Trump Cuts Come For Humanities, Libraries

Top: Community members at "Shining Light on Truth" at the New Haven Museum. Bottom: Students at the t Talented and Creative Youth Camp, run through the Monk Center for Academic Enrichment and Performing Arts at Davis Street School in upper Westville in 2021. Both organizations have received CT Humanities funding in past years. App Singer + Lucy Gellman File Photos.

Summer youth jazz initiatives and city-wide celebrations of the literary arts. Exhibition materials and museum study days on how the past informs the present. Interlibrary loan services and free e-book platforms that serve thousands of Connecticut residents a year, including right here in New Haven. 

Those are just a few of the programs imperiled by the Trump Administration’s recent cuts to the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the Institute of Museum and Library Services (ILMS), announced in a whirlwind 48 hours last week. As both agencies placed staff on administrative leave, the ripple effects began to trickle down to Connecticut, where multiple state offices received notice that their funding had been terminated immediately.

Those include Connecticut Humanities and the Connecticut State Library, both of which receive federal funding. This year, Connecticut Humanities received roughly $1.1 million in NEH funding, which comprises a quarter of their budget. Last year, ILMS awarded the CT State Library a $2,164,184 Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) grant. On Friday, the Trump Administration terminated that grant before the full funding had reached the state. 

Attorney General William Tong has since joined a coalition of 20 other state attorneys general suing the Trump Administration to stop the dismantling of IMLS, as well as the Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) and Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS). More on that below.

“The loss of NEH dollars affects us directly because this funding basically gives us the staff to do what we do,” said Jason Mancini, executive director of Connecticut Humanities, in a phone call Friday afternoon. “We've been able to create a multi-year funding plan, and this completely disrupts that.”

Both offices are still figuring out the immediate and long-term ramifications of those cuts, which primarily target programs that focus on diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility. Normally, Mancini explained, the NEH distributes a percentage of its overall annual allocation (in the 2024 Fiscal Year, that was $207 million) to state humanities councils, allowing them to pay for staff, cover operational costs and support everything from history museums to Juneteenth celebrations to literary festivals. 

In late 2021, Connecticut Humanities awarded The Witness Stones Project a $7,800 operating support grant. The organization, which sheds light on Connecticut's painful history of enslavement, was one of 624 organizations in Connecticut awarded CT Cultural Fund, a total of $16M from CT Humanities. Lucy Gellman File Photo.

In Connecticut, CT Humanities employs 16 full- and part-time staff members, with an annual budget of about $4 million. With that staff, they’re able to do a lot: last year saw $11,899,661 in grant funding to a total of 206 organizations across 169 Connecticut towns and cities and five tribal nations. Part of that comes from NEH support: last year, the federal agency awarded CT Humanities $1.1 million, with another $1 million in direct grants to Connecticut organizations.  

Now, that funding has evaporated overnight (literally: it was at midnight on April 2 that Mancini received the news that its grants had been terminated). He and colleagues at the Connecticut Office of the Arts are bracing for more bad news from the Trump Administration this week, when the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is expected to visit the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and make equally large cuts. 

“Connecticut stands to lose between $7.5 and $9 million between the NEA, NEH and ILMS,” Mancini said. “If the state doesn’t put money into this, we will not exist.”

He added that state support is critical, now more than in years past. In his proposed Fiscal Year 2025 budget, Gov. Ned Lamont has allocated $850,000 for CT Humanities. Mancini, with arts leaders and allies across the state, is pushing for two additional bills, Senate Bill 1551 and House Bill 7176, that would bring more dollars into arts, culture, and tourism in the state. (Click here and here for state advocacy explainers and toolkits across the arts and humanities). 

The first, SB 1551, would reinvest a portion of the state’s meal tax into arts culture and tourism—a bump that could translate to an additional $5 million for the arts, $5 million for culture, and $12 million for tourism marketing, according to the Connecticut Arts Alliance. 

The second, HB 7176, would also funnel a portion of the meals tax—as well as the dues tax and taxes related to the vehicle and aircraft industry—into arts, culture and tourism. Mancini said that that bill could put another $50 million into the sector at a time when it is facing significant reductions on the state and federal levels. 

Without that bump, “we would expect to see layoffs, operational reductions, and potential closures” at the organization and across the sector, Mancini said.

Top: IfeMichelle Garden. Laura Glesby File Photo. Bottom: Collective Consciousness Theatre Co-Founder Dexter Singleton last year, during Kulturally LIT's  annual literary festival at ConnCAT. The organization, which only recently incorporated as a nonprofit, has benefitted from CT Humanities' quick grants program. Lucy Gellman File Photo.

