By Elmer Ploetz

Nonprofit economics are never simple. Pull one funding block away and the rest of the structure gets weakened like a Jenga tower missing a tile.

So when Western New York nonprofits that had been awarded grants from the National Endowment for the Arts were notified by the federal government that it was reneging on its commitments, they weren’t surprised. But they knew that the termination notices that arrived last Friday (May 2) will definitely hurt their organizations, and through ripple effects, even those that don’t receive NEA funding.

It’s a confusing situation. Not all of the grants have been cut, mostly because some of the projects have been completed. Also, the termination notices left open the possibility of receiving funding through the first half of the year, although that might not guarantee payment.

So let’s take a look at the situation, starting with who has received recent NEA grants in Buffalo. Some of the grants have carried over from 2024 and have not been paid to local organizations yet and are part of the termination letters.

Buffalo organizations receiving NEA grants in 2024 and 2025

Note: The year is the year the grant was approved; some grants are split over multiple years

Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra Society, Inc.	2025	$25,000
Buffalo String Works, Inc.	2025	$30,000
Burchfield-Penney Art Center	2025	$30,000
ASI (Arts Services Initiative of Western New York, Inc.)	2024	$20,000
Buffalo Arts Studio	2024	$25,000
Buffalo AKG (Buffalo Fine Arts Academy)	2024	$50,000
Buffalo AKG (Buffalo Fine Arts Academy)	2024	$30,000
BICA (Buffalo Institute for Contemporary Art Inc.)	2024	$30,000
Buffalo International Film Festival, Inc.	2024	$25,000
Squeaky Wheel (Buffalo Media Resources, Inc.)	2024	$25,000
Squeaky Wheel (Buffalo Media Resources, Inc.)	2024	$30,000
Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra Society, Inc.	2024	$20,000
Buffalo String Works, Inc.	2024	$25,000
CEPA (Center for Exploratory and Perceptual Arts)	2024	$40,000
Just Buffalo Literary Center, Inc.	2024	$25,000
Shakespeare in Delaware Park Inc.	2024	$10,000
Torn Space Theater Inc.	2024	$25,000
Western New York Book Arts Collaborative, Inc.	2024	$25,000

Chart sourced from nea.gov

Here’s how the cuts will affect the community.

More competition for a smaller pool of money

Without a doubt the biggest impact of the NEA cuts is that a significant source of funding has dried up, leaving local nonprofits to try to replace that funding from other existing sources.

Melinda Smith, the executive director of Buffalo String Works, has worked in both arts-related and non-art nonprofits. Buffalo String Works received a termination notice; it had already filed the paperwork to receive compensation for money spent.

Smith said, “There’s only a certain pool of resources, whether it’s government grants, foundation grants, individual giving and contributions, corporate sponsorships and donations. I think that organizations like ours … we are going to be hit with more of the ripple effect with those foundations that you know have supported arts and culture organizations over the years.”

“If they decide to pull that funding and refocus those funds somewhere else … meeting other needs that were heavily funded by the federal government, that’s when we are going to feel it. And we know arts and culture is amongst the first to get cut,” she said.

For some small organizations, those grants make up a big part of their budget.

The Buffalo Institute of Contemporary Art received a termination notice for its $30,000; That would be a loss of over 10 percent of BICA’s annual budget. It’s unclear yet what the termination notice means, because the money has already been spent.

Emily Ebba Reynolds, the curator and co-founder of BICA with Nando Alvarez-Perez, said, “Because NEA works as a reimbursement, you’re reimbursed for funds as you spend them. We have spent over $30,000 on this program already, and so I submitted all the documentation for that and our request is still in the system. So we were just sort of waiting to see if it actually gets paid out or not.”

Reynolds said BICA has been advised to appeal the termination and plans to do so.

Cuts to one program inevitably affect others

The program that BICA’s grant funded is an exhibition series and related program that involved artists Shana Moulton, Jenine Marsh and Huidi Xiang.

Reynolds said that because exhibitions were more fundable through grants, BICA could use the grants to pay for exhibitions and use the other money it has raised for its other activities, such as the BICA School, a free art school and alternative model of secondary art education in a city where the schools struggle to support the arts.

“We’re able to do a lot of our more community-based programming, our education program, and other things that we’re able to offer for free that really do that work of serving different communities in Buffalo,” she said. “And so … the first thing we have to start looking to cut are those things that we find to be the more impactful programming, day-to-day. The exhibition program is part of that, but they all work together.”

“A big part of our work is ecosystem development, that we do things like publish Cornelia magazine and we’re working right now on an art guide that highlights all the visual arts based in Buffalo and Western New York. … It’s going to hurt the entire ecosystem because less funds mean that the funding that we didn’t go after because we were getting bigger funding from other places, now we’re going to have to start really looking that again,” Reynolds said.

Other unforeseen consequences

Buffalo String Works’ Smith said the cuts going forward could have a direct impact on people’s lives.

For example, Buffalo String Works offers three free weekly music lessons on string instruments such as violins to children, prioritizing those from families that make less than $60,000 a year.

It provides a benefit that isn’t directly arts-related.

“There’s a number of parents that can go to work because they don’t have to pay for after-school child care for their students three days a week,” she said. “We offer free after school care for every single student that we serve at our Niagara Street after-school program. So that’s another impact.”

Will there be loopholes to deal with?

The text of the termination letters says, “If you have award funds remaining as of the date of this notice, you may submit a final payment request reflecting actual, allowable, approved costs incurred during the revised period of performance. A final payment request must be submitted by June 30, 2025.” 

That would seem to offer some hope to organizations if they can get their paperwork submitted, but one of the ways NEA funding works is that it usually is a 1-to-1 match. So the organization may need to have the matching money spent as well by the time it files.

In other words, nobody trusts the federal government to deal fairly regarding the NEA grants at this point, and so organizations are wary.

That was why Squeaky Wheel moved quickly when its artist resident program was completed.

“Our cycle for that wrapped up in April of 2025, so we did the final report really, really fast to try to get it in, because we kind of expected something like this to happen,” said Carra Stratton, the development director at Squeaky Wheel.

So Squeaky Wheel has already received its funding, as long as the NEA doesn’t try any clawbacks.

Damaging the nonprofit sector’s job outlook

The nonprofit sector is a significant part of the economy. Just because an organization is nonprofit doesn’t mean that it doesn’t pay its workers. The NEA grant terminations will have a detrimental effect on that sector.

“What is the human impact of that?” said Buffalo String Works’ Smith. “It’s not like that we’re just ‘losing our funding.’ It’s that we have to fire staff, staff who have built careers in working in nonprofit organizations and now are going to have fewer opportunities to find gainful employment at another nonprofit organization. All organizations are tightening their belts.”

And those cuts reduce the organization’s abilities to help those who walk through their doors.

Is there a bright side? Maybe

There’s nothing like a crisis to bring people together.

Squeaky Wheel’s Stratton said, “My brain always moves towards the possibilities of collaboration. So the conversations I’ve been hearing locally, but also nationally, are like ‘how do we start sharing resources? How do we work together and in better ways, rather than ‘let’s all try to get the same stuff.’ (But) I don’t know how that’s going to play out.”

Buffalo String Works’ Smith said the situation is a reminder that cultural and arts organizations need to make sure the public knows what their contributions are.

“We as an entire field, a local sector, need to come together and find a way to communicate that and find a shared narrative around that impact,” she said.

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Elmer Ploetz is editor-in-chief of The Buffalo Hive