Philly politicians, arts administrators rally in the wake of disappearing NEA funds

From Philly and the Pa. suburbs to South Jersey and Delaware, what would you like WHYY News to cover? Let us know!

Two dozen leaders of Philadelphia art organizations rallied at City Hall on Wednesday to call for a dedicated and permanent funding scheme for the arts in the city budget.

They were spurred on by the recent disappearance of promised grants from federal funding entities the National Endowment for the Arts, National Endowment for the Humanities and the Institute for Museum and Library Services, at the behest of the administration of President Donald Trump.

“We are taking this moment where the federal government is choosing to disinvest from the arts, to call for growing the pot here at home,” said City Councilmember Rue Landau, who coordinated the rally. “To invest real, sustainable funding for the arts in the city budget.”

In Mayor Cherelle Parker’s proposed $6.8 billion budget for fiscal year 2026, the arts take a hit, with funding reduced by about a third from the previous year. Landau is asking for an additional $3 million to be budgeted for the arts. That is roughly the same amount of rescinded NEA grants intended for the Philadelphia arts sector this year.

“This is not just an arts issue. It’s a housing issue, an economic issue, a community development issue and a youth empowerment issue,” she said. “This is also a poverty reduction issue and a community conflict and violence reduction issue. The arts belong in every department in the city budget.”

Leigh Goldenberg, managing director of the Wilma Theater, said her Tony Award-winning theater contributes to the vitality of the city’s Avenue of the Arts, but gets little in return.

“Despite being a nonprofit organization that pays directly $2 million dollars per year to Philadelphia residents, we receive $0 in city funding,” said Goldenberg, referring to paychecks that her theater signs. “By comparison, a theater of our size in Pittsburgh will receive $185,000 this year alone. We cannot continue like this.”

Philadelphia’s arts and culture sector creates an estimated $3.3 billion impact on the regional economy, according to the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance. President and CEO Patricia Wilson Aden describes disinvestment in the arts at the federal level as an “assault.”

“Not just budgetary decisions, they are attempts to dismantle institutions that fuel creativity, education and our local economy,” she said.

Asian Americans United lost NEA funding for its annual Mid-Autumn Festival in Chinatown. Executive Director Vivian Chang received the same boilerplate email that came to many arts leaders, informing them that NEA priorities have shifted to other priorities, including Asian economic development.

Chang said her public street festival that attracts about 8,000 people falls squarely into that priority.

“They’re lying,” she said. “Let’s call it out. They’re lying.”

Last year, the Woodmere Art Museum in Chestnut Hill had been awarded $750,000 by the Institute for Museum and Library Services to help renovate and program its new annex, Maguire Hall. The money never arrived as the institute clawed back most of its 2025 grants and placed its entire staff on administrative leave.

“We recognize that each administration will have its own priorities. That’s expected. However, it’s another thing altogether to terminate an agreement that’s been set into motion and relied upon,” said Woodmere Director and CEO William Valerio. “The federal government may not honor its agreements, but here in Philadelphia we do.”

Valerio pointed to economists who estimate that every dollar invested in the arts sector sees a four-fold return.

Participants at the rally called for a clear and reliable funding stream for the city’s arts sector, backed up by a comprehensive arts plan. Currently, the city’s office of arts and culture, Creative PHL, is engaging residents in a series of town hall meetings that will inform a city arts plan, which is expected to be completed next year.