While as of writing, and until tomorrow’s inauguration, Donald Trump remains the United States’ President-Elect, many of the decisions he as been taking as he readies to take control of the Oval Office have been questionable at best.
The latest, and one that concerns us as active members of the dance music scene and more broadly of the arts, is the news that the incoming president’s transition team is using the Heritage Foundation blueprint to come after arts funding. If these new reports are in fact correct, tomorrow will not only mark the beginning of the country’s 45th presidency, but also the beginning of the end of federally funded arts programs.
These reports, which we sourced from The Hill, detail how Trump’s transition team has been deliberating on ways to reduce federal bureaucracy and cut the national budget. Plenty of agencies risk ending up on the chopping block, including the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which is the entity behind PBS, NPR, and other public TV and radio outlets. On one hand Trump plans to privatize CPB, and on the other he allegedly intends to kill the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities in their entirety.
What does this mean exactly for America and its arts and humanistic endeavors? Without the NEA and NEH, artists and educators will likely remain incapable of continuing with their projects due to lack of funding and grants, resulting in the death of exhibitions, vital research, productions, and public programs. Although it is not news for Conservatives and the GOP to be targeting the arts, with some succeeding to cut budgets, Trump plans to kill the programs in their entirety. The reports point out that this move goes hand-in-hand with the blueprint Trump and his team were provided by conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation.
Overall, there will be cuts to the departments of Commerce, Energy, Transportation, Justice (why??), and State, with the team aiming to reduce federal spending by $10.5 trillion over 10 years. Needless to say, and as you may have guessed, Trump plans to use those savings to add $450 billion to the deficit by inflating military spending thatâs already more than the next seven countriesâ defense budgets combined.
It has to be said that these news are not confirmed nor final, but come as reliable predictions based off of the blueprint being followed by the transition team. The motions would need to be passed and with moderate GOP members already pushing back on Trump’s plans for the Affordable Care Act it is entirely likely that some will side with Democrats in ensuring the arts won’t be oppressed under Trump’s presidency.
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