Trump Might Defund The NEA. Here's What It Could Mean For Iowa

President-elect Donald Trump is eyeing drastic cuts on government spending. Among the institutions that is at the wrong end of this move is the National Endowment for the Arts.

In eastern Iowa last summer, a ballet program taught 3,600 student about dance. The fall after that, more than 1,000 gathered in southern Iowa for the bluegrass festival. And on the school year, around 20,000 students from all over Iowa were cultured on the ways of the opera from the industry's very own experts. All of these programs were partly funded by government arts programs and are in peril due to this looming budget cut under President Donald Trump's administration.

As The Hill, a political news website, points out, the president's transition team plans to privatize the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a non-profit organization that supports public radio, television and other public broadcasting services. Tethered to this move is the closure of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEA). Even though the report is unverified and the president still hasn't addressed the cuts publicly since his inauguration, art advocates are still weary.

For years now, NEA has been supporting the federal arts through endowments that account for about $150 million. Among the constituents that benefit from this is the Iowa Arts Council (IAC), whom received about $626, 500 in fiscal year 2016.

According to Desmoine Register, Matthew Harris, Iowa Arts Council administrator, said that NEA's investments helps in reaching out the arts to communities who otherwise wouldn't get to have that creative experience. IAC, through the funding of NEA, helps create opportunities for the arts to prosper in Iowa by jumpstarting the careers of local artists and investing in projects that bring people together for the arts such as the annual arts festival in Orange City and bluegrass festival in Moravia.

The proposed budget cut would hamper the growth of arts in communities in Iowa and leave the creative projects fighting for each federal dollar. There's no formal defunding steps taken yet by the new administration and people from the Iowa Arts Council are hoping that none will take place.

TagsIowa, Donald Trump, President Donald Trump Administration, NEA, National Endowment for the Arts