ArtSEA: NEA tells Northwest arts orgs their funding is ‘terminated’

Sent to NEA grantees (including those awaiting NEA-recommended funds), the after-hours Friday-night alert explained that the arts endowment “may terminate a federal award … if an award no longer effectuates the program goals or agency priorities.” 

The email included a list of new agency priorities, several of which seemed to suggest a surprising direction in funding, such as projects that: “celebrate the 250th anniversary of American independence,” “foster AI competency,” “empower houses of worship to serve communities,” “make America healthy again” and “make the District of Columbia safe and beautiful.”

NEA grants are mostly in the $20,000 - $40,000 range — not enormous but essential to the financially challenged sector.

Local grantees receiving notices of “withdrawal” or “termination” of funds (slightly different depending on the timing of the grants) ranged from small organizations, such as Base: Experimental Arts + Space, which provides rehearsal space for dance artists, to midsized nonprofits like Town Hall Seattle and larger orgs including Seattle Art Museum and Seattle Symphony. 

Groups were given seven days (deadline today) to plead their case if they believe their project fits within the agency’s new priorities. If President Trump eliminates the NEA altogether, as he has proposed, it’s unclear whether these new terms would be moot. Certainly the impact on the future of arts and culture initiatives would be staggering. 

Among the local orgs whose NEA grants were terminated is SIFF, aka the Seattle International Film Festival, which kicks off its 51st edition next week (May 15 - 25). “We’re still working to understand the impacts of the recent announcement,” a SIFF representative said, noting that SIFF had been operating with two NEA grant awards in support of education and festival activities between June 2024 and July 2025.

But this year’s festival will go on! Watch for my SIFF recommendations and behind-the-scenes scoop on several locally made movies in next week’s newsletter. For now I’ll mention one world-premiere film that’s close to home: Wolf Land, a documentary conceived, filmed and produced by my Cascade PBS colleagues including director Sarah Hoffman and cinematographer Bryce Yukio Adolphson. 

Shot in verite style in remote northeastern Washington, the film explores the age-old clash between wildlife and humans. In this instance, the story is told through “wolf-protecting cowboy” Daniel Curry and fourth-generation rancher Jerry Francis. 

“Human/wildlife conflict is a story typically told in polarizing extremes,” notes Hoffman in her director’s statement. “Our goal with this film was to document two people in the middle of this conflict searching to meet in the middle to protect what’s most dear to each of them: for Daniel, endangered wolves; for Jerry, his cattle and way of life.”

With his cattle surrounded by three different wolf packs in nearby woods — canines that have killed his cows previously — rancher Francis works with Curry to implement non-lethal ways to deter the wolves from attacking. It’s a nuanced portrait with on-the-ground perspectives, plus lots of howling. Wolf Land screens at Shoreline Community College (May 17, 5:30 p.m.) and AMC Pacific Place (May 18, 1:30 p.m.)

Amid the turmoil caused by the new administration’s approach to arts and culture, there is still good news to celebrate. Longtime Seattle choreographer Donald Byrd, of Spectrum Dance Theater, was recently awarded the prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship, joining the 100th class of Guggenheim Fellows. (Learn more about Byrd in our Black Arts Legacies profile.) 

Northwest artist and muralist Shogo Ota has been selected as the official “host city poster artist” for the FIFA World Cup in 2026. Watch for his electric whale-tail design to start fluking up all over. 

And earlier this week (May 5), we learned that Seattle artist/illustrator Tessa Hulls won a Pulitzer Prize for “best memoir or autobiography” for her graphic novel Feeding Ghosts.

With a captivating comic-book style, Hulls tells a historical, psychological and deeply personal story of three generations of Chinese women. Read my coverage of this incredible honor, and keep in mind: this is her first book!

More wonderful news from the Pulitzer committee: Seattle writer Stacey Levine was named a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in fiction. Her stylized and mysterious novel Mice 1969 follows two orphaned sisters (one of whose appearance earned her the nickname “Mice”) through the lens of a shadowy roommate.

As I noted when I wrote about the book upon its release in March 2024, Levine has a remarkable talent for precise and unexpected descriptors — which adds to the eerie feeling of this coming-of-age Cold War-era tale. (For behind-the-scenes Pulitzer drama, read how this year’s fiction winner was selected.)

I love that these two particular books by Seattle women earned Pulitzer attention — each so different from the other yet both intimate stories of female families, told in unconventional ways.

Also on the literary front this weekend:

• Acclaimed nonfiction writer Rebecca Solnit (Men Explain Things to Me) will appear at Town Hall on Mother’s Day (May 11, 7:30 p.m.) to discuss her latest essay collection No Straight Road Takes You There. Related: Town Hall was another local org whose NEA funding was canceled: $20,000, slated for the nonprofit’s Global Rhythms concert series, which the NEA has supported for the past 15 years.

• The Seattle Art Book Fair is back (May 10-11 at Washington Hall), showcasing lovely and unusual takes on indie book design and artful books. See also: zines, comic books, cards and more old-school paper goodness from 85+ vendors.

• Dreaming in Analog (May 9, 7 p.m. at The Moore Theatre) is a musical celebration of beloved Seattle journalist and author Charles R. Cross. A music writer and Crosscut contributor for many years, Cross died suddenly in August. Timed with what would’ve been his 68th birthday, this concert features many musicians Cross wrote about over the years, including Sir Mix-A-Lot, Nancy Wilson (of Heart) and Eva Walker of The Black Tones.

The last bit of literary news is one of loss. Seattle poet Martha Silano passed away on May 5 after an 18-month battle with A.L.S. A vibrant outdoorswoman who published five books of poetry, Silano had recently been writing exclusively about her experience of the disease that had overtaken her body. (“I’ve always written poems, so why wouldn’t I now?” she told UW Magazine in November.)

While the physical progression of the illness eventually made it difficult for Silano to speak, it did not rob her of her remarkable gift for words. In fact her poems about dying throb with life and hyperawareness and (her specialty) humor — even in the face of devastating circumstances. Read “Self-Elegies” and “Is This My Last Ferry Trip?” at the Poetry Foundation, and watch for her final collection, Terminal Surreal, coming out in September.