‘A huge shock to the system’: Mass. arts and culture leaders react to Trump order to pause federal funding

Two weeks ago, Sebastian Belfanti was ecstatic. The West End Museum, where Belfanti is executive director, had been selected to receive a federal grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities in 2025. The $25,000 sum “is like 5 percent of our annual budget, which is a big deal on a single grant,” Belfanti said. The money was earmarked to create public programming and an exhibit related to the West End neighborhood’s LGBTQ history at the museum, which suffered water damage in 2022 when a pipe burst and finally reopened last May.

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