Grant cuts hit GA culture, education programs. Who will feel the impact?

One by one, humanities councils across the nation began receiving alarming emails last week regarding a federal decision that would alter the course of their work for the foreseeable future.

On April 2, President of Georgia Humanities Council Mary Wearn said she found the grim news in her junk mail inbox — an official notice from the National Endowment for the Humanities confirming the immediate cancellation of all federal grants.

This announcement followed the Department of Government Efficiency’s decision to drastically reduce NEH’s budget and eliminate over half of its workforce.

“The NEH cut our five-year general operating grant, which brought nearly $4 million into the state over the last three years,” Wearn told The Telegraph. “The cut was made without warning. A major federal grant, appropriated by Congress for the people of Georgia, was terminated effective immediately.”

Wearn said the organization’s budget that was set for this year is “just absolutely devastated” and “gone.” She said its ability to fundraise and get grant money is significantly impacted.

“Unless we get a remedy, we don’t know how we’re going to be able to continue operations and all of the really important programming that we do for the state of Georgia,” she said. “We are at an existential threat.”

What’s at stake with loss of federal money?

For over 50 years, Georgia Humanities has helped organizations statewide promote cultural heritage and education through various programming.

Now, those programs are in peril without federal funding, Wearn said.

This includes grants that help keep Georgia’s history alive and accessible by funding oral history collections, artifact preservation, documentaries, music festivals, libraries’ story times and literacy programs.

Programs that educate thousands of K-12 teachers, students and journalists — including teacher trainings and historical research efforts through National History Day Georgia, the New Georgia Encyclopedia and the America Commemoration 250 events — are also in jeopardy, Wearn said.

“This loss won’t just impact us. It will affect schools, universities, cultural institutions, and communities across Georgia,” Wearn said. “Last year alone, we partnered with more than 250 local organizations. If these cuts stand, the cultural landscape of our state will be forever changed.”

Wesleyan College did not respond to questions about how its joint project with the Tubman African American Museum — which examines how the historic Igbo Landing site has been preserved and mythologized in Black folklore — will be affected.

Wearn emphasized that the federal cuts are a big loss to the organization’s goal of connecting communities and providing a sense of identity while sharing Georgia’s culture.

“We do very important work, especially in a moment when you know where there are political divides. People are suffering from loneliness and isolation, and there’s misinformation,” she said.

What has been impacted in Macon?

The NEH funded many educational programs, including advanced Spanish and French courses at Mercer University that focused on immigrant and refugee experiences in local Haitian and Hispanic communities. The research project was funded by a $150,000 NEH grant, not through Georgia Humanities.

Katherine Roseau, an associate professor of French who co-directed the research program, shared the official grant termination notice online.

“On April 3, I woke up to the news that my NEH grant (co-directed by Libertad Aranza) was terminated, as of April 2, as a result of an executive order and DOGE’s gutting of research, outreach, and education in the United States,” she said in the post.

The notice reads, “NEH has reasonable cause to terminate your grant in light of the fact that the NEH is repurposing its funding allocations in a new direction in furtherance of the President’s agenda. The President’s February 19, 2025, executive order mandates that the NEH eliminate all non-statutorily required activities and functions. Your grant’s immediate termination is necessary to safeguard the interests of the federal government, including its fiscal priorities.”

Students in Roseau’s class worked to amplify immigrants’ voices beyond mere immigrant status while also conducting oral history research on those communities and learning about the social and political issues that they face.

Mentions of the immigration and oral histories special topics class were scrapped from Mercer University’s website, The Telegraph noticed mid-March.

Mercer did not provide a comment prior to publication on if the class will be available for students to take in the future without the federal grant.

Although the Historic Macon Foundation isn’t heavily reliant on federal funding Executive Director Nathan Lott said the organization has received support from Georgia Humanities in the past.

“We are not sure if similar grants will be available in the future,” Lott said in an email, reflecting many concerns organizations have voiced nationwide in regard to the future of cultural preservation projects.

“However, I can substantiate that the support of Georgia Humanities helped Historic Macon to host author talks with historians of Georgia and the South; those funds also recirculated in the local economy as we used them to pay local entities for lodging, catering and event venues,” Lott added.

What’s next?

As of Monday, Wearn said Georgia Humanities had not received any additional information about funding from NEH.

In the meantime, she said the staff is working to be strategic amid the stripping of funds.

“I will say we are tiny but mighty. We always work very hard with very few resources. That’s just what we do,” Wearn said. “So we are being very strategic about our programs that are most sustainable, which means the grants should be able to move forward as long as we have state funding.”

Public humanities councils and jurisdictions nationwide said they are not giving up, asking for the public to help push back on the decision.

“Contact your representative and urge them to restore the NEH funding,” Wearn said, calling for support and advocacy to ensure the sustainability of Georgia Humanities.

The public can also donate to directly help sustain Georgia Humanities programs while the organization advocates for Congressional action.

Wearn said the organization remains committed to moving forward with programs already underway, including our spring grant awards and the upcoming Ocmulgee Rising event in Macon.

This story was originally published April 11, 2025 at 10:46 AM.