Art News. Vasari Codex

article news schedule May 5, 2025 visibility 19 link 2 artists

will the us participate in the 2026 venice biennale

As President Donald Trump cuts U.S. art programs and funding, questions surround the country's participation in the 2026 Venice Biennale. A Vanity Fair piece by Nate Freeman reports that the selection process is already behind schedule, with the U.S. State Department's typical 18-month lead time now reduced to just one year. The National Endowment for the Arts, which convenes the advisory committee for the pavilion, has been halted, and a key assistant secretary position is vacant. The application portal remains open but now includes new language requiring art that "reflects and promotes American values" and scrubbing references to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).

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article policy schedule Apr 25, 2025 visibility 16 link 12 artists

national endowment for humanities sculpture garden trump

The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) has announced a new grant program to fund statues for President Trump’s National Garden of American Heroes, a sculpture garden first proposed in 2021. The garden will feature life-size statues of 250 notable Americans, with a location still to be determined. Selected artists, who must be U.S. citizens, can receive up to $200,000 per statue, which must be made of traditional materials like marble or bronze and depict figures in a realistic style. The application deadline is July 1, and the project is jointly funded by the NEH and the National Endowment for the Arts with a total of $34 million, drawn from federal grants originally allocated to other cultural programs but later canceled by the administration.

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article policy schedule Jan 8, 2026 visibility 13 link 1 artist

congress funding bill nea neh

Congress has unveiled a bipartisan partial funding package that would keep the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) budgets steady at $207 million each, despite President Donald Trump's proposal to eliminate both agencies. The three-bill "minibus" package faces a House vote and then Senate consideration, as the government seeks to avoid another shutdown after last year's record 43-day closure.

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article policy schedule May 3, 2025 visibility 12

national endowment for the arts cancels grants trump

President Donald Trump's administration has canceled or withdrawn grant offers from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) via email, affecting arts organizations nationwide. The NEA stated it is updating its grantmaking priorities to focus on projects that reflect the nation's artistic heritage as prioritized by the president, including historically Black colleges, Hispanic-serving schools, the 250th anniversary of American independence, AI competency, houses of worship, disaster recovery, skilled trades, military and veterans, Tribal communities, and Asian American economic development. Some affected grants supported artists of color, and the language appeared to conflict with the administration's prior push against DEI initiatives. Similar cancellations have occurred at the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

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article policy schedule Jun 10, 2025 visibility 14 link 6 artists

mark bauerlein trump arts funding

Mark Bauerlein, a conservative professor and contributing editor to First Things, published an op-ed in the New York Times arguing against cuts to government arts funding while simultaneously attacking progressive scholars and NEH grants he deems wasteful. He suggests that instead of slashing the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Trump administration should repurpose it to promote conservative cultural values, citing examples like funding for a curriculum on race and comics or a database of a historic gay travel guide as wasteful.

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article policy schedule Mar 16, 2026 source 2 sources visibility 21

Why Did Trump Officials Award $2 Million to a Small Art School in Queens?

The Trump administration's National Endowment for the Humanities awarded a $2 million grant to a small art school in Queens with only three full-time employees. This grant was part of a new pattern of large, handpicked awards, a significant departure from the agency's typical grant-making process which historically avoided such large sums to very small institutions.

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