Take Action: Statement on Proposed Arts and Humanities Cuts in the US
The Trump Administration released its budget blueprint yesterday, and the dire situation about which we speculated in January now has become a reality. The budget proposes the elimination of the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Endowment for the Arts.
The proposed defunding of these organizations, along with the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the foreign language and international studies programs authorized under Title VI, and others, would harm humanities centers, institutes, and researchers across and beyond the United States.
We urge you to join us in taking action and in demonstrating the disastrous effects that defunding would have on your organizations and communities.
For colleagues in the U.S., please contact your members of Congress as soon as possible to let them know that you object to these cuts. Please call upon those who benefit from your centers and institutes, those who attend your events and follow you on social media, and ask them to join you in this effort.
The best way to voice your objections is to call your representatives and make an appeal that is both specific and personal. To do this, you may call the US Capitol switchboard at 202-224-3121 and request to speak with your state representative or senator.
Alternatively, you can email your representatives. Their information can be found at www.house.gov and www.senate.gov/senators/contact or use the form available at the National Humanities Alliance: http://www.nhalliance.org/take_action1.
For non-U.S. members, we urge you to communicate the variety of ways in which the supposed plans would have a devastating effect on the humanities globally, both in practice and as a precedent. If there are ways that your organizations have benefited from the NEH, we would like to know.
We will continue to develop a multi-pronged approach to reversing the proposals included in the budget, but in the meantime, we appreciate your action right now.