California lawmakers hear warnings as federal cuts threaten arts, humanities and libraries

Sen. Ben Allen (chair), Vice Chair Assemblymember Christopher Ward and members of a joint legislative committee convened witnesses on the state of the arts to hear testimony that federal actions and proposed budget cuts to the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) have produced immediate financial disruptions for institutions across California.

The hearing brought national and statewide arts leaders, museum and library directors, documentary filmmakers and local cultural organizations to the Capitol to describe cancelled grants, halted projects and threatened staff positions. Erin Harkey, chief executive officer of Americans for the Arts, said, “The arts are essential. These institutions, NEA, NEH, IMLS are essential.” California-based leaders described grant rescissions already announced by federal agencies and asked whether the state would intervene to protect programs that serve schools, rural communities and underserved audiences.

Witnesses detailed concrete impacts and sums. Harkey reported nationally that federal grant rescissions and uncertainty are creating immediate fiscal harm and leveraged losses at state and local levels; she said California received more than 2,000 NEA grants totaling over $70 million since 2020, including more than $8 million to the California Arts Council. Rick Noguchi, president and CEO of California Humanities, told lawmakers that California Humanities — a 50-year nonprofit partner of the NEH with an annual budget of about $4.5 million — was told on April 2 that its federal funding was being repurposed; Noguchi said roughly $970,000 in FY2025 grants that were in process would not be awarded and about $2 million of FY2026 grants were at risk. He said, “After 50 years of serving California, our funding was cut immediately and without warning.”

Library and museum leaders described parallel dislocations. Greg Lucas, California State Librarian, said a portion of IMLS funding was temporarily set aside but that the library faced a $3.4 million hole in the current fiscal year and about half of next year’s federal allocation was being held. Danielle Purcell, director of the California Arts Council, said NEA termination notices appeared to be "selectively widespread" and that the council was conducting a damage assessment. Several nonprofit organizations described cancelled awards that fund staff, teaching artists, exhibits, preservation and K–12 programming.

Community organizations gave granular examples. The Armory Center for the Arts in Pasadena documented $410,000 in suddenly lost grants, including $140,000 that supported staff salaries and $30,000 for an NEA exhibition; the Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation said it lost a $25,000 NEH award and a $70,000 IMLS award; the Fleet Science Center reported a $3.7 million NSF project that was terminated; and the Japanese American National Museum said approximately $1.5 million in recent grant awards had been canceled and that the institution could face the loss of roughly 20% of its annual budget. Documentary filmmaker Jacob Kornbluth said, “Every single one of those dollars is now gone,” describing halted postproduction and loss of paid crew jobs.

Speakers also emphasized the economic scale of the creative sector: Harkey cited a $1.2 trillion national arts economy and data that arts and culture contribute roughly $289 billion and support more than 800,000 jobs in California, representing about 7.5% of the state’s GDP. Adam Fowler, an economist, urged legislators to view arts and culture as part of the state’s research-and-development and cluster advantage, arguing that dollars directed at California’s dense creative ecosystem “change hands locally so many more times” and produce outsized returns.

Lawmakers and witnesses discussed possible responses. Witnesses urged the state to consider stopgap funding, restore previously proposed state grants, and explore long-term mechanisms such as dedicated state funding, bond measures or expanded state programs to protect cultural infrastructure and jobs. California Association of Museums and other statewide advocates asked the Legislature to restore a $27.9 million museum grant program that was defunded in the prior budget and to invest in other statewide programs that support museums, libraries and local arts providers. Julie Baker of Californians for the Arts outlined cuts at the state level and urged restoration of $5 million for the California Arts Council and reauthorization of targeted relief programs for performing arts payroll.

No formal action or votes were taken at the hearing. Committee chairs closed by urging public engagement and local advocacy as state budget decisions approach, and they signaled follow‑up briefings and requests for more information from federal agencies and state departments.

The hearing underscored uncertainty on multiple tracks: agency appeals and pending litigation against the federal terminations; congressional appropriations decisions for FY2026; and state budget choices in the near term. Witnesses repeatedly asked the Legislature to consider both immediate, short-term relief for organizations that have lost funded projects and longer-term structural responses to protect the creative workforce and California’s cultural institutions.