By Anne Levin

On April 2, Morven Museum & Garden got welcome news from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH): The museum was being awarded a grant of $25,000 to help support an interpretive plan addressing Morven’s history of slavery when it was owned by two generations of the Stockton family.

But a few days later, another communication arrived from the federal agency. The grant was being rescinded, it said, because it “no longer effectuates the agency’s needs and priorities and conditions of the Grant Agreement and is subject to termination due to several reasonable causes.” Citing some statutes, the email continued that the NEH “is repurposing its funding allocations in a new direction in furtherance of the President’s agenda.”

The letter arrived in an email, at midnight.

“If that’s not cowardly, I don’t know what is,” said Rhoda DiMascio, Morven’s executive director. “They throw these statutes around to confuse people. It’s unclear. This is really a shame, because it’s the first time we’ve ever gotten a NEH grant. It’s small, but it’s important. The fact that we had received the endorsement to continue our work on the history of slavery at Morven was significant. Getting a NEH grant is a big deal that helps us leverage other funding.”

A similar letter went to Divya Cherian, a historian of early modern and colonial South Asia at Princeton University. The $60,000 NEH grant for a book she was writing about the history of witches and their persecution in South Asia was, effectively, off the table.

“It said that the grant no longer aligned with new priorities as determined by President Trump,” Cherian said. “More than losing the financing, it makes me feel like this is an intensification of a trend that humanities education and research is not valuable, and waste of resources. It makes me sad, and fearful for the future.”

The current administration’s slashing of budgets and departments is particularly troubling to cultural groups. While the rescinding of NEH funding has been announced, local organizations scheduled to receive grants from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) have yet to hear about the fate of those funds.

This is causing considerable anxiety at Princeton University Concerts (PUC), where $20,000 was to be awarded to support its Music & Healing series; and McCarter Theatre Center, which received $35,000 to support the production of the recently mounted play Legacy of Light.

“We are in the midst of an unprecedented moment — one in which the traditional sources of support for the arts, particularly at universities, are under real and growing threat,” said PUC Director Marna Seltzer in an email. “Like many organizations, we find ourselves navigating uncertainty. Although we were awarded a federal grant this year for our Music & Healing series, the funds have not yet been released, and we do not know when — or if— they will arrive. We have also applied for funding for next year, and remain hopeful that our commitment to artistic excellence and community impact will be recognized.”

Seltzer continued, “Amid these challenges, we hold fast to what we learned during the pandemic: that the arts are not a luxury or an afterthought, but an essential part of our collective well-being. In moments of upheaval, the arts remind us of our shared humanity. They create space for empathy, connection, and healing — things we need now more than ever.”

Martin Miller, executive director of McCarter, echoed Seltzer’s sentiments.

“There is a great deal of uncertainty about currently approved as well as future grants through federal sources, especially the NEA,” he said. “Our timeline and agreement paperwork have been repeatedly delayed, so it’s unclear. We are hopeful, but it’s cloudy.”

While the loss of federal funding is serious, it will not debilitate them, the leaders of these organizations say. Efforts are being made to secure more individual contributions.

“Our team is terrifically dedicated and talented, trained to put heads down and get the work done,” said Miller. “But it absolutely does contribute to a sense of unease knowing the kind of work we are doing is not being prioritized. So we are certainly speaking with our community of supporters and hoping folks understand that their support is more important than ever.”

Seltzer said PUC is “committed to continuing our work with hope, determination, and the belief that what we do matters,” wrote Seltzer. “And we are grateful to our audience whose generosity, loyalty, and belief in our mission keep us going.”

At Morven, the NEH grant for the exhibition would have supported the work of research consultants Sharese Blakney and Shirley Satterfield. The goal remains to open the exhibit next fall.

“We’ve been on this road, updating the exhibition since 2018, so this is the next step and we’re not going to stop,” said DiMascio. “We’ve already started and have been successful in getting others to support it.”

DiMascio has also written to Sen. Andy Kim, Sen. Cory Booker, and Rep. Bonnie Watson-Coleman. She has shared the email she received from the NEH with the American Association of State and Local History Agencies.

“This grant was awarded and approved by Congress. I wasn’t shocked when we got the email, but I was mad,” she said. “We will continue to forge on and advocate.”