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National Endowment for the Arts rescinds grants, dazing publishers and theaters

The Washington Post · Sophia Nguyen · last updated

The email subject line was blunt: “Our NEA grant was canceled.”

It was from Dani Oliver, the development director of the literary magazine n+1. She told readers that the promised federal grant of $12,500 was rescinded late Friday.

The magazine was just one of the numerous cultural institutions sent scrambling this weekend, after receiving an abrupt notice from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) that terminated or withdrew funds that had been offered for the 2025 fiscal year. Many have spent the already awarded amounts expecting to receive payment from the government, and now wonder whether they’ll be on the hook for those expenses.

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