Arts organizations in Lawrence could see losses to already thin budgets after President Donald Trump proposed eliminating the National Endowment for the Arts in his new budget outline.
A Lawrence Arts Center board member said $75,000 in National Endowment for the Arts funding it applied for next year could be at risk. Plus, arts organizations in Douglas County could lose some of the $159,000 in funding from the Kansas Arts Commission, a state program partially funded by the endowment.
In the past five years, the endowment distributed more than $9 million to Kansas through direct grants or state and regional partners.
“These cuts come at a dangerous time for arts organizations,” Theatre Lawrence Executive Director Jamie Ulmer said. “Many organizations are just now seeing attendance numbers approach pre-pandemic levels.”
Trump’s budget, announced Friday, proposed slashing non-defense programs by $163 billion. That is a nearly 10% cut to the part of the U.S. budget not already earmarked by existing law. Those earmarked payments — like funding for Medicare, Social Security and interest on the national debt — make up most of the federal budget.
The money for every other non-military program the U.S. funds makes up only about 15% of the total budget. This spending has been the target of federal cuts since Trump took office, primarily by billionaire Elon Musk’s “Department of Government Efficiency,” or DOGE.
The National Endowment for the Arts received just more than $200 million in federal money for fiscal year 2025, a microscopic amount of the entire federal budget.
Trump’s budget outline is only a proposal. Congressional appropriators will craft the actual funding bills that become law. But the endowment on Friday morning began terminating grants in response to Trump’s budget.
Ulmer said the move by the Trump administration was not unexpected. Trump in his first term attempted similar cuts but was blocked by Congress.
Lawrence Arts Center board President Meredith Lang said most of the center’s funding comes from community support, but the organization received $75,000 in funding from the National Endowment for the Arts for the Free State Festival this year. She said although that funding has already been received, the center reapplied for 2026 and Lang said the cuts could impact a chance for continued funding.
The arts center also receives funding from the Mid-America Arts Alliance and Kansas Arts Commission, which both receive funding from the National Endowment for the Arts.
“Their ability to support local projects might also be impacted,” Lang said.
The arts center is mostly funded by community donations, which can be made on its website.
The Kansas Arts Commission has already delayed announcing grant awards due to uncertainty over federal funding, which comes on the heels of cuts to the program passed by the Kansas Legislature.
Here is a complete list of funding from the Kansas Arts Commission to Douglas County organizations for fiscal year 2025:
- LMH Health Foundation: $7,736
- Lawrence Busker Festival: $10,000
- LRM (Life Restoration Ministries) Foundation: $10,000
- University of Kansas Center for Research: $10,000
- Theatre Lawrence: $17,191
- Van Go: $16,593
- Lawrence Community Orchestra: $16,550
- Americana Music Academy: $16,477
- Lawrence Art Guild Association: $16,462
- Lawrence Arts Center: $16,209
- Lumberyard Arts Center: $16,070
- Fidpick: $6,000
The impact of Trump’s proposed cuts could be worsened due to anticipated tariff-induced price increases on production equipment, Ulmer said.
Ulmer said investment in the arts has usually been a good deal for the U.S. economy. The arts and culture sector in the U.S. made up 4.2% of GDP, or around $1.17 trillion, in 2023, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. And most grants from the National Endowment for the Arts require a dollar-for-dollar match, essentially doubling each investment, Ulmer said.
Representatives of the Spencer Museum of Art, Van Go and Lawrence Cultural Arts Commission could not be immediately reached for comment.
Read more on how federal funding cuts and policy changes are directly affecting Lawrence and Douglas County community members in the articles linked below and on this page.
Contact information for the congressional delegation representing Lawrence and Douglas County is available at this link. The nonprofit 5 Calls, 5calls.org, has phone numbers and templates of scripts to help people make their voices heard on several federal issues.
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Cuyler Dunn (he/him), a contributor to The Lawrence Times since April 2022, is a student at the University of Kansas School of Journalism. He is a graduate of Lawrence High School where he was the editor-in-chief of the school’s newspaper, The Budget, and was named the 2022 Kansas High School Journalist of the Year. Read his complete bio here. Read more of his work for the Times here.
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