National Endowment for the Humanities grants to Washington organizations are being cut under Trump

Last week, the National Endowment for the Humanities under the Trump administration canceled state grants, including for organizations in Washington.

Around 80% of NEH staff members have been notified they're being laid off. The New York Times reported the NEH Advisory Council was told they would now pivot to supporting President Donald Trump's agenda, which includes a patriotic sculpture garden highlighting approved figures in U.S. history. This, ahead of next year's 250th celebration of the country's founding.

KUOW’s Kim Malcolm spoke to Julie Ziegler, director of Humanities Washington, a federal grant recipient.

This interview has been edited for clarity.

Kim Malcolm: Let's start with what these federal grants were making possible at Humanities Washington. How much did you receive and what were they funding?

Julie Ziegler: We receive about $1.2 million a year in funding from the NEH, and that's just to Humanities Washington. There are other organizations, scholars, universities, colleges, that receive funding from the NEH as well. But like I said, our portion of that is about $1.2 million a year. It supports public programs like our Prime Time Family Reading program; our Speakers Bureau, which enables even the tiniest organizations in the smallest communities to bring high-quality experts to their locales; and our Heritage Arts Apprenticeship program, which supports artists who are passing down cultural traditions from one generation to another. We also provide some grants and sponsorships for grassroots community projects.

Do you know how much of your funding from the federal grants has been cut?

So, we received notice that all of our open grants, with a total value of about $6 million, had been canceled effective immediately.

And what is that going to mean for you in the short term? What gets impacted right away?

The impact is absolutely immediate. We've had to partially furlough staff to stretch our resources while we regroup. We are able to honor all of our existing commitments that we've made to our program partners but aren't able to take on new ones. Program wise, the effects will likely be seen out in communities as early as this summer. I'd say long term, the effects are pretty devastating. Combined with cuts to the Institute of Museum and Library Services, we could really quickly go from "What happened to that great program they used to run at the library?" to "Why is the library closing?".

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You think libraries could close over this?

Maybe not over this funding specifically, but I do believe that this is a direct attack and effort to dismantle a system of public education and the ability to express ourselves and our creativity in our communities. Libraries and museums and cultural organizations are really important providers of those services.

Humanities Washington helps run and fund the Washington State Poet Laureate program, and you're about to induct a new laureate, Derek Sheffield, at the end of the month. What's going to happen to him and the future of the poet laureates?

On the poet laureate program, we partner with the Washington State Arts Commission, and thankfully, that program is already funded and will be able to move forward. I'm thrilled about it. Derek is terrific, our first poet laureate from Central Washington. His work, his enthusiasm, is exactly what we need when the arts and humanities are under attack.

Stepping back a little bit and looking further, as you're regrouping, what are your options now to keep operating?

We are looking at legislative, legal, and philanthropic options. Legislative options include encouraging folks to reach out to their members of Congress. This is money that was already appropriated by Congress for our state, and it's an illegal move, quite honestly, to steal resources from our communities. We are looking at legal options. The letter we received in the middle of the night was sent by DOGE and violated existing grant contracts. We're also looking at philanthropic options. We have a wonderful community of donors who support our work and value the programs we do across the state.

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