Museums Cautiously Optimistic as Some Federal Grants Reinstated

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Executive Director Sebastian A. Belfanti told Hyperallergic that about a third of the two-year $75,000 award from IMLS had been disbursed by the time he learned of its cancellation last month.

While organizations are relieved to receive the news, they also continue to navigate a rapidly changing federal funding landscape that makes it difficult to plan ahead.

“We are glad that this IMLS grant, which supports a majority of the Museum’s educational programs, has been reinstated,” Belfanti told Hyperallergic. “However, uncertainty remains. While reinstatement will help our work move forward, the reality that the funds could disappear again without warning makes this more of a reprieve than a resolution.”

The West End Museum also lost a $25,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to study the community’s LGBTQ+ presence and activism, which Belfanti says has not been restored.