Trump Administration Cuts to NEH Grants Leave Illinois Humanities Facing $1 Million Shortfall

Paul Caine | April 8, 2025, 7:32 pm

A decision by the Trump administration to cancel $175 million in grants to arts and cultural groups could soon be felt in Illinois.

That’s because more than 1,000 grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities for cultural programs across the country were terminated by the administration last week.

The NEH has also seen up to 80% of its staff cut.

Thanks to our sponsors:

View all sponsors

The abrupt move means that Illinois Humanities — which was expecting $2 million from the NEH for 2025 — is now looking at a $1 million shortfall in its budget.

The cuts will likely impact the agency’s ability to deliver programming in communities large and small across the state.

Gabrielle Lyon, executive director of Illinois Humanities, said she was blindsided by the news.

“We learned about it in the dark of night,” said Lyon. “I received an email shortly before midnight (on April 2)… with a very short statement saying that our current and future funding was being terminated. Illinois Humanities is a nonprofit in Illinois, but every state has a humanities council going back 50 years, so our colleagues in Alabama, Indiana, Wisconsin, we all got the same letter. It went in alphabetical order.”

That letter stated that funding had been terminated because the policy priorities of the Trump administration did not align with the work of Illinois Humanities, according to Lyon.

But Lyon said the state is owed the funds under federal statute.

“These are not general dollars,” said Lyon. “These are tax dollars that we have already contributed that are supposed to be coming back to Illinois and the big question for us is: How do we continue to serve people and programs? Why can’t we decide here in Illinois what to do with the dollars that are supposed to be coming here?”

Jeanne Schultz Angel, president of the Illinois Association of Museums and associate vice president of humanities at Naper Settlement, said the impact of the funding cuts will have “ripple effects” across the museum community.

“There’s over 1,000 museums across Illinois,” said Angel. “Most of them are small, volunteer-run, or one or two person-staffed places, but those places are essential in small communities all over the state. They are keepers of their heritage. They’re keepers of history.”

While the sources of museum funding in Illinois are diverse, Angel said the cuts to grants would force institutions to compete for dwindling funds.

“So to cut a source of funding for grant projects for exhibits, for collections, for whatever is going to make an impact, and it’ll have a ripple effect,” said Angel.

While declining to speculate on what is behind the Trump administration’s cuts to the NEH, Angel said it was time for people to make their voices heard.

“I wouldn’t venture a guess on why they’re doing it,” said Angel. “I would ask people who enjoy museums.... I would say the time is now to have a voice for museums and what those museums mean for your community.”

Lyon emphasized the importance of museums in preserving community memories and history.

“I think this thing about how do we make memories is really important,” said Lyon. “As an organization that is working in every nook and cranny in the state, but also working right here in Chicago with the Haitian American Museum, the Cambodian Heritage Museum, we are in the places that are maybe not the largest but mean the most to the people they serve. And I think we’re most concerned about the kinds of things programmatically that this will really affect.”