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Vermont Humanities director tells Senate the program weathered NEH cuts, asks for 10% state boost
Summary
Christopher Kaufman Illustrup told the Senate Institutions committee that Vermont Humanities lost $630,000 after April 2025 federal grant cuts, scaled back staff and programs, and is asking the legislature for a symbolic 10% increase to its roughly $300,000 state appropriation.
Christopher Kaufman Illustrup, executive director of Vermont Humanities, told the Senate Institutions committee on Feb. 17 that the organization lost a significant chunk of funding when federal grants were cut in April 2025 and asked lawmakers for a modest state increase to help sustain programming.
"Bottom line for us is that $630,000 of lawfully appropriated funding vanished overnight," Illustrup said, describing staff reductions and canceled programs after the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) grants to state humanities councils were eliminated. He said Vermont Humanities went from 13 full-time staff to about 10 and had to suspend or curtail some initiatives, though the Vermont Reads shared-reading program has continued.
The Vermont Reads program pairs one book each year with community projects and author events; Illustrup highlighted recent successes, including widespread community projects around last…
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