PROVIDENCE – Local and national artists along with theater organizations on Thursday filed a federal lawsuit against the National Endowment for the Arts calling a new certification requirement for organizations seeking grants from NEA that requires applicants to attest that they will not promote gender ideology in order to get funding “unlawful and unconstitutional.”
Furthermore, arts leaders that both filed and support the suit from the outside feel this new order will negatively impact the entire creative economy, beyond just the creative freedom they experience. They also feel livelihoods are at stake.
The
32-page lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court by the American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island Inc., the national American Civil Liberties Union, Rhode Island Latino Arts, Boston-based The Theater Offensive, Theatre Communications Group and National Queer Theater – both based in New York – against the NEA and its acting chair, Mary Anne Carter. The suit, the organizations said, centers around President Donald Trump’s executive order signed in January directing that federal funds “shall not be used to promote gender ideology.”
The organizations, including the ACLU, are seeking a temporary restraining order on the new regulations before the NEA’s March 24 grant application deadline. They also are asking the court to declare that the NEA’s certification requirement and prohibiting funding for projects that “promote gender ideology” is unconstitutional.
Rhode Island ACLU Executive Director Steven Brown said Thursday this new requirement from the NEA has had a “devastating effect” on the arts communities both locally and nationally, causing “enormous confusion.” He also claimed the new federal administration is putting its efforts “to start culture wars instead of governing.”
Representatives from the NEA did not immediately respond Thursday to questions seeking comment from Providence Business News on the endowment’s reaction to the lawsuit.
The organizations allege that the NEA’s implementation of the order violates the First Amendment by singling out a particular viewpoint to ban federal arts funding for arts and culture groups. The organizations also feel this order is “unconstitutionally vague” by not adequately defining what “promote gender ideology means,” the organizations allege.
According to the ACLU, Rhode Island Latino Arts is “forced to guess” whether it prohibits allowing a transgender, queer or nonbinary individual to participate in NEA-funded programming. The ACLU says the Central Falls-based organization “fears” that describing itself as an organization supporting transgender, nonbinary and queer artists “might run afoul of the gender ideology restriction.”
“Our communities deserve to see art that reflects their experiences, and that challenges them to consider something new,” Rhode Island Latino Arts Executive Director Marta V. Martinez said in a statement – she was not present at Thursday’s press conference. “All of our projects are designed to welcome and celebrate a diverse array of identities and experiences, especially those of recent immigrants and those from the Latinx and LGBTQ+ communities. That is the principle RILA was founded on, and we can’t be bullied into compromising our values.”
Furthermore, the ALCU claims Rhode Island Latino Arts had to change an upcoming project it was working on due to the new NEA regulations to not run afoul with the endowment and its funding requirements.
Also, the organizations are arguing in court that the new order violates the Administrative Procedure Act’s prohibition on “arbitrary and capricious” federal agency actions. The certification requirement/gender ideology prohibition, the ACLU says, exceeds NEA’s statutory authority since the statute “expressly limits the agency’s review of applications to their artistic merit and excellence.”
Kristy DuBois, executive director for Pawtucket-based Choreography Project, said Thursday NEA funding is a “lifeline” for many organizations. She also said Trump’s executive order is “a direct threat” to artists and organizations that rely on that funding to remain sustainable. Choreography Project supports the lawsuit but is not a plaintiff in the case, the ALCU says.
DuBois also said the arts are a major economic driver within the Ocean State. The loss of NEA funding will “impact the [state’s] entire creative economy.”
When asked by PBN to elaborate, DuBois said it could result in theaters and arts organizations closing down and audiences won’t come in to create that “groundswell of activity” within the area.
“People tend to go to the theater and go to dinner either before or after. Restaurants could lose out on potential customers,” DuBois said. “It’s also your tech crews, photographers, costume designers and textile industry. The veins of this have the potential to go far and wide throughout the state.”
Emilya Cachapero, Theatre Communications Group co-executive director, also said Thursday many arts organizations still have not fully recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic from five years ago. Both audience sizes and funding levels have not gotten back to the same level now compared to before March 2020, Cachapero said.
“You are going to see organizations shutter, close, pause and regroup,” she said. “There are some organizations partnering to create co-productions. But that means ultimately less total productions happening. We’re going to see a diminished field.”
Brown, when asked by PBN if the organizations feel confident in gaining a favorable ruling, said they feel they have a “very strong case” and this ideological restriction has “no place in the law.”
James Bessette is the PBN special projects editor, and also covers the nonprofit and education sectors. You may reach him at Bessette@PBN.com. You may also follow him on X at @James_Bessette.
