Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: ‘I don’t know who is good with their funding’: NEA grant termination letters hit Pittsburgh arts organizations
Photo by Anita Buzzy Prentiss
‘I don’t know who is good with their funding’: NEA grant termination letters hit Pittsburgh arts organizations
The NEA noted changing priorities in some of the emails sent Friday
For the Kelly Strayhorn Theater, the email arrived at 8:06 p.m. Friday.
Following the salutation, its first line said: “This is to inform you that the above referenced National Endowment for the Arts award has been terminated, effective May 31, 2025.”
A version of the letter was sent to arts organizations across the country as President Donald Trump’s proposed budget seeks to eliminate the National Endowment for the Arts, which offers tens of millions in grants to more than 1,400 groups in all 50 states.
The East Liberty-based Kelly Strayhorn Theater had been approved for a $25,000 grant from the NEA, earmarked for two separate dance performances, said Co-Executive Director Joseph Hall: a Jesse Factor dance performance that mixed the music of Madonna with the movement of Pittsburgh native Martha Graham that occurred in November, and the world premier of a biographical piece from visiting choreographer David Roussève planned for September.
“Jesse Factor: The Marthaodyssey” premiered in Pittsburgh, went on to play in New York City in January and is slated for a national tour next year, he said. “So it was a very successful program.” As for the David Roussève performance, he assured the show will go on.
The theater has been reimbursed for about one-third of its grant, but the remainder is now in question as, per the email, the performances don’t align with the NEA’s priorities.
“I don’t know who is good with their funding. We most definitely are not,” said Mr. Hall, who shared the NEA email with the Post-Gazette. He said KST would submit what they could for reimbursement by the May 31 deadline given. “We expect the NEA will be inundated” with such requests.
Sixteen Pittsburgh arts organizations received grants for fiscal year 2024, totaling $540,000, according to the NEA’s grant tracker.
With many of the awards in the $25,000-$35,000 range, they may not prop up entire organizations, but the impact can nevertheless be substantial when it comes to particular initiatives and programming.
While the Pittsburgh chapter of Early Music America has already been reimbursed for its $25,000 award — it went entirely to an Early Music Summit that occurred in October, said Executive Director David McCormick — the future remains unclear.
“It puts 2026 and beyond in a difficult place,” he said. The North Side group also received a termination notice.
“We definitely have heard stories of folks losing their funding. I have not heard stories of anyone maintaining funding,” Mr. McCormick said.
Among those are Pittsburgh Arts & Lectures, an Oakland-based organization awarded $15,000 for its literary programming. Executive Director Sony Ton-Aime in an email statement said that he received the termination notice around 9 p.m. Friday. It stated, “That the purpose of our work — to support literary programming — was no longer a priority for the agency.
“Going forward, for Pittsburgh Arts & Lectures to receive fundings from the NEA under such circumstances, we would have to change our own priorities and abandon our mission.” That, he noted, “is not going to happen.”
The letter to Kelly Strayhorn Theater said that the NEA is redirecting “to focus funding on projects that reflect the nation’s rich artistic heritage and creativity as prioritized by the President” and therefore is canceling grants that aren’t in line.
It continued: “The NEA will now prioritize projects that elevate the Nation’s HBCUs and Hispanic Serving Institutions, celebrate the 250th anniversary of American independence, foster AI competency, empower houses of worship to serve communities, assist with disaster recovery, foster skilled trade jobs, make America healthy again, support the military and veterans, support Tribal communities, make the District of Columbia safe and beautiful, and support the economic development of Asian American communities.”
WQED Multimedia’s $25,000 from the NEA went toward the station’s Creator Academy, which recently wrapped its spring semester, CEO Jason Jedlinski said in an email. As with other recipients, the Oakland-based WQED is assessing next steps for the program.
The North Side’s New Hazlett Center for the Performing Arts is in a similar position. It received a grant for $30,000, which went toward programming that began in July and wrapped in April, said Executive Director René Conrad. “The financial impact isn’t huge. We luckily submitted for reimbursements as we went along,” she said. Still, “that doesn’t take away from the awfulness,” she said.
New Hazlett also received Friday’s letter: “A tiny email that you cannot respond to.”
First Published: May 5, 2025, 8:01 p.m.
Updated: May 6, 2025, 12:05 p.m.