agencies including the National Endowment for the Humanities, the U.S. Agency for Global Media and the Southwest Border Regional Commission.
Cathalena E. Burch, Arizona Daily Star
The NEA cuts follow a similar wave of funding withdrawals by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), which last month notified grantees that it would no longer honor previously awarded grants. The NEH supports libraries, museums, public TV and radio, humanities research, and historic sites, making the loss especially damaging to cultural infrastructure. In response, the Mellon Foundation offered a ray of hope by committing $15 million in emergency funds to the Federation of State Humanities Councils. While this support is a welcome lifeline for organizations that rely on federal funding, it is still not enough to fill the growing gap.
