Fears Grow for Nonprofits That Rely on Federal Funding
By Shunya Carroll
Reporting Texas
When the accordion came to Texas in the tail end of the 1800s, a new sound emerged that became so familiar that it became synonymous with Tejano music. Conjunto was born.
“This is special. This is Texas music. You can’t find it anywhere else,” said Piper LeMoine, communications director for Austin nonprofit Rancho Alegre. “You can’t separate the music from the culture and community that celebrates it.”
Rancho Alegre was awarded a National Endowment for the Arts grant for preserving and celebrating conjunto music for Austin’s east-side community.
But in February, its $10,000 Challenge America grant was canceled when the Trump administration directed federal agencies to remove diversity, equity and inclusion-adjacent programming.
To comply with President Donald Trump’s January executive order “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Meri-Based Opportunity,” the NEA removed its 2022-2026 Equity Plan and canceled grants to 280 nonprofits that worked to extend their reach to underserved communities.
The NEA has established new compliance guidelines to enforce the executive order, but its vagueness is prompting some public agencies to be over compliant when no anti-discrimination laws were broken.
The National Council of Nonprofits has suggested that nonprofits “review their programs and contract language immediately as it pertains to the various executive orders.”
LeMoine said changing such language at Rancho Alegre would sanitize its mission and history but said she will do what the grant requires to secure funding. It is unclear what would fall under discriminatory DEI practices.
“I don’t know if I can say if our program is in Spanish,” LeMoine said. “I don’t know if I can say performer names because they’re in Spanish. Do I make it vanilla? Do I make it not special? That’s where it’s kinda going.”
As Central Texas nonprofits voice concern over losing funding, individual donors have rallied around the groups. In March, Central Texas fundraising event, Amplify Austin, said it saw the largest number of participating nonprofits in over 13 years. I Live Here I Give Here organizes the event and said this year’s large numbers reflect the fear nonprofits have.
“This year is particularly important to support nonprofits because of the finite financial insecurity,” said Piper Stege Nelson, executive director of I Live Here I Give Here. “It feels 100 times more important to give back locally and focus on making an impact locally.”
Austin’s queer art conference and festival nonprofit, Outsider Fest, said reducing federal funding for arts projects is not new.
Back in 1989 during the AIDS crisis, the NEA withdrew funding for an art exhibition about AIDS for the work “Witnesses: Against Our Vanishing,” organized by Nan Goldin. The grant was only reissued after wide protest from artists including high-profile figures like Leonard Bernstein.
“We’ve seen this before,” Outsider Fest development director Chris Gwillim said. “The NEA and government have had a relationship with queerness that has been deeply difficult for a long time.”
The Austin Economic Development Department, which provides various grants with a similar mission to the canceled Challenge America grant, said it does not anticipate any immediate impact on its grants from the executive order since they do not receive federal funding.
“The City of Austin’s Economic Development Department remains committed to creating an inclusive and equitable economy that benefits all Austinites,” public information manager Carlos Soto said. “Our core mission remains unchanged: to support Austin’s diverse communities, including historically underrepresented groups, in ways that align with the City’s values and applicable laws.”
LeMoine said navigating funding for the future is uncharted territory, but she will continue the work to preserve and celebrate conjunto music.
“The pride and attachment people have to conjunto music is remarkable. It is inextricably linked to identity. It is in their heart,” she said. “Like zydeco it’s entrenched in the community it comes from.”