May 3, 2025
May 3, 2025
Federal Arts Funding Withdrawn from Gray Area
Our NEA Grant Was Terminated. Here’s What That Means — and What Comes Next.
Last Friday, Gray Area received confirmation that the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) has canceled our $50,000 grant, which had been awarded to support this year’s Gray Area Festival. This puts in jeopardy our flagship summit addressing the most urgent topics in technology and society through radical artistic inquiry.
We’re sharing the official language from the NEA’s letter below to keep our community informed and transparent about this change.
Termination Letter from the National Endowment for the Arts
The NEA is updating its grantmaking policy priorities to focus funding on projects that reflect the nation's rich artistic heritage and creativity as prioritized by the President. Consequently, we are terminating awards that fall outside these new priorities. The NEA will now prioritize projects that elevate the Nation’s HBCUs and Hispanic Serving Institutions, celebrate the 250th anniversary of American independence, foster AI competency, empower houses of worship to serve communities, assist with disaster recovery, foster skilled trade jobs, make America healthy again, support the military and veterans, support Tribal communities, make the District of Columbia safe and beautiful, and support the economic development of Asian American communities. Funding is being allocated in a new direction in furtherance of the Administration’s agenda.
Your project, as noted below, unfortunately does not align with these priorities:
Purpose: To support the Gray Area Festival and associated programming focused on the intersection of arts and technology.
The agency issued an award to your organization, subject to you agreeing to and accepting certain terms and conditions. You accepted the offer of funding, which was subject to the General Terms and Conditions (GTCs) that apply to all NEA awards. Per your award’s GTCs, the National Endowment for the Arts may terminate a federal award to the greatest extent authorized by law if an award no longer effectuates the program goals or agency priorities. These provisions were clearly and unambiguously specified, as required by 2 CFR 200.340(b), and are consistent with the requirements of 2 CFR 200.340(a)(4), and the NEA’s authorizing statute at 20 USC 954 and 959. Accordingly, because your project no longer effectuates agency priorities, the agency is exercising its ability to terminate this grant award in accordance with the GTCs with which you agreed to comply.
This is part of a broader shift in national funding. Over the past two years, Gray Area had been under consideration for nearly $10 million in potential federal support — from the NEA, NEH, EPA, and 2018 Infrastructure Act — all of which has now been canceled or deprioritized.
As an organization, we will weather these cuts — remarkably little federal funding goes toward our core operating costs. But in the immediate term, we face the loss of support for some of our most vital programs:
• Creative Code Education — training the next generation of emerging artists to exercise agency in a changing world
• Cultural Incubator — enabling artist-founders to develop projects and businesses through mentorship, peer support, and public engagement
• Creative Resource Library — a free, open-access collection of electronic musical instruments and sound tools available to the public
If everyone reading this message contributes just $10, we can close the gap and sustain our 2025 programming.
For 17 years, Gray Area has provided a stable home for values-driven artists, thinkers, and builders, cultivating cultural capacity to think critically and create intentionally. We have done so by working relentlessly, and knowing when to take meaningful risks.
As an independent, community-supported organization, we’re built to weather change — but not alone. If you believe in what we do, now is the time to stand with us.
Together, we can continue to create impact through bold, category-defying work.
We’re not stepping back — and we hope you won’t either.
