Some S.C. arts programs to suffer after federal slash of grant funding

The Charleston Symphony expected a $30,000 grant for a new fellowship program, and the Berkeley County Museum in Moncks Corner planned on vital support for its annual Colonial Days fundraiser. But without warning in the last month, the federal government yanked away its money.

These are just two of the downsides caused by arts and history program cuts imposed by the new federal Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) on grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) — two independent federal agencies targeted by DOGE.

It has told NEH to return $175 million in undistributed grants and has redirected an unspecified amount of NEA’s $210 million budget, according to news sources.

Congress, however, approved the money, which represents a fraction of the national budget. If it is not restored, some say cultural events in the tri-county area and elsewhere in South Carolina could vanish.

A long legacy threatened

One of the first signs of trouble came when South Carolina Humanities (S.C. Humanities) based in Columbia told its partners and the public last month it had lost $600,000 or 65% of its operating budget from the NEH. Since then, S.C. Humanities stopped accepting new grant applications, said the agency’s executive director, Randy Akers.

Akers said the DOGE notice stated:
‘‘ ‘The termination of your grants represents an urgent priority for the administration.’ ” Akers translated the sentence as meaning “we are not in the federal government’s fiscal priorities.” Since then, Akers said he has not heard from South Carolina’s elected leaders in Washington.

And that could have huge impacts. If funding to S.C. Humanities is not restored, for example, the state could lose support for reading programs that encourage literacy skills, a Smithsonian partnership that brings national exhibits to small towns, support for K-12 teachers and students, and funding for rural museums and historical societies.

In Berkeley, Charleston and Dorchester counties, grants have recently gone to the Charleston Literary Festival, Magnolia Plantation and Gardens, PURE Theatre and the Summerville Orchestra.

Groups that were awarded grants before “May 1 will receive the full amount of their award,” said Theresa “T.J.” Wallace, assistant director of S.C. Humanities.

A Mellon reprieve

After the DOGE announcement, S.C. Humanities received a $200,000 emergency grant from the Mellon Foundation, which will help it continue until Oct. 31, the end of the federal fiscal year, Akers said.

“If they restore some funds to NEH, then maybe we can get back on our feet,” Akers told the Charleston City Paper. “But if they choose not to appropriate money to us, we are going to have to do something drastic.”

The options include cutting the S.C. Humanities’ five-member staff, merging with another institution or closing, said Akers, who was scheduled to retire June 30, ending a 37-year career at the helm of the 50-year-old agency.

S.C. Humanities has paused a search for Akers’ successor. It has asked him to stay until the issue is resolved.

“This is a weird farewell,” he said with a chuckle. “It is not exactly the way I wanted to go out.”

Telling America’s story

The cuts come at a bad time for the Berkeley County Museum. The museum was awarded a $10,000 S.C. Humanities grant to install an interactive digital exhibit that tells the story of the county’s Revolutionary War history, said the museum’s director, Chelsy Clark Proper. The exhibit, which costs $90,000, will go beyond the story of Revolutionary patriot Gen. Francis Marion to tell the story of loyalists, women and enslaved people, she said.

“We were lucky that we received our S.C. Humanities grant for it before the egregious funding cuts came through,” Proper said. “We are still looking for about $5,000 to finish paying for it before installation next month.”

Last year, S.C. Humanities partially sponsored the museum’s Colonial Day festival, which is a major fundraiser for the museum, she said.

“We had hoped to apply for these funds again, but S.C. Humanities isn’t providing grants at the moment,” she said. “While we’re still holding Colonial Day [Sept. 27], we’re having to find other sponsors to fill the gaps.”

The NEA also told the Charleston Symphony in late 2024 that it would fund a fellowship program for five emerging musicians and two future administrators of nonprofit arts programs. But earlier this spring, the symphony learned it would not receive the grant, said the symphony’s chief executive officer Michael A. Smith.

The upbeat Smith does not forecast doom and gloom for the 89-year-old symphony because of NEA’s denial. Attendance is up 75% since before the pandemic, the orchestra raised $16 million for an endowment after the pandemic and its operating budget has nearly doubled, he boasted.

“We will continue to fund [the fellowships] through operations,” Smith promised. “We will appeal to Charleston, and hopefully, our community rallies behind us and sees its importance.”

Funding continues

The S.C. State Library and the S.C. Arts Commission (SCAC) have, so far, dodged the DOGE cuts, the agencies said.

Some staffing and funding has been eliminated at the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), which supports libraries nationwide, but no effects have been felt in South Carolina, said Breanne Smith, the State Library’s associate deputy director.

The majority of SCAC’s “funding comes through state appropriations,” said Jason L. Rapp, the commission’s communications director.

If cuts do occur, he said, “we are fortunate that state appropriations are the bulk of our budget, and our leadership team has contingency plans in the event any are needed.”