Another week, another attack on the arts by the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency. DOGE’s latest target: Vermont Humanities, which supports an array of arts and cultural programming including early literacy classes, veterans’ reading groups, teacher trainings and traveling history exhibits.
Late Wednesday night, all 56 humanities councils throughout the U.S. and its territories were notified by email that their awarded grants — including Vermont Humanities’ five-year general operating grant and other program-specific awards — were terminated, effective April 1.
Forty-two percent of Vermont Humanities’ $2.2 million budget comes from the National Endowment for the Humanities. As the New York Times reported April 3, humanities councils were told that the federal agency would be “repurposing its funding allocations in a new direction in furtherance of the president’s agenda.” NEH acting chairman Michael McDonald told his senior staff that, going forward, the agency would use those funds for “patriotic programming,” the Times reported.
The cuts to NEH come on top of earlier DOGE attacks on the nation’s arts and cultural institutions, including the Institute for Museum and Library Services, the National Park Service, the Smithsonian Institution and the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.
NEH funds flow into Vermont in three ways: through Vermont Humanities, which regrants some of that money to other organizations and individuals; as direct grants to local nonprofits such as Vermont Folklife and the Shelburne Museum; and as grants to academics who are doing research at Middlebury College and the University of Vermont.
“As far as we know, just about everybody who has an active grant has received a termination letter,” said Christopher Kaufman Ilstrup, executive director of Vermont Humanities. “We don’t really know what they mean because letters like these are illegal and unconstitutional. You can’t simply refuse to spend what Congress has appropriated.”
In fact, Congress just passed a continuing resolution on March 13 extending NEH funding and all of its grants through the 2025 fiscal year, which ends September 30.
Kaufman Ilstrup was not prepared to say what impact the DOGE cuts would have on his staff of about a dozen, nor on the 20 to 30 scholars and facilitators who run Vermont Humanities programs in communities statewide. He did say that the Montpelier agency is committed to its local grantees, who receive about $500,000 in support annually.
Vermont Humanities receives funding from other sources, the largest of which is the State of Vermont, which has supported it for about 35 years. Last year the Vermont Legislature allocated $309,000, or about 17 percent of the council’s budget. The rest was privately raised from more than 600 donors statewide. Still, the loss of about $700,000 will be painful.
“These are scary times,” Kaufman Ilstrup added. “But my team is deeply committed to doing the work we do, even if Elon Musk and DOGE don’t appreciate that work. And we will continue doing it, with pride and vigor.”
Upcoming programs by Vermont Humanities include a presentation on Mi’kmaq creation stories though poetry and song, a retrospective on the lessons learned from Vermont’s civil union law on its 25th anniversary this year, and the Vermont Book Awards ceremony next month.
Vermont Humanities has put out a “call to action” on social media asking Vermonters to contact their elected officials and to share their stories about the impact the arts and humanities have had on their lives and communities. Those stories can be emailed to: [email protected].