Federal funding clawbacks cause cuts, fear, creative alternatives in Nashville’s arts community

This month, hundreds of arts organizations around the country learned that their promised grant funding from the National Endowment for the Arts was being canceled. So far, that includes at least five arts nonprofits in Nashville: the Belcourt Theatre, Kindling Arts, OZ Arts, Actors Bridge Ensemble and the Nashville Ballet.

Some of these organizations have already called off upcoming projects. The cuts have also caused fear throughout the Nashville arts scene, with some groups who were not directly affected say they’re tightening their belts for the next fiscal year.

OZ Arts, the Belcourt and Actors Bridge all responded to the news with emergency fundraising emails. Belcourt leadership said they anticipated cuts and planned a smaller budget for next season. OZ Arts, in contrast, said it had already spent much of the $45,000 that the NEA was now clawing back.

“The disturbing message comes after we’ve already spent more than 75% of the promised amount on ‘funded’ programming this winter and spring (the grants are generally paid as reimbursements),” OZ Arts director Mark Murphy wrote in the fundraising email.

Actors Bridge says its $20,000 project “Our Stories / Our Selves,” which collected the life stories of female-identifying Nashvillians, will not be reimbursed either. Director Vali Forrister said the cuts are especially devastating because her organization has already been affected by the chaos at Nashville’s Metro Arts Commission, which caused city grant funding to be delayed for months, two years in a row.

“When Metro Arts funding was frozen and we couldn’t produce a full season, the NEA grant was ‘secure’ funding that gave us a way to keep doing meaningful, transformative work,” Forrister wrote. “And now, that funding is gone.”

Organizations not affected by the NEA cuts are still bracing for future funding threats.

“We’re already have made the choice in the past few days to do a pared-down version for next season: fewer weeks on the road, fewer free performances, and more pressure to secure paid bookings,” said Isabel Tipton-Krispin, director of the Nashville Shakespeare Festival. “We’re doing everything we can to preserve the heart of the program, but the scope of our impact will shrink. And this unfortunately also affects our local artists. A shortened tour means three fewer weeks of paid work for the actors we hire.”

Despite the damage caused by the cuts, some arts leaders in Nashville say they’ve seen signs of hope.

Kindling Arts was forced to cancel a training program for artists after losing its NEA grant. But a last-minute $10,000 grant from The Warhol Foundation and The Helen Frankenthaler Foundation will help enhance the nonprofit’s upcoming summer festival.

“This moment demonstrates the need for private foundations and individual donors to step up and safeguard the arts community in a time of uncertainty,” said Kindling Arts artistic director Daniel Jones. “We will work together to keep free expression and an inclusive community thriving.”