The Trump administration abruptly canceled federal grants Wednesday to 55 state and regional organizations that fund local programs devoted to the humanities, including in Massachusetts. Cambridge cultural, historical and arts programs have received financial help from the state organization that lost its grant, MassHumanities, but were not affected – “for now,” said a staff member of one local grantee, the Dance Complex.
MassHumanities is losing almost 35 percent of its budget, or more than $1.3 million, it said on its website. It urged people to write their legislators, offer to help a local humanities organization and donate to MassHumanities. The future of the federal agency that canceled the grants, the National Endowment for the Humanities, is uncertain. Reportedly 80 percent of its staff has been laid off on orders of Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency. A spokesperson for the NEH didn’t immediately respond to an email asking for the reason for the cuts.
“In a word, the effects [of the NEH funding cuts] are devastating,” MassHumanities spokesperson Wes DeShano said. “That said, Mass Humanities is committed to continuing our 2025 grants and programs.”
One Cambridge organization, History Cambridge, formerly the Cambridge Historical Society, received a grant directly from the National Endowment for the Humanities. History Cambridge was awarded $20,000 for its Neighborhood Storyteller project, according to a list of grants on the NEH website.
The award was for the period from April 2024 to November. Marieke Van Damme, executive director of History Cambridge, said the organization had received the entire grant, so the cuts disclosed last week didn’t affect it. “We finished our project and put our toolkit up on our website,” she said in an email.
The federal agency, which is authorized by Congress, also directly supported projects at area colleges and universities, including Harvard University, Boston University, the University of Massachusetts, Boston, and Northeastern University. Other direct grants included funds for the U.S.S. Constitution Museum.
Dance Complex
In Cambridge, the Dance Complex received a grant from MassHumanities last year for a project called “Dancing through Time: the Untold Stories of the Dance Complex.” It was to include a podcast, website, performances and a live display that presented “dance narratives,” according to a description provided by MassHumanities.
The Dance Complex has drawn down $9,000 of its $20,000 grant. The money for the grant came to MassHumanities from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state government agency, not from the NEH, so the Dance Complex was not affected by the federal cuts.
Rachel Roccoberton, operations and development director of the Dance Complex, said the organization understands “we haven’t been directly affected by the federal cuts – yet.”
Peter DiMuro, executive artistic director of the Dance Complex, explained the connection between dance and the “public humanities” that NEH promoted. “Like music, dance has the ability to honor and lift the similarities among humans – and become the place where we respectfully adapt and adopt the elements among each other’s dances as a form of reconciliation – we create a bond to move humanity peacefully forward,” DiMuro said in an email. “Dance engenders compassion and empathy; it’s hard to hate another human when you are dancing together.”
“These cuts to NEH, and as we see, other areas of government, intend to squelch not only our voices or expression but also the means – the tools and the strategies – of how we learn to overcome differences and live in a democratic society,” he said.
Massachusetts Cultural Council
The Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency, provides financial support to MassHumanities and has awarded grants directly to local groups. The council does get federal money – from the National Endowment for the Arts, not from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
“The money that comes to and from the Mass Cultural Council has not been affected yet, at least through the end of the state fiscal year,” spokesperson Christian Kelly said. “Fiscal 2026, I don’t want to say.” The fiscal year turns over June 30, putting the new fiscal year less than three months away.
Most of the council’s support comes from the state government. As for the future of its federal funding source, the National Endowment for the Arts, “we’re kind of in a wait-and-see and also hope-for-the-best,” Kelly said.
The city of Cambridge has contributed substantial city funds to support local arts and cultural groups. The Cambridge Arts Council, known as Cambridge Arts, is funded by the city, the Massachusetts Cultural Council, the National Endowment for the Arts and donations. Cambridge Arts announced last month that the city and the local arts council were awarding more than $300,000 in grants to 60 artists, cultural organizations and grant reviewers. About $120,000 came from the Massachusetts Cultural Council.
One of Cambridge Arts’ most well-known projects is the annual River Festival along the Charles River, which returned in 2024 after a four-year gap. It includes music, visual art, dance, theater, poetry and food and attracts about 200,000 people, according to Cambridge Arts.
Cambridge Arts spokesperson Greg Cook said: “We don’t yet know the impact of the federal cuts.” Still, he said: “I’m deeply concerned.” He said Cambridge Arts is “committed to offering similar grant funding to our community in the next fiscal year” as it did this year, and will advocate for the funds in the city’s budget process.
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