In late August and September 2025, the Department of Education sent non-continuation notices to dozens of federal grant recipients mid-way through multi-year grant periods, including arts education initiatives, civics and literacy programs, and higher education projects. The notices stated that programs no longer align with the administration’s education policy priorities of “merit, fairness, and excellence,” with some notices alleging violations of federal civil rights law according to the administration’s interpretation. Among the canceled grants were at least nine arts education initiatives funded under the Assistance for Arts Education program, including a University of Nebraska-Lincoln project to infuse art teaching across subjects that lost its final year of funding. Grant recipients were given seven days to appeal, leaving institutions and educators facing abrupt funding disruptions and uncertainty about program continuation.

On June 27, 2025, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in Mahmoud v. Taylor that schools must notify parents and allow religious opt-outs from lessons using LGBTQ-themed storybooks. The decision creates legal and financial incentives for schools to preemptively remove LGBTQ+ literature from classrooms to avoid lawsuits, effectively restricting students’ access to diverse cultural expression and limiting their ability to participate in literary education that reflects varied identities and experiences. Justice Sotomayor’s dissent warned the ruling would have a “chilling effect” that leads to censorship of artistic and cultural materials in school curricula nationwide.

On May 30, 2025, the Trump administration released its detailed FY2026 budget proposal, reaffirming plans to eliminate the National Endowment for the Arts and consolidating the Department of Education’s Assistance for Arts Education program into a new K-12 block grant with 69% reduced funding. The proposal redirects education resources toward “core subjects” including math, reading, science, and history. Arts advocates warn these cuts threaten equitable access to arts education, particularly in under-resourced districts.

On May 8, 2025, President Trump abruptly dismissed Dr. Carla Hayden as Librarian of Congress. No formal cause was initially given, but the White House later accused Hayden of “pursuing DEI initiatives” and “placing inappropriate books in the library for children.” The removal came before the end of her 10-year term and provoked widespread concern about executive interference in the independence of the Library of Congress, a constitutionally created cultural and archival institution charged with preserving nonpartisan access to knowledge and the arts. Critics warned that such politicized removals threaten institutional independence and set a precedent for executive interference in national cultural governance.

In early April 2025, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) directed the National Endowment for the Humanities to terminate over 1,400 grants, including all fiscal year 2025 funding to state humanities councils, affecting museums, libraries, historic sites, and cultural programs nationwide. The grant cancellations, which totaled approximately $175 million in undisbursed funds, were issued via late-night emails on April 2, 2025. Federal courts later ruled the cancellations unlawful, though funding remains blocked pending litigation.

On March 27, 2025, President Trump issued Executive Order 14253 titled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History,” directing the Smithsonian Institution to remove exhibits and programming deemed to contain “improper ideology” or content that “inappropriately disparages Americans.” The order specifically cited “The Shape of Power: Stories of Race and American Sculpture” at the Smithsonian American Art Museum as an example of divisive content, claiming it portrayed American and Western values as “inherently harmful and oppressive.” The order directed the Vice President and Office of Management and Budget to work with Congress to ensure future Smithsonian appropriations prohibit expenditure on exhibits or programs that “degrade shared American values, divide Americans based on race, or promote programs or ideologies inconsistent with Federal law and policy.” Historians, museum professionals, and members of Congress condemned the directive as political censorship of federally supported cultural institutions and an infringement on the Smithsonian’s independence to carry out its educational mission.

President Trump signed an executive order eliminating federal protections for gender identity in education, health, and cultural programs. Agencies were directed to define sex “strictly as biological,” prompting the removal of inclusive policies in federally supported museums, libraries, and cultural spaces. The order restricts funding for anything using the term “gender ideology” or which refers to “gender” instead of “sex,” which will limit arts and cultural institutions as well as arts NGOs, as these are common terms in arts projects and in art history research. LGBTQ+ organizations warned this would chill artistic and public expression tied to queer identity. In February 2025, the National Urban League filed a lawsuit against EO 14168, arguing the administration’s restrictions on DEI and gender-identity policies violate civil-rights protections and free-speech rights.

President Trump issued an executive order reforming the federal accreditation process for higher education institutions. The order directed accrediting bodies to eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) standards, which the administration characterized as “unlawful discrimination,” and to prioritize “intellectual diversity” among faculty. It instructed the Secretary of Education to investigate and potentially terminate accreditors that require DEI-related practices or who fail to maintain and “intellectually diverse” staff. Academic organizations warned the order could lead to government interference in institutional decision-making at universities, raising concerns about restrictions on cultural programming and curricula, particularly those addressing diversity, race, and gender.