Oregon’s and the nation’s biggest arts news story in 2025 was the Trump Administration’s assault on arts and culture – which is likely to continue for years to come. Oregon ArtsWatch reported on the local, statewide and national impacts early and often, including stories about artists, arts and culture organizations, and those who are fighting back.
President Donald Trump launched the assault early in his second administration by signing executive orders prohibiting the supposed promotion of gender identity; diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI); and “unpatriotic” views of American history, assumed to mean teaching about the forcible dislocation of Indigenous people from their traditional lands, the legacy of slavery, the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II, and anything else that might make the country look bad.
The assault continued through the end of the year, with Trump Administration officials threatening to defund the federal Smithsonian museum, education and research trust if it does not celebrate the 250th anniversary of the founding of the country in 2026 as the President wants.
“We wish to be assured that none of the leadership of the Smithsonian museums is confused about the fact that the United States has been among the greatest forces for good in the history of the world,” Domestic Policy Council director Vince Haley and White House budget director Russell Vought wrote to Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III on Dec. 19, the Washington Post reported the next day. “The American people will have no patience” for any museum that is “uncomfortable conveying a positive view of American history.”
The first Oregon ArtsWatch story to sound the alarm was written by Executive Director Laura Grimes and posted on Feb. 6. The story, NEA cancels Challenge America grant and changes its guidelines and deadlines, revealed that the National Endowment for the Arts had abruptly cancelled its Challenge America grants that support underserved groups and communities, canceled the Feb. 13 deadline for the first round of Grants for Arts (GAP) programs, and declared that funding priority for GAP grants will be given for projects that celebrate and honor the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
In-depth coverage of the NEA funding cuts and content restrictions was provided by ArtsWatch writer Claire Willett on March 11. A longtime arts grant writer, she documented the chaotic process by which arts and culture organizations learned that previously approved grants had been canceled and deadlines for upcoming applications changed. Her insider story, Trump’s Executive Orders and the NEA: A Detailed Timeline, also revealed how organizations and the Democratic attorneys general in various states were beginning to fight back by filing lawsuits in federal courts, charging that the changes were unconstitutional.
Oregon ArtsWatch Executive Editor Bob Hicks weighed in on April 3 with The war on thought: This time it hits the National Endowment for the Humanities and Oregon Humanities. The story said the Congressionally created National Endowment for the Humanities was cutting funds for its affiliates in all 50 states, including the nonprofit Oregon Humanities, which supports cultural organizations across the state. The story also predicted the attempt to defund the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which supports Oregon Public Broadcasting and other public media in Oregon.
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More examples of local groups being hit by such cuts were provided by Willett in her May 3 story, NEA Funding Cuts Hit Oregon Arts Organizations. They included Portland Playhouse, which learned that its $25,000 grant for a production of August Wilson’s Joe Turner’s Come and Gone was cancelled just 24 hours before the show opened.
By early May, at least 27 Oregon organizations reported losing NEA and NEH grants totaling a minimum of $590,000. In addition to Portland Playhouse, they included All Classical Radio, NW Children’s Theatre, Passinart: A Theatre Company, Portland Center Stage, Profile Theater Project, and many more. During a May 14 appearance on Oregon Public Broadcasting’s Think Out Loud, Willett estimated the total losses by then at $800,000, the most recent estimate at the time.
And that was only the beginning. On July 18, Hicks confirmed the Republican-controlled Congress had defunded the Corporation for Public Broadcasting in a story headlined Congressional takebacks of arts & cultural funding hit Oregon and the nation hard. The cuts hit OPB, All Classical Radio, and community and tribal radio stations across the state. Cuts and content restrictions continued to be ordered for arts and culture organizations across the nation and the state.
Fighting back and future worries
After Portland Playhouse lost its $25,000 grant for Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, an emergency fundraising drive easily raised enough money for the show to go on. OPB was also able to quickly replace the $5 million loss of its federal funding with donations from its supporters, although some smaller stations continued to struggle, as Oregon ArtsWatch reported in an Oct. 9 story headlined Oregon public media respond to Trump budget cuts.
More significantly, Oregon Humanities led a nationwide federal lawsuit with other state humanities organizations against the National Endowment for Humanities budget cuts. Oregon U.S. District Court Judge Michael Simon issued a 61-page ruling on Aug. 6 that found the grant terminations violated the plain language of the law that such money “shall be available” to each state or grant recipient that has been approved. Oregon ArtsWatch reported on the ruling with reactions from Oregon Humanities that day in a story headlined Oregon Humanities wins against Trump Administration in federal court.