Monday and Tuesday, several CT Humanities grantees echoed that frustration, adding that they have a growing sense of uncertainty and unease in the current political climate. IfeMichelle Gardin, who leads the organization Kulturally LIT, only recently incorporated as a nonprofit, in part to apply for grants. In March, Kulturally LIT received $4,999 from CT Humanities for its annual “DiasporaCon,” an annual celebration of graphic novels and storytelling across the African diaspora. While that grant is safe—she’s already received the funding—she’s no longer counting on future grants from the organization. 

“What it means now is that I have to refocus, I have to look at private funding, foundations, philanthropists and local businesses,” she said in a phone call Monday afternoon. “All of that is fine, but there’s only so much everybody can do. When we’re so saturated [with funding requests], it’s also a trickle-down effect for individual giving and everything all around. It’s hard! It doesn’t make it easier to navigate this.”

She added that she is hopeful that New Haven’s nonprofits will see this time as an opportunity for collaboration—if not out of interest, then out of necessity. In the past few weeks, she’s found herself thinking often about the Harlem Renaissance and Black Arts Movement, both of which nurtured arts and culture in non-traditional and sometimes private art spaces because they had to. There were, for instance, literary salons in people’s homes, grassroots affinity spaces, and alternative publications explicitly by and for Black people. 

“This ain’t the first president that kind of jerked people around,” Garden said. “He’s not the first one. I’m looking at how I can work with other organizations to get better, and to get more bang for our buck. The more arts we have, the more people become conscientious of the impact of the arts on their lives … it’s all a part of the infrastructure of what makes the city great.

Marcella Monk Flake at the Stetson Branch Library in 2022. Lucy Gellman File Photo. 

Marcella Monk Flake, a recent Connecticut Arts Hero who leads the Monk Youth Jazz & STEAM Collective, echoed that uncertainty Monday, as she contemplated a future without CT Humanities funding. A lifelong educator and artist, she knows firsthand how transformative those small grants can be, particularly in an organization that runs on tight margins. 

Currently, the Collective’s budget hovers a little under $50,000, with just enough to pay four part-time staff members. Monk Flake, who grew up in New Haven, only began paying herself earlier this year. While the work is made possible by individual donors—Roz Milstein Meyer and Jerry Meyer have been especially generous—grants allow the organization to host events like Monk 103, celebrating what would have been Thelonious Monk’s 103rd birthday, and help keep tuition low.   

“Oh my gosh, it impacts us so incredibly,” she said in a phone call Monday. “We’re such a small organization, and there are so many funding sources that require us to have at least $100,000. We're able to get small grants … and it gives us an opportunity to stay afloat. Without that money, we really have to hustle.”

“What people don’t understand is that they have to invest on the front end,” she added later in the conversation. The Collective practices what it preaches: Monk Youth Jazz works with 16 to 20 kids in its after-school program every week, and upwards of 40 in its summer enrichment program. “Give kids something to do, something they can be proud of. Jazz is such an embracing genre of music, and for kids to see that multiculturalism—which they're trying to criminalize—they have hope for a better future.”

Discovering Amistad’s “floating classroom" has also received funding from CT Humanities in recent years. Kamini Purushothaman File Photo.

“I don’t think the general public understands the ripple effect,” said New Haven Museum Executive Director Margaret Anne Tockarshewsky in a phone call Tuesday morning. Earlier this year, the museum landed and announced an “America 250 | CT Museum Makeover” grant for $4,000, funding administered by CT Humanities. The money, which has already come through, will go toward outdoor signage at the NHM satellite at the Pardee Morris House.

It’s not just the most recent grant: the museum has been a frequent beneficiary of CT Humanities’ grantmaking programs, Tockarshewsky said. It has helped the organization complete and expand everything from study days and Juneteenth celebrations to exhibitions. Just last week, the New Haven Museum welcomed historian Marcus Rediker, whose talk “Rethinking the Amistad Story” was accompanied by a study day with educators from across the state. That visit was made possible by a CT Humanities grant. 

During Rediker’s visit last week, Tockarshewsky remembered, news of cuts at the NEH had only recently become public, and people were trying to figure out what they meant. Attendees seemed on edge; many kept looking at their phones. Not even a week later, she understands why.    

“When we are successful in getting the bigger grants, we engage consultants, designers, educators—that’s what these larger grants allow for,” she said. “These are people's livelihoods as well. It’s more than just museums and our colleagues. It’s people in the fields who allow us and support what we do. And it's the whole creative sector.”

For State Library, $1M Disappeared Overnight

Young Minds Librarian Sharon Breslow, who leads Ives' Stay and Play sessions each Monday and Wednesday at 11 a.m., with Stay and Play attendee Ramaa Khambete. While the NHFPL is not immediately affected, City Librarian Maria Bernhey said that it would likely feel the effects of ILMS cuts. Lucy Gellman File Photo.

