“Organizations impacted include Opera Orlando, the Orlando Ballet, and the Orlando Science Center, to name a few. The canceled grants total $200,000 dollars and were earmarked for arts and cultural organizations that provided programming and outreach for patrons with disabilities … (and for) grassroots organizations.” - Central Florida Public Media
“’Perhaps Harvard should lose its Tax Exempt Status and be Taxed as a Political Entity if it keeps pushing political, ideological, and terrorist inspired/supporting ‘Sickness?’ he wrote on Truth Social. ‘Remember, Tax Exempt Status is totally contingent on acting in the PUBLIC INTEREST!’” - BBC
Ryan Miller of the band Guster: “We wanted to support the staff who were caught in this political crossfire; the fans who had bought tickets, flights, and hotel rooms; the musicians we would be performing with. … We had been given a microphone and we intended to use it.” - The Atlantic (MSN)
Is it fair to use A.I. to grade student essays, if you’ve prohibited students from using A.I. to write them? School leaders are grappling with these dilemmas as they confront a barrage of marketing claims around how A.I. could “transform,” “personalize” and “accelerate” learning. - The New York Times
A spokesperson wrote that the Obama portrait was simply moved. “Last month, the Trump administration and the Kremlin confirmed that Russian President Vladimir Putin gifted a portrait to the president. It is unclear whether the portrait now hanging in the White House was a gift from Putin.” - Hyperallergic
“Scholars of racism face a peculiar accusation: that studying racism causes racism. As facile as this criticism is—no one thinks that agriculture professors cause world hunger, or that cardiology professors cause heart attacks—racism scholars know that this sort of ignorant bullying comes with the territory.” - The Atlantic
This is where the N.E.H. and N.E.A. would serve Mr. Trump well: not only correcting “woke” excesses, but also providing an elite counterpart to MAGA’s populist thrust. Expert critics, scholars and artists could ensure that only traditionalist projects are funded. - The New York Times
Communities with greater access to arts organizations have: 33% more volunteers supporting nonprofit organizations, 7% more active voters who are registered and eligible for voting, 3% lower levels of income inequality... - SMUData
“I’m not sure why he chose to react to my email with such hostility, but I think it’s important for people to read this exchange and to note that the Kennedy Center does not currently have good leadership,” she wrote. - Washingtonian
Trump's order asks to avoid “ideological indoctrination or divisive narratives that distort” and “rewrite” America’s history and “inappropriately disparage” heroes, and to foster “unity” by emphasizing America’s “unparalleled legacy of advancing liberty, individual rights, and human happiness,” rather than cultivating division by portraying the nation as “inherently racist, sexist, oppressive, or otherwise irredeemably flawed.” - CityJournal
“After abruptly terminating critical grants to libraries, museums, and archives across the country last week, the National Endowment for the Humanities intends to redirect some of its funds to construct President Donald Trump’s bizarre ‘National Garden of American Heroes.’” - Hyperallergic
“More than 140 Chicago artists and cultural leaders are calling on Mayor Brandon Johnson to address ‘dysfunction’ within the city’s Cultural Affairs department (under commissioner Clinée Hedspeth), arguing that staffing turmoil is leading to delays in grant payments and other key functions.” - Chicago Sun-Times
The idea that American history is polyphonic and unflinching, a warts-and-all story relevant to all Americans, is so deeply embedded in the Smithsonian that it is hard to imagine how it could comply with Trump’s demands. - Washington Post