Oregon museums and historical societies also pushed back against Trump’s notion about how American history should be presented. That included statements from leaders of the Oregon Museum Association, the Oregon Historical Society, and the America 250 Oregon Commission, the agency created by the Oregon Legislature to promote and coordinate the 250th anniversary of the nation’s founding in Oregon. They and others spoke out in a Nov. 12 story headlined Trump takes aim at museums, history.
Some arts and culture leaders admit they are concerned that content restrictions could prevent them from applying for new federal grants in the future. Although federal judges have ruled that applying such restrictions to previously approved grants violates the First Amendment, their legality in future rounds of grants has not yet been fully adjudicated. Oregon ArtsWatch explored the issue in an Oct. 31 story headlined As federal funding slashes cut deep, Oregon arts organizations face growing challenges.
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But despite the legal setbacks, the Trump Administration canceled yet another grant to an Oregon arts organization on Oct. 29, in a blatant example of its continuing intolerance. The National Endowment for the Arts had awarded $30,000 to the Oregon Contemporary art gallery in North Portland for its upcoming 2026 Artists Biennial exhibition. It is intended to offer perspectives on the 250th anniversary of the founding of the country.
Although the NEA cancelled many grants early in the year, it confirmed the Artist Biennial grant as recently as August 2025, according to Oregon Contemporary Executive and Artistic Director Blake Shell. But then, Blake said, the NEA asked for a list of the exhibition’s curator and participating artists, many of whom are politically outspoken people of color.
After receiving the list, the NEA abruptly canceled the grant, prompting Oregon Contemporary to launch an emergency fundraising drive so that the biennial can still open on April 1, 2026. Oregon ArtsWatch covered the controversy in a Nov. 12 story headlined Oregon Contemporary gallery targeted by Trump Administration.
What to expect in 2026
Tracking and understanding the Trump Administration’s assault on arts and culture in 2025 was difficult. Trump’s early executive orders with content restrictions were signed during the launch of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) initiative led by billionaire Elon Musk, which promised to save $1 trillion in federal waste, fraud, and abuse.
Grants and other spending across many federal agencies were curtailed, including those providing health care research and foreign aid. It was hard for anyone to understand which cuts were ordered because of ideological reasons and which were supposedly to reduce misspending.
Even Oregon Humanities’ successful suit against the Trump budget cuts is titled “Oregon Council for the Humanities v. United States DOGE Service.”
At the same time, the Trump Administration repeatedly backtracked on many funding cuts, both before and after being sued. Even when the administration lost in federal court, not all of the frozen spending was promptly restored. And some new grants were issued to organizations that had previously lost funding. That helps explain such discrepancies as DOGE claiming to have saved approximately $214 billion in federal spending by late November, while multiple independent analyses by nonpartisan groups and news organizations documented only a small fraction of that amount.
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They include The New York Times, which questioned DOGE’s claims in a Dec. 23 story headlined How Did DOGE Disrupt So Much While Saving So Little?
Because there are no centralized databases of federal arts and culture spending on the national or state levels, it is impossible to fully understand Trump’s full impact on the national and Oregon levels with certainty this year. All indications, however, are that it has been substantial.
For example, the American Alliance of Museums tried to survey the damage to the approximately 35,000 museums in the country. As reported by The New York Times, the organization estimates that about 10,000 of them had federal grants and contracts canceled in 2025, and not just by such expected funders as the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Institute of Museum and Library Services. Funding was also pulled by such agencies as the National Park Service, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the National Science Foundation.
That is nearly one-third of all museums in the country.
“Across the board, experts in the field said, the cuts appear to have overwhelmingly affected institutions whose programming is at odds with the administration’s policy priorities,” read the Oct. 16 New York Times story headlined Facing Funding Cuts and Censorship Threats, Museums Band Together.
Trump’s assault on arts and culture is likely to continue, if not increase, in 2026 as he attempts to enforce his version of American history on the commemoration of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
Republicans will still control Congress when Trump submits his next proposed federal budget in early 2026, which could include another round of proposed cuts. And he undoubtedly will continue signing the kinds of executive orders that have proven so divisive.
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Oregon ArtsWatch will continue to follow and report on the story through 2026 and beyond.
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More Oregon ArtsWatch funding stories can be found at orartswatch.org/section/culture/funding.