There will be “chaotic, seismic change happening in Washington” as a result of the 2024 Election, with uncertain impact on the arts on a national, state and local level. Arts advocates need to adjust their messages to get support from the new administration.

Those were the main takeaways from a Webinar yesterday about the impact of the election on the arts, conducted with arts advocates led by Nina Ozlu Tunceli, the executive director of the Americans for the Arts Action Fund. The 90-minute discussion with eight speakers made a deep dive into the new landscape, laying out the main agenda of the incoming Trump administration, as well as personnel changes in Congress and on the state level, suggesting potential threats to state arts agencies and offering some good news about the success of local initiatives. It was dense and practical, accompanied by a series of slides.

Below are highlights, and beneath that a video of the full session.

After describing the extent of Donald Trumps win, Tunceli summarized what Trump has said will be his priorities. She concluded: “All this costs money. It’s going to take away money on discretionary programs, and that includes the arts.”

Tunceli offered feedback based on conversations with members of the Trump transition team members working specifically on arts issues:

“From day one, the first thing you’re going to see is a discontinuation of DEI policies and programming. That happens at the federal cultural agencies. But it’s not limited to the federal culture agencies. It’s going to happen from the Department of Defense, Department of Labor, EPA. Go down the list. Every single federal program and agency is going to be adjusted on this front.

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And it’s going to be done by executive order. It does not have to change legislatively. But I will tell you that there are several very conservative [bills] that have attempted to be added to remove this kind of DEI work over the last four years that did not pass. But those kinds of things are going to pass now under this new climate.

Next, in terms of a positive thing, we think that the culture agencies are going to put a big focus on celebrating America 250, which is the Sesquicentennial of America, 250 years anniversary that culminates in 2026. That is an area that is something that is near and dear to the president, members of his administration campaign and supporters. And so this is something that the current NEH [National Endowment for the Humanities] were already involved in. I think you’re just going to see a very stepped-up level in this kind of work. 

The next area, also the current administration was doing already, and that was broadening arts projects to reach more rural areas. You’re just going to see it on hyper mode in the incoming administration, assuming we get the budgets and we’re securing the budgets for these agencies.

Same true for the next area: NEA (National Endowment for the Humanities) has been doing groundbreaking work in arts and military, with veterans as well. And it’s just going to be on hyper mode moving into the next administration.

A slight twist on economic impact is not just talking about the economic impact on the community with number of jobs, income raise, things like that. But it’s going to also…totalk about the human factor.

Okay, so there’s great economic impact. What does that mean at a human level for the residents of that community and within that state? Does that mean they have more choices of a diverse art disciplines that they get to go see? Do they get lower ticket prices?

We’re going to have to articulate that a little bit better.I think that’s a good thing, actually, and the way to go. 

And then finally, small businesses were an important feature under the Biden administration , and they are going to be double that under the Trump administration and articulating how all of our arts groups, whether we’re nonprofits.for-profits or individual artists co-ops. We’re all small businesses. And we are contributors to the economy.

And identifying ourselves that way, I think is going to be important.”

On a state and local level, there is potentially bad news, if Trump carries out the threats he made in the past, of eliminating the NEA

The election also presented some slivers of good news for the arts on a local level

Cuyahoga County, where Cleveland is located, uses a sales tax on cigarettes to support the arts. (Details)