NEA Cuts Delaware Arts Funding: A Masterclass in Trump/DOGE Stupidity
Guest post by Jason330
Well, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is on the chopping block. That means 100% of its funding to Delaware for FY25 is probably gone. That’s right – poof! Zeroed out. Vanished.
In 2024, the NEA granted the Delaware Division of the Arts a modest $950,000. Not exactly a king’s ransom, but that was leveraged up into a whopping $4.5 million in support for arts organizations across the state. That’s a 374% return on investment. Wall Street wishes it had those numbers.
But now, thanks to the brilliance of Elon Musk, we’re likely looking at severe cuts and layoffs in 2025. Let’s break down what this means:
• The Delaware Art Museum ($328K), Grand Opera House ($322K), and Freeman Arts Pavilion ($341K) are staring down the barrel of significant shortfalls.
• Smaller groups like Bootless Stageworks ($5K), Milton Arts Guild ($4K), and Children’s Theatre of Dover ($3.6K) might as well start selling lemonade to stay afloat.
• Essential capital projects – lighting systems, safety upgrades, flood prevention – are now wishful thinking.
This isn’t just a funding cut; it’s a cultural lobotomy. The arts aren’t a luxury; they’re the soul of our communities, the heartbeat of our collective identity. But hey, who needs a soul when you can have a flying palace from Qatar?
So, bravo. You’ve managed to turn a thriving arts ecosystem into a cautionary tale. And to our local leaders: Time to step up. The arts community has done more with less for years. Now, they need more to do anything at all.
If it’s any consolation, these cuts are in the president’s budget proposal. This is called the “skinny budget” and zeroes out a LOT of stuff that historically gets added back in by Congress once they get around to horse-trading on the actual budget. The bad news is THIS Congress is likely to see humanities in a blue state as a very low priority.
Hate to be that guy, but…
There are enough well-heeled patrons in the greater Wilmington area that can make up a million-dollar shortfall. Garret Copeland farts and a half mil fills his trousers. The real crisis is that all of these institutions could close tomorrow and relatively few would actually notice.
The idea that a loss of these institutions is a cultural lobotomy pre-supposes there is enough culture left to lobotomize. These venues have largely been reduced to event spaces where elites hold self-congratulatory galas celebrating themselves. For the most part, going to a Delaware arts venue is like going to a Blue Rocks game- a shadow of the real thing, and cluttered by sideshows to gin up interest. Anyone that has the means can travel to see a real ball game in a nearby major city, just like that can go to more prestigious arts venue.
School board update: Devin Hynson kicked it out of the park 1190-451!!!!!!!!!!
Looks like every district in NCC got the best possible outcome.
Any honest reporting should note that MAGA aligned candidates got their asses kicked all over the state.