Latest news with #NationalEndowmentfortheHumanities
USA Today
3 days ago
- Politics
- USA Today
Trump's hero garden gets funding boost with Big Beautiful Bill. Who will be in it?
President Donald Trump's project to build the "National Garden of American Heroes" has been awarded $40 million, thanks to the megabill dubbed the "Big Beautiful Bill." In February, Trump announced he had ordered the creation of a new national park to display statues of "the greatest Americans who ever lived." Trump signed a similar executive order in 2020, which former President Joe Biden revoked the following year. The order reviving the project was part of a larger initiative preparing for the 250th anniversary of America's independence, and the Trump administration appears to want the garden completed by July 2026. The National Endowment for the Humanities put out a call for people to apply for grants to create the statues to be completed between October and July. They would be assigned historic figures to depict in their statues by the NEH. So who might be memorialized in these statues? Here is what we know: Who will be in the 'National Garden of American Heroes?' The original order suggested the statues should depict "historically significant Americans" such as scientists, civil rights leaders, police officers, labor leaders, judges, authors and teachers, to name a few. "None will have lived perfect lives, but all will be worth honoring, remembering, and studying," the order from 2020 states. In 2021, days before leaving office, Trump signed an order expanding the list of people to nearly 200. Those include: Trump's reinstated order calls on the Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy to recommend other potential figures to include in the garden and bring the total number of people honored to 250. The White House did not provide an update on the final list of people who would be included. According to the NEH call for applications, the statues must be life-sized and made of marble, granite, bronze, copper or brass. Where will the hero garden be located? The location still has yet to be determined. The 2020 order specified that the park will be "on a site of natural beauty," near at least one population hub and avoid disrupting the local community. Trump first announced the plans in front of Mount Rushmore, and some people in South Dakota seem eager to bring the statue garden to the state as well. A mining company that owns land near Mount Rushmore offered some of that land for Trump's garden. "I would like to offer those same Black Hills as the perfect location for this garden," South Dakota Gov. Larry Rhoden said in a March 18 letter to Trump. "In fact, we have plot of land available in sight of Mount Rushmore that would be ideal for this fantastic effort." Contributing: Jason Lalljee, Maureen Groppe, Chris Mueller, USA TODAY Kinsey Crowley is the Trump Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach her at kcrowley@ Follow her on X and TikTok @kinseycrowley or Bluesky at @
Miami Herald
04-07-2025
- Politics
- Miami Herald
Donald Trump's Sculpture Garden Is One Step Closer To Reality
President Donald Trump's National Garden of American Heroes has moved a step closer following the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The bill, which was passed by Congress on Thursday, includes a provision for $40 million to be left available for the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) for the "procurement of statues" through the fiscal year 2028. Newsweek contacted the NEH via email for comment. The sculpture garden is one of Trump's key priorities ahead of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence next year. It was first announced in an Executive Order during his first term in 2021. The order said that the garden would be built to "reflect the awesome splendor of our country's timeless exceptionalism." The order added: "It will be a place where citizens, young and old, can renew their vision of greatness and take up the challenge that I gave every American in my first address to Congress, to 'believe in yourselves, believe in your future, and believe, once more, in America.'" The NEH said in April that the garden will feature life-size statues of 250 "great individuals from America's past who have contributed to our cultural, scientific, economic, and political heritage." It added that it will "create a public space where Americans can gather to learn about and honor American heroes." The agency said it would give selected artists awards of up to $200,000 per statue for the design and creation of up to three works made of marble, granite, bronze, copper, or brass. The NEH said the designs must represent "historical significant" figures identified by Executive Order 13978, including individuals such as John Adams, Clara Barton, Orville and Wilbur Wright, Douglas MacArthur, Martin Luther King Jr., and Christa McAuliffe. Around 240 names were listed in total. Artists, who were required to be U.S. citizens, had until July 1 to submit their applications. Acting NEH Chairman Michael McDonald said in April: "NEH is pleased to collaborate with NEA to bring to fruition the vision of a National Garden of American Heroes. The garden will provide the public with an opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of how the lives and accomplishments of these individuals have shaped our history and culture." Trump said in 2021: "The National Garden is America's answer to this reckless attempt to erase our heroes, values, and entire way of life. On its grounds, the devastation and discord of the moment will be overcome with abiding love of country and lasting patriotism. This is the American way. When the forces of anti-Americanism have sought to burn, tear down, and destroy, patriots have built, rebuilt, and lifted up. That is our history. America responded to the razing of the White House by building it back in the same place with unbroken resolve, to the murders of Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King, Jr., with a national temple and the Stone of Hope, and to the terrorism of 9/11 with a new Freedom Tower." He added: "In keeping with this tradition, America is responding to the tragic toppling of monuments to our founding generation and the giants of our past by commencing a new national project for their restoration, veneration, and celebration." Justin Shubow, president of the National Civic Art Society, told CNN: "No one wants an outdoor Madame Tussauds museum and it appears that the administration is taking the right steps to make sure that we get beautiful, inspiring works of art." It is not yet clear where the garden will be built, or when construction will begin. But the NEH said in April that the garden would be built ahead of the 250th anniversary of Independence Day in 2026. Related Articles Donald Trump Gets Polling Boost From HispanicsMan Sues Trump Admin To Keep 70 Million-Year-Old Tyrannosaurus SkullADL Slams Donald Trump for Saying 'Shylocks' 2025 NEWSWEEK DIGITAL LLC.
