HARTFORD – Senate President Martin Looney (D-New Haven) and Senate Majority Leader Bon Duff (D-Norwalk) issued the following joint statement today regarding the midnight decision by President Donald Trump and his Republican administration to cut approximately $3,000,000 in aid to Connecticut from the federal National Endowment for the Humanities.
“There is no aspect of American life that Donald Trump and his Republican administration have left unscathed in their venal desire to give tax breaks to their billionaire buddies. Veterans, health care, education, home heating assistance for seniors, and now arts groups and museums have all fallen victim to his knife. And there is no end in sight to the pain and destruction that Donald Trump and Republicans will inflict on Connecticut and the nation in order to reward billionaires while trampling middle-class Americans underfoot.
“We will all pay the price – in increased prices due to tariffs, less health care, fewer educational opportunities, reduced local services, and now the destruction of the arts and events that celebrate our local history and culture. And still our Republican colleagues in Connecticut remain mute to Trump’s revenge on the nation.”
Jason Mancini, Executive Director of CT Humanities, testified today before the Appropriations Committee about the letter he received at midnight last night.
“As many of you may know from New York Times reporting, DOGE staffers visited the offices of the National Endowment for the Humanities on Monday. Subsequently, rumors began to spread about grant suspensions and terminations. At midnight last night, I received from the chair of NEH a series of letters terminating our operating support grants. These are the funds through which we serve Connecticut’s cultural sector – our grantmaking to museums and cultural organizations, and through our civics initiatives, literature programs, digital projects, and educational resources. This also means that direct NEH grants to Connecticut organizations will cease,” Mancini said. “Coupled with the termination of Institute of Museum and Library Service grants and suspension of IMLS staff, this means that millions of dollars of federal funding will no longer be invested in our communities. Almost certainly, funding from the National Endowment for the Arts to the Connecticut Office of the Arts and arts organizations will be next.”
The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is the only federal agency in the United States dedicated to funding the humanities. Since its founding in 1965, NEH has awarded over $6 billion in grants to museums, historic sites, colleges, universities, K–12 teaching, libraries, public television and radio stations, research institutions, independent scholars, and to its humanities council affiliates in each of the nation’s 56 states and jurisdictions. Panels of independent, external reviewers examine and select top-rated proposals to receive grants.
NEH grants support the building blocks of American civil society, helping to examine the human condition, promote civics education, understand our cultural heritage, foster mutual respect for diverse beliefs and cultures, and develop media and information literacy. Grants help to bring museum exhibitions to your town, strengthen teaching in your schools, create documentaries and podcasts, facilitate groundbreaking research, and preserve and expand access to cultural and historical artifacts.
From 2019 to 2023, the NEH issued $10.53 million to support 81 projects in Connecticut, ranging from educational programs and planning and preservation grants to stipends for fellowships and internships. Recently funded NEH projects in Connecticut include:
-$25,000 for The Weston Historical Society, “Weston at Work: A New, Permanent Exhibit Focusing on Industry and Marginalized Groups in Weston, CT”
-$25,000 for Eastern Connecticut State University for curriculum development “Empowering Students to navigate an A.I. World”
-$259,000 for the Connecticut State Library, “Connecticut Digital Newspaper Project”
-$10,000 for the Mark Twain Memorial, “Mark Twain House & Museum Book Preservation”
-$31,000 Harriet Beecher Stowe Center, “Nook Farm: Then and Now”
$48,500 for the Lyman Allyn Art Museum, “The Way Sisters: Miniaturists of the Early Republic”
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