As Variety’s Ted Johnson and others have reported, the $4.1 trillion Trump budget calls for the elimination of federal funding for the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
In an interesting look into the mechanism by which a shutdown of a major national agency might be managed, the budget actually calls for money—$29 million for the NEA—“to conduct an orderly closeout” of the eliminated agencies starting in fiscal year 2018. It’s a bit like being handed the money to purchase the plank you’ve been ordered to walk.
Speaking of walking the plank, although the NEH chairman, William D. Adams, resigned on May 22 just before the next day’s release of the Trump budget, Adams didn’t specify that he was leaving because of the impending budget struggle. Instead, as Sopan Deb reports at the New York Times, Adams cited personal reasons and the Trump administration’s appointment of a new liaison to the endowment, Jon Parrish Peede, previously publisher of the Virginia Quarterly Review.
One of the complicating factors in these proposed cuts is that these agencies fall under the executive branch and cannot lobby or advocate for themselves. Most of them are carrying on with normal operations for fiscal year 2017. Fiscal year 2018 starts in October.
The budget proposal’s “Major Savings and Reforms” document reads, “The budget proposes to begin shutting down the National Endowment for the Arts in 2018, given the notable funding support provided by private and other public sources and because the administration does not consider NEA activities to be core federal responsibilities.”
Bottom line: These proposals are part of $26.7 billion in program eliminations and $30.6 billion in reductions—intended “to create a leaner, more accountable, less intrusive, and more effective government,” as stated by the “Major Savings and Reforms” document. Expect a lot of clamor this summer about how such proposals might change the character of American cultural life, including literature. Here’s the latest statement on the matter from the Authors Guild, and here’s one from PEN America.
Jane Friedman has spent her entire career working in the publishing industry, with a focus on business reporting and author education. Established in 2015, her newsletter The Bottom Line provides nuanced market intelligence to thousands of authors and industry professionals; in 2023, she was named Publishing Commentator of the Year by Digital Book World.
Jane’s expertise regularly features in major media outlets such as The New York Times, The Atlantic, NPR, The Today Show, Wired, The Guardian, Fox News, and BBC. Her book, The Business of Being a Writer, Second Edition (The University of Chicago Press), is used as a classroom text by many writing and publishing degree programs. She reaches thousands through speaking engagements and workshops at diverse venues worldwide, including NYU’s Advanced Publishing Institute, Frankfurt Book Fair, and numerous MFA programs.