As arts and humanities boosters scrambled to understand cuts to the NEH—which now imperil everything from fellowship programs to book festivals—staff at the Connecticut State Library were also reeling from the news that a $2.1 million grant in funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (ILMS) had been terminated, effective April 1.

That funding was part of the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) Grant to States program, which stems from the 1956 passage of the LSTA. Of the $2,164,184 originally awarded to the CT State Library, only 44 percent has come to the state—meaning over $1 million has effectively disappeared from the library’s planned budget overnight.     

The news follows an Executive Order, signed by Trump in mid-March, aimed at defunding and dismantling the federal agency. 

“We are deeply dismayed by this decision, which has immediate negative impact on every Connecticut resident and the library services they count on,” said State Librarian Deborah Schander in a press release Friday afternoon. “The Connecticut State Library remains committed to advancing the mission of libraries across the state and throughout our communities. In the meantime, we are exploring all options to ensure these vital services continue.”

Antwan Taylor.

In Connecticut, LTSA funding supports everything from early literacy and summer reading programs to opportunities for professional and workforce development (see the attached press release for a full list). Last year, for instance, redistributed LTSA funds supported a whopping 8,827 summer reading programs, including summer enrichment programs at 13 public libraries. It circulated 164,232 audio and braille books to over 5,000 library users. It delivered 1.5 million books to over 200 public and academic libraries across the state. Those funds also support 13 staff positions, the salaries for which now hang in the balance.

What that means for municipal libraries may be “too soon to tell,” said New Haven City Librarian Maria Bernhey—but it’s not good news. While the NHFPL does not receive direct funding from the ILMS (although it was recognized by the agency several years ago, a top honor in the field), it benefits directly from LTSA-funded programs, including professional development workshops focused on increasing equity and access.  

“Depending on how that funding is impacted, that will go away,” she said in a phone call Monday afternoon. “We could lose that connectivity.”

This year, for instance, $133,530 of that $2,164,184 grant went to professional development for libraries across the state, including opportunities for library staff to come together and exchange ideas across municipalities. The NHFPL has also benefitted from State Library programs like e-book platforms, Interlibrary Loan (ILL) services, summer reading programs, and on-demand trainings. In other words, “it allows us to share resources,” Bernhey said.  

“In approximately 5,565 square miles, Connecticut contains 191 public libraries,” Schander wrote last week, laying bare the stakes of cutting this funding. “Also counting school, academic, special, and government libraries, Connecticut has more than 950 libraries, all of which are eligible to benefit in some way from the services provided through Connecticut's LSTA funding.”

As of Friday afternoon, State Attorney General William Tong joined 20 attorneys general from across the U.S. to sue the Trump Administration on the decision to gut the ILMS, MBDA and FMCS. Tong, with other attorneys general, has also sued the Trump Administration to stop the dismantling of the U.S. Department of Education, to overturn the Elections Executive Order, and to push back against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Sec. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. “for abruptly and illegally terminating $11 billion in critical public health grants to the states.”

“We are back in court yet again today to block the latest in this never-ending torrent of illegal attacks on our families and workers,” Tong said in a statement Friday. “We had to sue to stop Trump from defunding our schools and cancer cures, from defunding energy assistance and vaccines, from defunding disaster relief and the police.”

“We have to sue again to stop him from defunding summer reading programs and audiobooks for disabled veterans,” he continued. “This is more lawless and needless hurt inflicted on Connecticut families and workers, and we’re fighting back with everything we’ve got.”

Jamari McCarter.

At the Ives Main Branch of the New Haven Free Public Library Monday, Jamari McCarter scowled at the news that the grant had been abruptly terminated. Last year, he started using the downtown library at the recommendation of a friend, when he mentioned that he needed access to a computer and didn’t have one. Monday, he was easing into the week with Post Malone’s “Lonely,” featuring Jaden Smith & Teo. 

“I just think they [people] should have access,” he said.

At an oversized, bright computer screen nearby, lifelong New Havener Antwan Taylor pulled digital puzzle pieces together, pensive as a duo of blue butterflies emerged. Growing up in New Haven, he said, the library was a fixture in his young life. Decades later, he’s an advocate for its resources, from technology like laptops and internet access to reading materials. 

“It’s resourceful!” he said. “What you need to get done, you can get done.”

Max Goldman and Jonah Goldsaito. 

Across Ives Squared, Jonah Goldsaito and Max Goldman chatted through potential ideas for a collaboration, framed in a large window that looked out onto Elm Street. Based in Massachusetts and New Jersey respectively, the two chose Ives Squared as their meeting place because New Haven is the halfway point between them. Both had high praise for the space, which sits in the heart of downtown. 

Both are big fans of their home libraries, they added. As parents and readers themselves, they rely on the libraries in their own towns for everything from kids' books to kayak rentals. 

“I think the indiscriminate cutting of anything is a bad idea,” Goldsaito said.