Humanities Montana received notice Wednesday from the National Endowment for the Humanities that its $1 million general operating grant was “terminated immediately,” according to executive director Jill Baker.
The federal money represents the bulk of the budget for Humanities Montana, which supports arts and civics programs across the state.
“Today is not a great day,” Baker said Thursday morning.
Established in 1972, Humanities Montana is a nonprofit affiliate of the NEH, “created in order to better infuse the humanities into public life,” reports the Daily Montanan.
Baker said the $1 million pays for grants that support cultural institutions in Montana and the Humanities Montana staff, who support the grants and programs.
It pays for public humanities programming, such as a program that funds visits to schools and communities by the poet laureate or workshops by other artists, historians and philosophers.
Poet Laureate Chris La Tray, a Métis storyteller, said he has put roughly 40,000 miles on his truck in the last 10 months in Montana talking to people about the arts, and it connects people across cultures, ages and political leanings.
“It’s something that binds us all and is critical to our society, in Montana and beyond,” La Tray said.
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Humanities Montana dollars
In 2023, Humanities Montana funding was spent as follows:
Programs: $371,045
Grants: $184,631
Administration: $299,892
Fundraising and outreach: $47,039
In 2023, it received $817,342 from the NEH; $160,000 from other grant revenue; $20,188 from royalties and income; and $13,699 from individuals.
Source: Humanities Montana
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A letter from National Endowment for the Humanities Acting Chairman Michael McDonald to Baker said the grant “no longer effectuates the agency’s needs and priorities” and is subject to termination “due to several reasonable causes.”
“NEH has reasonable cause to terminate your grant in light of the fact that the NEH is repurposing its funding allocations in a new direction in furtherance of the President’s agenda,” said the letter, provided to the Daily Montanan by Baker.
It cited an executive order by President Donald Trump called “Commencing the Reduction of the Federal Bureaucracy” and said termination is necessary to “safeguard the interests of the federal government, including its fiscal priorities.”
“The termination of your grant represents an urgent priority for the administration, and due to exceptional circumstances, adherence to the traditional notification process is not possible,” the letter said.
The letter is dated April 2, 2025, and said the grant was terminated “in its entirety” effective April 2, 2025.
The Trump administration and billionaire Elon Musk, through the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, have been making deep cuts to the federal government.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment about the extent of the cuts at the National Endowment for the Humanities.
However, citing a senior official at the NEH, National Public Radio said the decreases are estimated to be in the millions, and no awards will be made in 2025.
Humanities Montana said its programs operate in museums, libraries, community centers, parks and educational institutions, including homeschool settings.
“It’s an essential part of building vibrant communities,” Baker said in a statement.
Michelle Nowling, executive director of the Ravalli County Museum and Historical Society, said the funds are a way that communities keep their own histories alive, and the cuts will hurt institutions in small towns.
“I think it’s a tragedy,” Nowling said.
In 2024, the museum received a $7,000 grant to support a documentary, “Bitterroot at War: The Vietnam Era.”
Nowling said the film was timed to screen this year, the 50th anniversary of the end of the war, and it features five Vietnam veterans from the Bitterroot.
“Most of them, all but one, had never spoken publicly about it before,” Nowling said.
An estimated 70 people attended the first screening, an emotional event, she said, and the museum honored all veterans who attended.
With a template in hand for such a documentary, Nowling had hoped to embark on a similar project with Bitterroot veterans of the Korean War.
However, she said small institutions don’t have many places to turn to for projects that educate and build community, and now, she isn’t sure if that idea can get off the ground.
“If we don’t have the funds to pay the people with the skills to tell our stories, how will future generations know who we were?” Nowling said.
Baker said Humanities Montana has received federal dollars for 50 years, including some increases for inflation, and the funding has been consistent.
Last year, the funding reached all 56 counties, according to Humanities Montana. The organization said the impact is “particularly significant in rural areas,” where other sources are limited.
“Investing in our communities has always been a point of pride for Montanans, and most of us have benefitted from a grant from Humanities Montana,” Baker said in a statement.
On its website, Humanities Montana shares quotes from rural educators, who said bringing quality speakers to schools is expensive, and the program is meaningful.
Money covers a stipend and travel costs, and an administrator from Baker said it’s important, “particularly for our very rural school district.”
“It can be incredibly costly and difficult to bring quality speakers to Baker, so we are very grateful that a program like this can help to make it possible,” the principal said in a quote on the Humanities Montana website.
La Tray, also a book author, said he travels the state in various capacities, including in ways supported by Humanities Montana, and he will continue to look for ways to talk with rural audiences.
He said he doesn’t imagine Trump will be able to hold onto power beyond this term, but he also said this administration isn’t the only one that hasn’t cared enough about the arts to ensure it’s an integral part of society.
In other words, La Tray said people haven’t chosen leaders, Democrat or Republican, who made funding for the humanities reliable, money that couldn’t just be “yanked” away.
“We need to change that. That begins with us at the ground level, at the grassroots level,” said La Tray, an enrolled member of the Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians.
A list of Humanities Montana grants for the 2024 fiscal year includes $500 awards to rural book clubs, Big Sky Reads, and $1,000 to $10,000 awarded for films and community projects.
Projects include support for a Cree language revitalization program; an oral history of the Jewish community in Montana; and a program about “unsung hero” York, William Clark’s slave.
Baker said Humanities Montana had received the federal three-year grant of $1 million a year. The grant was set to conclude at the end of September 2025, and the termination notice ends the grant five months early.
She said continuing resolutions in Congress might affect some funding. A lot of the implications of the cut are still unclear, but she believes it would be DOGE’s intent not to reopen humanities grants.
“We’re learning this as we go,” Baker said.
Baker also said she hopes Montanans will reach out to the Congressional delegation and their friends.
She asked them to share the reasons the humanities are significant to them or to find “creative ways to safeguard this funding and the programs and individuals it supports.”
Baker said the organization has implemented a contingency plan and has “a limited privately donated reserve fund to assist with essential expenses for now.” She said staff have not been terminated but furloughs may be necessary “in the near future.”
