Lexington-based KY Humanities loses 70% of annual budget due to DOGE cuts
Kentucky Humanities said Friday it has lost federal funding as part of wider cost-cutting efforts by President Donald Trump’s administration and the Department of Government Efficiency.
The group helps foster humanities and learning through various activities, including the Kentucky Book Festival and Chautauqua speakers at schools. Officials there said the National Endowment for the Humanities has notified the group and other state humanities councils that funding has been terminated effective immediately.
That means $850,000 —or roughly 71 % of the Kentucky Humanities budget —will be wiped out. It’s current annual budget is approximately $1.3 million.
It receives no state money, said Bill Goodman, the executive director of Kentucky Humanities, which was previously known as the Kentucky Humanities Council.
Goodman said the quasi-government group has several endowments that will help the organization remain afloat in the short-term if the cuts stick.
“Going forward, we will have to analyze all of our projects carefully,” Goodman said.
Other state humanities councils may have to close if the funding is not restored, he added.
“We have heard some could only operate for two months,” Goodman said.
However, the National Endowment for the Humanities annual budget is appropriated by Congress. There have been other challenges to DOGE-mandated cuts to funding allocated by federally-elected officials.
For example, the U.S. Department of Education and its funding cannot be dismantled unless Congress votes to do so.
But it’s more than just the Kentucky Humanities group that could suffer if cuts to NEH are not reversed.
The NEH has given Kentucky cultural and university organizations $9.7 million in federal funding through 57 grants from 2019 to 2023, according to the NEH.
That funding is in addition to the Kentucky Humanities annual funding, Goodman said.
Goodman and those who support the group are asking Kentuckians who support Kentucky Humanities to contact Kentucky’s federal delegation to urge them to restore funding.
Over the past four years, the group has supported 2,500 arts and cultural activities that have reached 3 million people, Goodman said.
“Kentucky Humanities leverages NEH funds to reach communities and classrooms throughout the Commonwealth. Without funding we can’t continue to bring Prime Time Family Reading® to the George Coon Public Library in Princeton,” Goodman said.
“We can’t bring a traveling Smithsonian exhibit to Clinton. We can’t send children’s authors to Science Hill Independent Schools to share the love of reading and writing with students and give away copies of their books to the kids. We can’t support Kentucky’s cultural institutions impacted by natural disasters.”
