Last year, the Noble County Historical Society in southeast Ohio celebrated its 60th birthday.
The Ohio Humanities pitched in with a $1,100 grant.
Though small, grant writer and volunteer Judy Robinson said the award enabled the society to bring in a speaker, orchestrate hay rides around an old homestead and advertise the event in a local paper.
The day was a hit, Robinson remembered.
“I had more tours, I think, than we'd had for several years in one day. And very few of [the attendees] had ever been there before,” she said.
But now, the Noble County Historical Society — and cultural institutions across the state — don’t have access to that funding.
Federal cuts to the humanities
In April, the National Endowment for the Humanities cancelled millions of dollars in already-awarded, but not-yet-disbursed grants, following a recommendation from the Department of Government Efficiency.
That includes grants to state councils, like Ohio Humanities, which receives about $1.6 million annually from the NEH.
“So that's about 14 cents per Ohioan,” said Rebecca Asmo, the executive director of Ohio Humanities. “We do a lot with a little.”
The organization distributes that money across the state via grants, supporting projects like exhibitions at local museums and documentary films.
“There are hundreds of local history organizations in this state that rely on our grant funding so that they can make sure they're preserving our story, preserving our heritage and giving access to these wonderful stories to the public,” Asmo said. “That is much harder to do right now.”
Unlike in many states, Ohio Humanities doesn’t receive state funding, so the federal cuts hit especially hard, Asmo said.
The Mellon Foundation recently pledged up to $250,000 for Ohio Humanities. And Asmo says the organization is working to diversify its funding sources, including obtaining more support from the state and the private sector.
In a press release, the NEH said it’s working to improve efficiency and ensure taxpayer funds are spent responsibly.
It also said it’s taking steps to ensure that future funds will be awarded to projects that “do not promote extreme ideologies based upon race or gender, and that help to instill an understanding of the founding principles and ideals that make America an exceptional country.”
As a volunteer organization, Robinson says the Noble County Historical Society has relied on support from Ohio Humanities.
“I’m not sure about the funding and what we’re going to do next,” she said.
She’s not alone.
Allen County Museum’s federal grant for HVAC
The Allen County Museum in northwest Ohio houses 280,000 objects — many donated by locals — that tell the area’s history.
“We have a Conestoga wagon that the first family that settled in Lima came in,” said museum director Christine Fowler Shearer. “We have the last Shay engine that came off of Lima Locomotive Works.”
But one thing the Allen County Museum doesn't have: a good HVAC system, which is especially important for a place charged with protecting historic artifacts.
So it applied for $350,000 through an NEH grant called Sustaining Cultural Heritage Collections, and it was one of just 10 organizations nationwide to get it.
“That was going to be the seed money for us to do the capital campaign to raise the other $2 million that we need for the project,” Fowler Shearer said.
She found out through a letter that the grant had been terminated.
“Now we have to start back at square one,” she said. “We have to figure out a different way to fundraise, which we will do. It just takes longer.”
Preparing for future exhibits
Jason Crabill, executive director of the Decorative Arts Center of Ohio in Lancaster, is in the same boat.
The museum just opened an exhibit on Star Trek, complete with Romulan pistols, a Vulcan wig and a tribble. It took more than two years of planning.
“We were already pretty invested in what we were doing for Star Trek, but [the federal cuts do] definitely potentially have an impact on what we can do in the future,” Crabill said.
"The arts, culture, humanities are the things that really help us humanize the world that we live in. They help people understand the world beyond the very specific path that they're travelling."Jason Crabill, Decorative Arts Center of Ohio
When the Ohio Humanities’ funding was cut, Crabill was working with the organization on a grant for $20,000 to celebrate America’s semi-quincentennial next year with an exhibit of 250 objects linked to Ohio history.
“That was money that was not guaranteed, but we lost the opportunity [to apply for it],” he said. “And so we're having to find replacements for that funding.”
But the museums and non-profits Crabill usually partners with to develop new exhibits are facing the cuts too.
“So it's not just the loss of a single set of funds,” he said, “it's the rolling impact of that to us and to our community partners. And it has a real detrimental effect on what we can do for the community.”
Exhibits like the one on Star Trek — or for that matter hay rides through a Noble County homestead — may seem silly and fun, Crabill said, but these humanities-focused projects connect communities across generations.
“They're not icing on the cake,” he said. “They are what makes us human.”
The Ohio Newsroom has received funding from Ohio Humanities.
