Fairfax County arts organizations have not been immune from the Trump administration’s efforts to downsize the federal government.
Both the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) have started rescinding funding awards from projects and organizations they say don’t fit the priorities of President Donald Trump.
Some Northern Virginia organizations already have seen direct effects, while others are waiting to determine what the impact will be.
Concerns about federal cutbacks come on top of fears that a regional or national economic downturn will reduce funding from other traditional supporters of the arts.
ArtsFairfax CEO on front lines
Stuart Holt, the CEO of ArtsFairfax, said the region’s arts community is now facing a double-whammy — threats to funding as efforts continue to fully recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Like so many other workers in our community, we are facing uncertainty and instability in the arts sector,” he said. “Because our arts organizations are still rebounding from the pandemic, this particular moment feels familiar, and the need to bring people together through the arts feels more essential.”
Largely a funding and advocacy body, ArtsFairfax is not immune from cuts, said Holt, who was tapped to head the organization in March 2024.
“We have lost a $20,000 grant ourselves, and we join our peers in making tough budgetary decisions while recommitting to our values, our work and celebrating artistic freedom,” he said in conversation Thursday (May 8) with FFXnow.
The nonprofit ArtsFairfax has alternate streams of funding, including Fairfax County’s government, Virginia Commission for the Arts, corporations, foundations and individuals. But disruption of any funding stream will ultimately trickle down to affect the nearly 60 local arts organizations that it supports.
Under the fiscal year 2026 budget that got marked up on May 6 for final adoption next Tuesday (May 13), the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors will maintain the county’s current level of funding for ArtsFairfax at $1.55 million.
The FY 2026 county budget also includes direct funding to a number of arts organizations, including the Fairfax Symphony Orchestra, Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts and Workhouse Arts Foundation.
Continuing that funding “sends a really strong message on the role [the arts] plays in our county,” Holt said.
Virginia increased arts funding by $2 million in the state budget signed by Gov. Glenn Youngkin on May 2, Holt said, but there are fears that individual and corporate giving might take a hit, just as it did during the pandemic.
Holt said he advises donors to give directly to arts organizations first and then support ArtsFairfax if they have extra available funds. He’d like to see the agency build on the roughly $800,000 it currently receives in donor support by $25,000 to $50,000 over the coming year.
Federal government cutbacks may create an “upswell of people who want to see the arts to survive and the arts to thrive,” Holt said.
Impact beginning to be felt locally
One organization that has taken a direct hit from grant-funding rescission is Music for Life, which provides free after-school music instruction for at-risk youth across the D.C. region.
In December, the Springfield-based organization received word that its application for $10,000 in NEA grant funding had been approved, but on May 2, the organization received an email saying the grant was being terminated.
“This happened to most all nonprofits who had submitted applications in 2024,” said Skip Chaples, who heads the organization. “We’ll have to reduce programming until we’re able to find alternative funding.”
Music for Life has submitted an appeal, but it’s not holding out hope for a reversal.
“If the administration’s past actions hold true, they’ll deny the appeal and force court action,” Chaples told FFXnow. “That’s an expense we could not afford.”
Elsewhere in the region, Synetic Theater in Arlington has received word that the NEA is rescinding a $20,000 grant that had been designated in support of its recent production of “The Immigrant.”
“This is a heavy blow,” the organization said in a statement. “We were counting on that grant to make up for the investment we made in creating a new work of such ambition and scope.”
“We are determined to stand strong in our mission to create unforgettable artistic experiences, and we are committed to serving our diverse community of patrons, students, artists and craftspeople as we always have: with art, with grace and with courage,” Synetic officials said.
The funding decision comes as Synetic looks for a new home after redevelopment forced it out of its longtime space in Crystal City. For now, the professional troupe is using venues across the region to stage shows and present camps.
Nonprofit and community organizations in the arts and other sectors also are seeing less revenue through the Combined Federal Campaign, which allows federal employees to designate some of their paycheck toward a variety of safety-net organizations.
“Many of those workers are no longer employed, so their pledges are void,” Chaples said. “Others have rescinded or reduced their pledge, as they’re concerned about their continued employment. We know there is a reduction in pledges; we’ll find out how much over the next few months.”
Federal government touts value of arts growth
The cutbacks come even as the National Endowment for the Arts last month touted news that the nation’s arts and cultural sector grew at more than twice the rate of the total economy between 2022 and 2023.
“In 2023, the most recent year for which data are available, arts and culture again surpassed its annual value added to the U.S. economy with $1.2 trillion, representing 4.2% of the nation’s gross domestic product,” the independent government agency said.
In addition, the arts/culture sector yielded a growing trade surplus for the U.S. In 2023, the total value of the nation’s arts exports was nearly $37 billion greater than the value of arts imports from other countries, the federal agency said.
Much of the arts/entertainment sector has now returned to, or exceeded, pre-pandemic levels. But not all.
“Performing arts organizations — which took a bigger hit from the 2020 recession than did many other industries — grew 31.6% percent between 2022 and 2023 but remained 12.3% below the 2019 level,” NEA officials said.
According to the NEA estimate for 2023, the arts/entertainment sector added $21.4 billion to Virginia’s economy, about 3% of total economic output in the commonwealth and a 10.6% year-over-year increase.
The sector accounts for nearly 119,000 jobs in Virginia, according to the estimate.
According to the Washington Post, all of the arts directors at the NEA have exited their posts, as the Trump administration seeks to redirect funding from that agency and the NEH to support a statue garden and next year’s celebrations for the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence’s signing.
