The National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., ceased operations and canceled all programs during this year’s lengthy government shutdown. Photo by Bill O'Leary/The Washington Post via Getty Images

Since his inauguration (and even before), President Donald Trump has been at the center of nearly every political, social, constitutional, cultural and economic debate, roiling farmers, retailers, manufacturers and even the art market with his on-again, off-again tariffs, attempting to defund or abolish certain federal agencies, denouncing diversity, equity and inclusion programs at private and governmental institutions, promoting unproven claims about vaccine risks, firing federal employees, upending the lives of immigrants and on and on. Museums in the U.S., which in recent years have been the focus of protests by progressive groups opposed to both fossil fuel production and Israel’s actions in the Gaza Strip, this year found themselves under attack by his administration for the content of their exhibitions and their DEI policies. While actions by left-leaning groups have tended to be short-lived affairs, such as a one-day “die-in” protest of Sackler family funding at the Metropolitan Museum by photographer Nan Goldin or the tomato soup hurled onto the frames and glass covering paintings at various museums by Just Stop Oil, the threat of federal funding cutoffs represents a far more existential concern for museums across the country.

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Erin Harkey, chief executive officer of the Washington, D.C.-based Americans for the Arts, told Observer that “over the past year, the arts community has been hit hard. Major institutions are under pressure, and smaller organizations in rural and working-class communities are losing the grants they depend on. At the same time, we’re seeing growing resistance to creative expression and open dialogue. It adds up to one of the most pivotal moments for the arts in decades, and it threatens the shared fabric that holds us together as a country.”

A notable example is the administration’s effort to dismantle the Institute of Museum and Library Services, an independent federal agency that, since its creation in 1996, has been the principal source of federal funding for libraries and museums, awarding $266.7 million in grants in 2024. In May, a district court judge issued a temporary restraining order blocking the agency’s dissolution. Another major source of federal support, the National Endowments for the Arts and the Humanities, both created by Congress in 1965 and responsible for awarding hundreds of millions of dollars in grants in 2024, were ordered to reduce staff by 80 percent and rescind their 2025 grants.

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