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Dear friends,
We are reaching out to you to share some unfortunate news. On Friday evening, we received the unexpected news that the National Endowment for the Arts had terminated our $28,600 grant, most of which was awarded specifically to support the recent and most successful CityLit Festival we just wrapped.
According to the NEA, our work to uplift “literary programming” for readers and writers in the Baltimore region is “not a priority” and does not align with the new “grantmaking policy priorities to focus funding on projects that reflect the nation’s rich artistic heritage and creativity as prioritized by the President.”
The truth is that this is just one cut among many.
Several of our long-standing partners face major cuts to funding and staff. As a result, critical services we rely on, such as ASL interpretation and accessibility support, such as author honorariums and operational support, may not be covered next season, representing a loss of $22,500. We’ve been told that an expected $10,000 grant to support our programming will likely disappear. And with the NEA, that is an additional $28,600 lost. When you do the math, all told, that’s $61,100 in public funding at risk or already lost. We’re still waiting to hear from several other organizations about the state of funding affairs. We could use your help.
For a small nonprofit like CityLit, that is seismic.
If the NEA also terminates our current application, we will appeal their decision and do our best to reclaim lost support, but we need your help to continue our free programming for readers and writers. Make no mistake about it, the arts are at risk, here and across the country.
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Mailing Address
National Education Association
1201 16th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20036-3290
You can also support us by sharing our reel with your network to help spread the word and rally support for literary arts. Thank you for standing with us.
For more information, please read this statement* from U.S. RAO – the United States Regional Arts Organizations.
The Staff & Board of CityLit Project
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*When Congress passed the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965, it declared that “the arts and the humanities belong to all the people of the United States.” Since its inception, the NEA has played a critical role in broadening access to the cultural, educational, and economic benefits of the arts in every Congressional District. In fact, federal arts funds support thousands of communities across the nation, including 678 counties that private foundations do not reach.
Collectively, the NEA, Regional Arts Organizations, and State Arts Agencies serve thousands of communities across the country. And yet this work is funded by just 0.004% of the federal budget—less than 62 cents per American per year.
This low-investment, high-return model is a shining example of good government. Federal funds are successfully leveraged many times over by states and private funders to increase the impact of public dollars. Federal dollars don’t replace private investment—they attract it.
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To our literary friends leaving the NEA on May 30th, Amy Stolls, Katy Day-Yapa, Jessica Flynn, and Mohamed (Mo) Sheriff, there isn’t a word big enough to describe all you have done and what you all mean to the literary arts community across the country. For this small but fierce literary nonprofit in Baltimore, Maryland, you have been a force that guided us through possibility. Your impact on us and your listening ears about what true equity looks like will be remembered for the rest of our days. We hope you cross that threshold with your chins up and heads unbowed. You remind us every day that even in the dark, there may be light. THANK YOU from our hearts to yours.
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CityLit Project is a nonprofit 501c (3) organization.
CityLit Project
120 W. North Ave. Suite 201 | Baltimore, MD 21201
410-271-8793 | in**@************ct.org
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