Museum Madness: Open, Shut, Fired, Down for Count & Nowhere to Be Found

It’s time for my monthly news piece. It’s not exactly news to say I’ve got misgivings about the strangulation of the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) piddles its money, but, taken together, these three spend about a billion dollars. They can do much good if money is targeted at back-of-house arts infrastructure, American art history, and archival preservation and digitization. I was on the IMLS board as a Trump appointee, serving under a Trump-appointed director. Its grants were very sound. The NEH’s were less so over the past few years, but under Bruce Cole’s leadership during the George W. Bush administration, the NEH did fantastic work.

This year’s federal budget is in controlled chaos in Congress now — hence the shutdown — but here’s where we are on arts money. The current version of the House budget cuts these three agencies by about a third while the Senate version maintains funding at current levels. My spies tell me that during this shutdown, the IMLS staff is down to two people. One opens the mail. I think the other bleeds the radiators so the pipes don’t freeze.

About the Author

Brian T. Allen

Brian T. Allen is National Review’s art critic.

Featured Tags

Manage following

Art

It’s time for my monthly news piece. It’s not exactly news to say I’ve got misgivings about the strangulation of the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) piddles its money, but, taken together, these three spend about a billion dollars. They can do much good if money is targeted at back-of-house arts infrastructure, American art history, and archival preservation and digitization. I was on the IMLS board as a Trump appointee, serving under a Trump-appointed director. Its grants were very sound. The NEH’s were less so over the past few years, but under Bruce Cole’s leadership during the George W. Bush administration, the NEH did fantastic work.

This year’s federal budget is in controlled chaos in Congress now — hence the shutdown — but here’s where we are on arts money. The current version of the House budget cuts these three agencies by about a third while the Senate version maintains funding at current levels. My spies tell me that during this shutdown, the IMLS staff is down to two people. One opens the mail. I think the other bleeds the radiators so the pipes don’t freeze.