On Friday, November 7, at 4:17 p.m., hundreds of individuals and organizations received an email from the Greater New Orleans Foundation with the subject line: “New Orleans Recreation and Culture Fund Update,” a neutral statement downplaying the bad news inside. “Due to the budget challenges currently facing the City of New Orleans,” it reads, “the grant program will not be able to proceed for the 2025 cycle,” adding “there is no confirmed timeline for when additional funding will be available.” Just 21 minutes later, many of the same recipients were sent a second email, this one from the City of New Orleans and with a headline less coy about its contents—”Cultural Economy Funding Paused for 2026.” The reason was the same: “The decision comes amid ongoing citywide budget constraints and impending budget cuts for 2026.” In less than half an hour at the end of a work week, two of the most accessible sources of funds for local cultural creators and organizations went up in smoke, putting a disappointing but not unexpected cap on what can only be described as a brutal year for arts and cultural funding.
When newly appointed Chief Administrative Officer Joe Threat revealed that the City of New Orleans was facing cash-flow problems far more severe than originally known—so much so that the City was facing the possibility of not being able to make payroll—the loss of these funds became almost inevitable. If a municipality is unable to pay its workers—the most basic need for a functioning government—then grant funds and special projects are easy targets for financial clawbacks. Though understandable, the absence of these opportunities will be felt across the community. Due to increased need, the Recreation and Culture Fund had actually been expanded for the 2025 cycle by several million dollars before it was suspended.
While the loss of the Recreation and Culture Fund and Cultural Economy grants are notable, the funding crisis began in earnest with the Trump administration’s federal grant pause in late January. Despite a series of lawsuits and injunctions, the damage done has been widespread and available funding opportunities have been severely reduced, which in turn has made remaining grant application processes extremely competitive. Take, for example, the South Arts Cultural Sustainability grant from earlier this year. Offering general operating support to small cultural organizations in the Southeastern U.S., the funding opportunity had over 250 applicants. Of those, 17 received a grant—a success rate of roughly 6.8%. Just one grantee was located in Louisiana, 0.4% of applicants. Unfortunately, those odds are closer to the norm than the exception.
The diminished level of government support and extreme competitiveness of philanthropic grants would constitute a significant setback in a good year, but coupled with the downturn in tourism revenue and the dismantling of the social safety net, the impacts from this loss of funding are much more severe—particularly for small, grassroots efforts and working class cultural practitioners. Almost always labors of love driven (at least in part) by personal funds, a sinking economy and uncertain income will likely mean difficult choices ahead that could greatly curtail individuals’ ability to invest in their cultural practice.
But we don’t have to accept this as a fait accompli. As we head into a new mayoral administration and City Council, we have an opportunity to push for a new approach to cultural funding. Since we know that for at least the next few years dollar amounts will be diminished, we will need to be much more strategic and coordinated in our approach. Here are a few steps we can take as we move forward.
Host an Arts and Culture Funding Summit
The City of New Orleans should host a multi-day summit with local and national foundations, relevant City agencies, City Council representatives, cultural organizations/non-profits and businesses, and individual musicians, artists, performers, and culture bearers to develop a cohesive, responsive, and representational cultural funding strategy that includes firm commitments from philanthropy and City government. The current state of cultural funding in New Orleans is scattershot, often difficult to navigate, and can be inaccessible unless you have pre-existing relationships. All of that needs to change, and the cultural community needs to be at the table leading the conversation.
Examine and Update NOTCF Funding Practices and Priorities
The New Orleans Tourism and Cultural Foundation is as close as we have to a cultural trust fund and is poised to play a pivotal role moving forward. Now five years old, there is a long enough track record to see what has been working, what hasn’t, where funding went, and where it didn’t. Too much money has been given to large festivals, for example, rather than funding community stabilization and development initiatives. A recent decision to use a lottery system to select grants for review may help avoid accusations of bias, but it also makes thoughtful, multi-year funding decisions almost impossible. NOTCF has proven its necessity, but in a time of increasing need we need to make sure it is reaching its full efficacy. (Full disclosure, we served as a fiscal agent in partnership with NOTCF in 2023 and 2024, helping distribute Level 1 grants to individual culture bearers.)
Build an Online Funding Opportunity Hub
Maintained by the Office of Cultural Economy, there should be an easily accessible and regularly-updated aggregated list of grant opportunities covering local, regional, and national funders. One of the issues the recent grant suspensions brought to light was the widespread confusion as to which grants were which. There is also a substantial knowledge and capacity gap when it comes to accessing funding opportunities, which is particularly prevalent in smaller organizations—precisely those that need the most support. Put links to all of these grants in one place, clearly list application requirements, and organize them by deadline. Do quarterly info sessions, keep it current, and watch organizations start to flourish.
In future columns, we’ll examine different community-centric means of cultural support like co-ops and cultural land trusts—but right now people need funding, and the city has got to think hard about how it is going to provide it.
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