Arts Organizations Join Coalition Condemning Government Control Over NEA and Kennedy Center

PEN America today joined a coalition of seven national free speech and arts organizations, led by the National Coalition Against Censorship, in condemning the Trump administration’s effort to exert control over federally-supported cultural initiatives, expressing alarm over new grantee rules for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the administration’s exertion of political control over the Kennedy Center.

While a federal district court has issued a preliminary injunction blocking implementation of some key Executive Order (EO) provisions which are part of the sweeping grant restrictions, the administration’s actions nonetheless represent “an alarming departure from the fundamental democratic principles that the government may not interfere with artistic expression because of hostility toward its viewpoint,” the letter states.

In a statement, PEN America said: “Rather than celebrating the diversity of ideas that emanates through the free expression of writers, artists, musicians, and other creators, as most past presidential administrations have done, the Trump administration is seeking to impose its own ideological vision on the arts and to narrow the richness and diversity of our cultural landscape.

The administration’s attempt to demand ideological adherence from NEA and NEH grantees is an assault on creative expression. The NEA is a vital source of support for the cultural sector, but these draconian requirements force writers, artists, and creative institutions to make a devastating choice–between receiving essential financial support or maintaining their freedom to create. We are gratified that a federal court found that portions of one of the Executive Orders behind these restrictions may be unconstitutional and issued a nationwide preliminary injunction blocking implementation of some key provisions.

However, we remain alarmed at the extraordinary overreach of the administration’s actions, including the effort to extend viewpoint-based content restrictions to any work engaged in by the recipient, whether funded by the government or not. That is a particularly egregious violation of the First Amendment and would cast a chill across the creative sector. The threat to freedom of expression, and to the survival of organizations that have relied on government funding, is grave.

These grant requirements cannot be viewed in a vacuum. Similar restrictions have been put in place for the NEH, also a major governmental funder of arts, scholarship, and culture. And all of this is being implemented as President Trump has moved to take ideological control of the Kennedy Center, by ousting its leadership and staff and declaring a new “Golden Age” of culture to come.”

About PEN America

PEN America stands at the intersection of literature and human rights to protect free expression in the United States and worldwide. We champion the freedom to write, recognizing the power of the word to transform the world. Our mission is to unite writers and their allies to celebrate creative expression and defend the liberties that make it possible. Learn more at pen.org.