“For the fourth year in a row, the Trump administration proposed budget cuts that would kill the federal cultural agencies that support arts, humanities and public television stations across the country,” writes Peggy McGlone in Monday’s (2/10) Washington Post. “Previous budget proposals by President Trump along these lines have been soundly rejected by Congress, which has increased funding in each of the past three years for the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities. The total budget for those agencies in fiscal year 2020 is $162.25 million, a 10-year high. The stalwart support in Congress is a rare example of bi-partisanship in this divisive era, said Arena Stage Executive Producer Edgar Dobie…. Some arts leaders are hopeful that Congress will continue to increase the funding of cultural institutions.… Trump’s 2021 budget calls for $30 million to close out the National Endowment for the Arts and $33.4 million to shutter the National Endowment for the Humanities. It also calls for $23 million to close the Institute of Museum and Library Services and $58 million … to shutter the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Arts-education programs are also discontinued in the Department of Education budget; they would be replaced by block grants.”
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