Recent Federal Cuts Hurt Some Upper West Side Arts Groups

By Carol Tannenhauser

In early May the Trump administration sent notice to arts and cultural groups, cancelling their grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, an independent federal agency that is the nation’s largest funder of the arts and arts education.

The cancellations affect arts groups, big and small, operating literally across the country – including on the Upper West Side.

That includes the neighborhood’s foremost arts organization, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts – though a spokesperson for Lincoln Center told West Side Rag that NEA funding  “was a very small percentage of our budget.” According to the spokesperson, Lincoln Center does not anticipate cutting back its programming because of the cuts. But, “That’s, as I understand it, not the case for many smaller organizations. And they’re really important to our ecosystem,” she said.

An example of those smaller organizations is WP Theater, on Broadway and West 76th Street, the nation’s oldest and largest theater devoted to the work of women playwrights, directors, and producers. This women-focused arts house had a $50,000 NEA grant cancelled, out of a budget of “just under $3 million, so that is a significant amount of money to lose,” said Lisa McNulty, the theater’s producing artistic director. McNulty said the NEA grant was for WP’s lab program, a two-year residency for emerging artists.

In its May 2 email notifying groups of the cancellations, the Trump administration said that NEA would refocus its grantmaking priorities to reflect President Trump’s priorities. With its focus on women, including the work of transgender and nonbinary artists, WP Theater would fall outside those presidential priorities.

“WP exists because those voices weren’t getting opportunities elsewhere,” McNulty said. Without WP Theater, “then those voices go away. In this cultural moment, we are being told our work shouldn’t exist.”  

McNulty said the theater has amped up its outreach and fundraising to individuals and foundations. “We’re not just taking these challenges on the chin. We’re working hard to gather and galvanize our community, because these cuts have been really tough for us all,” she said.

The National Asian Artists Project (NAAP), another UWS arts organization, lost two $10,000 NEA Challenge America grants, which were given to grassroots arts organizations primarily to serve marginalized communities. One grant was terminated after being partially paid; the other was cancelled before any money was distributed.

A nonprofit headquartered at 35 West 66th Street, with a budget of $100,000, NAAP showcases the work of artists of Asian descent, primarily theater artists, as well as running musical theater educational programs in underfunded public schools in Chinatown and Brooklyn.

“It’s a common misperception that Asian communities are fine because of this ‘model minority’ myth that persists,” said Ariel Estrada, the group’s grants manager. “In fact, Asian Americans are 18% of the population and have the fastest-growing poverty level in New York City.” 

NAAP believes that theater training for the young can improve their confidence and school performance, as well as providing potential life pathways.

“We believe so deeply in the power of musical theater to change our young peoples’ lives that we prioritize covering its funding,” said Baayork Lee, one of the founders of the project. “$10,000 may not seem like much, but for programs of our size, a loss like this is devastating.”

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