Boston Globe
04-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
From Christopher Columbus to Alex Trebek, Trump is spending millions on statues of ‘American heroes' while slashing arts funding
It's a typically grandiose plan from a former real estate mogul who has Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up The statues must be 'lifelike or abstract or modernist' representations of 'historically significant Americans," according to Advertisement They will be displayed in a yet-to-be-named 'site of natural beauty' with a stated deadline ofJuly 4, 2026. It was a highly ambitious timetable given the deadline to submit Advertisement Artists can receive as much as $200,000 per statue, which can be in marble, granite, bronze, copper, or brass. The project already had $34 million from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Endowment for the Arts, and received another $40 million in Trump's massive domestic policy bill approved on Thursday. The funneling of so much money into the statue garden while other arts projects have lost support has 'outraged' Representative Chellie Pingree, a Maine Democrat and leading congressional advocate for the arts. 'I think this is illegal for the president to transfer funds that were already granted to arts agencies all over the country to use for a project of his own making and his own purpose that wasn't approved by any broader authority,' she told the Globe. 'It's just his big idea of what he wants to do.' Urbanity Dance, a Boston non-profit contemporary dance company, was told in early May that a $15,000 grant from the NEA was being canceled, even though they had already completed the performance the grant was meant to support. The message said the NEA would now 'prioritize' other projects, including those that 'celebrate the 250th anniversary of American independence.' 'It was something we had come to rely upon over the years in order to produce community-based dance, which is really our focus,' Urbanity founder and director Betsi Graves said. The money was meant to help fund a March 28 dance performance with high school students from Boston Arts Academy that Graves described as 'all about standing up for others, especially in the face of cruelty and bully behavior.' Advertisement 'We received the offer, we put on the show that we said we were going to do, and then we had the rug pulled out from they don't even know what city they're going to be bringing [the sculpture garden] to yet?' Graves said. 'To hurt neighborhood community arts organizations to be able to fulfill a request from one person, or those closest to him, feels incredibly ego-fulfilling and selfish.' Trump unveiled the statute garden during 'Angry mobs are trying to tear down statues of our founders, deface our most sacred memorials, and unleash a wave of violent crime in our cities,' Trump said, standing in front of the mountain's carved faces of presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt. He described the statute garden as 'a new monument to the giants of our past...a vast outdoor park that will feature the statues of the greatest Americans to ever live.' In addition to an The order specifically named an eclectic group of 31 —among them Washington, Lincoln, abolitionist Frederick Douglas, World War II hero Audie Murphy, and the Wright Brothers, with the task force adding to it. Advertisement It also said that non-Americans such as Christopher Columbus (who never set foot in what is now the United States) were eligible if they 'made substantive contributions to America's public life or otherwise had a substantive effect on America's history.' That opened the door to the Canadian-born Trebek, Swedish actress Ingrid Bergman, and French general Marquis de Lafayette, who all made the final list. The goal was 250 statues for America's 250th birthday, but the NEH is working off list has not been updated publicly since. Some choices are controversial. They include Columbus, whose explorations helped launch colonization in the Americas; President Andrew Jackson, who forced Native Americans to march hundreds of miles from their land to open it up for US settlers; and automotive pioneer Henry Ford, who publicly espoused antisemitic views. 'There are lots of people on this list who would refuse to be in the same room with one another,' said Kirk Savage, a University of Pittsburgh art history professor who studies American monuments. 'But they're being, in a sense, conscripted into this project because of somebody else's idea of what America is supposed to look like in 2026.' He also foresaw logistical problems, including the 'unbelievably quick' July 4, 2026, timetable, the 'low ball" maximum $200,000 price per statue, and the undetermined location and installation process. 'As an art historian, I was kind of shocked at the lack of detail in the call for proposals,' he said. 'The artists are designing statues without knowing where they're going to be located.' Advertisement The governor of The project moves forward as the NEA has 'They've broken all these contracts at the NEA and the NEH that were going to legitimate small groups in every single state that really benefit each of our communities,' Pingree said. 'It's just repurposing the funds because he thinks it's a good idea.' This spring, Lee Blake, president of the New Bedford Historical Society, was about to notify people who had been accepted into the society's program funded by a $180,000 NEH grant when she learned it had been cancelled. The money would have underwritten an educational program for 80 teachers, mostly from waterfront communities, about the maritime underground railroad that ran through New Bedford. The historical society first received NEH funding for the program 15 years ago, Blake said. Now that money could go to a garden in a single location instead of a history course that reaches innumerable communities. 'You're going to have this hero park. How are people going to get there?' she said. 'It's not like it's democratic and spread throughout the country. It's going to become a tourist place where only a few people are going to be able to afford to go.' Advertisement Jim Puzzanghera can be reached at
