‘Very tragic.’ At least four Charlotte arts groups lost NEA grants under Trump
Four Charlotte arts and culture groups have now confirmed this week they were among the hundreds of organizations nationwide to lose their National Endowment of the Arts grants, a casualty of cuts from an agency President Donald Trump wants to eliminate.
That includes JazzArts Charlotte.
JazzArts Charlotte was awarded two NEA grants, a first for the 15-year-old organization. One grant for $20,000 was set to expand the group’s monthly JAZZ Room concert series. And another grant for $10,000 would support its jazz education programs for youths and training for school band directors.
“It had been our dream to receive funding from the National Endowment for the Arts because it does signify that you are worthy of of federal support and federal recognition as an arts organization,” said Lonnie Davis, the president and founder of JazzArts, in an interview Thursday with The Charlotte Observer. “This is very tragic.”
Three Bone Theatre and Charlotte Ballet confirmed on Tuesday that they too had lost their grant funding. And the McColl Center told the Charlotte Observer on Friday its grant was gone too.
The center was awarded a $40,000 for this year to support a summer artist residency program for artists who are parents, caregivers or educators.
Three other arts groups in the Charlotte region currently have NEA grants, a Charlotte Observer review of the agency’s database revealed: Charlotte is Creative, Children’s Theatre of Charlotte and the Lancaster County Council of the Arts in South Carolina.
It’s unclear whether the other Charlotte organizations were impacted. But Arts North Carolina, a statewide arts advocacy organization, said in a news release that nearly $500,000 in grants were rescinded from organizations in the state. It’s also unclear how many organizations were affected on the national scale.
The NEA has started rescinding a number of grants nationwide.
Charlotte Is Creative co-founder Tim Miner said the organization’s grant hasn’t been impacted yet — but his concern for his organization and others have only increased.
“It’s distressing. Not just for us but the whole sector because that funding is critical,” Miner said. “It allows organizations to feel stable and be able to take the creative risks they need in order to grow.”
Charlotte Ballet loses NEA grant
Charlotte Ballet was planning to use its $15,000 NEA grant money to give free dance training to students in Mecklenburg County, but the organization received word Friday that the grant was rescinded.
The funding would have supported the organization’s Reach program, according to Doug Singleton, executive director of Charlotte Ballet.
“This nationally recognized need-based dance scholarship program makes quality dance training accessible to our Mecklenburg County community,” Singleton said in a statement to the Observer. “Charlotte Ballet is dedicated to providing all communities access to arts-based opportunities that nurture meaningful connections and create spaces of belonging.”
JazzArts Charlotte seeks community help after loss of NEA grants
JazzArts’ grants were going to a similar program.
One of the organization’s primary focus is its JazzArts Academy, which has served over 50,000 students since 2011. It provides hands-on training and music education that benefits youth even if they aren’t looking to become artists in the future, Davis said.
“We don’t do what we do just for the sake of art. It enriches the leaders of tomorrow,” Davis said. “They’re not just going to be musicians but they’re going to be doctors, lawyers and engineers... It’s about us shaping our society for the future.”
JazzArts’ other grant was set to bring in more talent for its JAZZ Room music series.
The funding, Davis said, was going toward the groups’ 2025-26 fiscal year budget, which starts July 1. The plan is to continue both programs but the group will need to find the funding.
JazzArts is asking for community support now more than ever.
“Worst-case scenario is that this hole is not filled,” Davis said. “It is very exhausting but when you believe in the work that you do and you know how it impacts the people that you serve, you have no other choice but to move forward and find a way to make it happen.”
Charlotte theater company reeling after NEA grant cut
Three Bone confirmed it was losing the remainder of a $20,000 grant that it had already partially spent. “It was just really heartbreaking,” said Robin Tynes-Miller, the theater’s artistic and operations director, in an interview with The Charlotte Observer.
