PROVIDENCE – The National Endowment for the Arts made a small concession to its funding application process amidst a current legal battle with local arts organizations and the American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island Inc. But, the ACLU feels more needs to be done.
The ACLU stated late on March 7 that the NEA removed a certification requirement asking artists to attest they will not “promote gender ideology” to obtain federal funding from the endowment. In other words, arts organizations no longer need to explicitly state in the funding request promising the endowment to not promote gender ideology in their work.
Applicants who choose to submit Part 1 of the grant application before the NEA changes its Assurance of Compliance or before March 11, whichever is sooner, may still want to make clear that they object to the certification when submitting that piece of their application, the ACLU says.
However, the ACLU said the NEA has not agreed to remove its eligibility requirement, where the nonprofit says any projects appearing to promote gender ideology would be disqualified from federal funding. It’s the crux of the lawsuit
filed March 6 in U.S. District Court by the Rhode Island ACLU, the national American Civil Liberties Union, Rhode Island Latino Arts, The Theater Offensive, Theatre Communications Group and National Queer Theater against the NEA centered around an executive order signed by President Donald Trump in January.
A hearing on the case is scheduled for March 18, six days before the NEA’s final grant application deadline.
ACLU spokesperson Zoe Chakoian on Monday told Providence Business News the lawsuit was borne when one local arts group raised concerns about the new NEA requirements with the national ACLU office in New York. While some plaintiffs are based in New York, Chakoian said the ACLU felt filing the suit in Rhode Island would be “symbolically appropriate.”
For one, Providence, Chakoian said, is considered the “creative capital,” with many arts organizations, including Trinity Repertory Company and the Rhode Island School of Design, calling the state’s capital city home. Also, the late U.S. Sen. Claiborne Pell, who died in 2009 at the age of 90, was the principal sponsor to federal legislation that created the NEA in 1960.
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.
“While the fight is far from over, our lawsuit has already provided some important relief to the artistic community,” Rhode Island ACLU cooperating attorney Lunette Labinger said in a statement. “Artists and artist organizations can move forward on preparing and presenting proposals for critically needed NEA grants without being forced to subscribe to a principle that may be contrary to their core beliefs and mission.”
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.