San Francisco Chronicle
10-06-2025
- Politics
- San Francisco Chronicle
Federal arts agency lays off staff, cuts California grants, funds Trump statues
The National Endowment for the Humanities laid off nearly two-thirds of its workforce this week, the latest in a series of sweeping changes under President Donald Trump's administration aimed at dramatically reshaping the federal agency. Approximately 100 employees were dismissed in a broad 'reduction in force' on Tuesday, June 10, according to the American Federation of Government Employees Local 3403, which represents NEH workers. Fewer than 60 staff members remain at the agency, which oversees an annual $207 million budget to support public history, libraries, museums and education programs across the country, including many in the Bay Area. 'A major agency restructuring is underway without the appropriate planning needed to ensure the continuity of operations,' the union said in a statement. 'These drastic changes … represent an existential threat to those institutions and individuals who rely on support from NEH to research, preserve, and interpret our shared heritage.' Since its founding in 1965, the National Endowment for the Humanities has awarded more than $6 billion in grants to a wide range of recipients. Funding cuts have already reverberated throughout the Bay Area's arts landscape. Earlier this spring, dozens of local cultural organizations — including SFJazz, Frameline and the Oakland Theater Project — received abrupt notices that their NEH and NEA support had been rescinded. Meanwhile, it has launched a new grant program — offering up to $600,000 per artist — to commission statues for President Donald Trump's proposed 'Garden of Heroes' monument celebrating American figures. 'It is absurd to think that grant dollars that were being used to do things like publish President George Washington's writings, restore Mark Twain's artifacts, and support civics education are instead being directed to commission statues,' the union added. 'While NEH staff have the expertise to help provide historic context about these individuals and their impact, commissioning the artworks falls well outside of the agency's purview. History is not something that can be set in stone.' From 2019 to 2023, California institutions and individuals received more than $66 million in NEH funding through 393 awards, supporting a wide array of cultural and educational initiatives across the state, according to California Humanities, NEH's humanities affiliate in California. Among the recipients was San Francisco State University professor Mihaela Mihailova, whose research examines the role of deepfakes in contemporary media, exploring how the technology intersects with art, activism and digital storytelling. Meanwhile, the San Diego Air and Space Museum launched a major effort to digitize and preserve 120,000 historical image negatives from its Convair collection, documenting nearly a century of aerospace history. NEH also provides annual support to California Humanities, the state's official humanities council. Its flagship programs — such as Humanities for All — fund community-based projects that foster civic dialogue and mutual understanding. Another key initiative, the California Documentary Project, supports independent filmmakers and media creators who explore the state's diversity and complexity through film, audio and digital storytelling. These now-endangered programs underscore the broad cultural reach of NEH funding — and the scale of what may be lost amid the agency's dramatic retrenchment.
The Star
10-06-2025
- Business
- The Star
About 100 National Endowment for the Humanities employees to be laid off: union
NEW YORK, June 10 (Xinhua) -- Approximately two-thirds of the staff at the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), the largest public funder of the humanities in the United States, will lose their jobs when their "reduction in force" goes into effect on Tuesday, according to their union, the American Federation of Government Employees Local 3403. "A major agency restructuring is underway without the appropriate planning needed to ensure the continuity of operations," the local said in a statement. "These drastic changes ... represent an existential threat to those institutions and individuals who rely on support from NEH to research, preserve, and interpret our shared heritage." The NEH did not respond to a request for comment. Less than 60 employees are expected to remain. The agency has a 207 million U.S. dollars budget to fund humanities programs such as history, law, literature, philosophy, and linguistics. In early April, NEH terminated more than 1,000 existing grants, including one for the National History Day competition and grants for state humanities councils in all 50 states. The agency has already quietly posted that roughly half of its funding opportunities will not be offered in the next fiscal year or will no longer be offered at all, reported USA Today about the development.