The grant was to support its productions of “The Greek Trilogy,” written by MacArthur Genius Grant Winner Luis Alfaro. It’s three modern retellings of classic Greek tragedies from a Chicano and Latino perspective.
The company already produced one of the plays, “Mojada: A Medea in Los Angeles,” last year with part of the grant money. Tynes-Miller said about a third of the grant already has been spent.
“I don’t think anybody on our team was surprised. We’ve seen the cuts coming down,” she said.
““This was our first National Endowment for the Arts grant,” Tynes-Miller added. “We worked really hard to get this funding and to get to this point where we could be recognized for our work.”
The small, 13-year-old theater troupe put out an open letter to the community on its website Tuesday seeking support, through donations, attending shows, becoming a sponsor or contacting Congress about the NEA cuts.
So what’s next for Three Bone?
In August, the group will produce the second play “Electricidad,” though without the federal grant. The third show also will be produced, Tynes-Miller said. A date has not been set for it yet.
An NEA spokesperson could not be immediately be reached for comment.
What other groups around Charlotte have NEA grants?
Here are details for the other Charlotte-area groups with current NEA grants, according to a federal database of those allocations:
▪ Children’s Theatre of Charlotte was awarded a $25,000 grant this year to support a production of Kelly Starling Lyons’ “Tiara’s Hat Parade,” about the enduring bond between mother and daughter. The company staged the world premiere of that show from Feb, 22-March 9. It was part of the theater’s Kindness Project, its initiative to develop and commission original plays for young audiences that emphasize the importance of kindness.
A Children’s Theatre official could not immediately be reached for comment.
The theater group also had received four other NEA grants between 2016-2023, records show, with amounts ranging from $10,000 to $35,000.
▪ Charlotte is Creative, the arts networking group, was awarded a $75,000 grant last year that was to run from June 2024 through May 2026. It’s for its HUG Microgrant Program that focuses on funding applications from underrepresented artists to support costs such as equipment and studio rentals.
▪ The Lancaster County Council of the Arts has a $25,000 grant that covers all of this year and runs through December 2026. It’s for design and installation of public art along the Lindsay Pettus Greenway. A council official could not immediately be reached for comment.
In Concord, the Cabarrus Arts Council had received a $10,000 grant to support artist fees for touring arts performances for students. That program was aimed at K-12 students, the majority of whom are low-income and identify as Mexican Indigenous/Latinx and Black in Cabarrus County and Kannapolis.
The grant ran from January through April of this year, records show.
About the National Endowment for the Arts
Created in 1965, the NEA is an independent federal agency and the largest funder of art programming in the nation. It receives about $200 million in federal dollars annually, the Washington Post reported.
And some of that funding goes to organizations that don’t typically receive private donations, said Nate McGaha, executive director of Arts North Carolina.
Another portion of the NEA’s funding, about 40% McGaha said, goes to groups like Arts North Carolina that dole out their funds. For example, Arts NC has its Grassroots Arts Program that provides per capita funding for arts programs in all 100 counties in the state.
It’s unclear whether NEA funding given to Arts NC will be affected, McGaha noted.
But ultimately, the NEA money has funneled into a majority of North Carolina art programs, McGaha said. A change in the funding could put some of these programs at risk.
But the NEA, along with the National Endowment for the Humanities, are facing their own potential termination as part of Trump’s federal budget cut proposals — especially when it comes to programs geared toward culture and diversity.
As the NEA works to move funds into areas met with Trump’s approval, such as celebrations planned for the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence signing, high-level officials are leaving the organization in droves as of Monday, The New York Times reported.
This is also not the first time Trump has tried to eliminate both agencies. He attempted to do so for the 2018 fiscal budget but Congress ultimately denied the proposal.
If Trump’s proposal to eliminate the NEA and NEH moves forward in the budget process, Congress still needs to approve the measure.
Charlotte Observer reporter Chase Jordan and The Herald’s John Marks contributed to this story.
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This story was originally published May 6, 2025 at 1:44 PM.
