Funding cuts have a ripple effect on cultural programming, communities across the state
By Kelly Burch, Granite State News Collaborative
Funding cuts have a ripple effect on cultural programming, communities across the stateThis spring, about 1,100 people — more than live in the entire town — visited a former elementary school in Jefferson to view a Smithsonian exhibit about rural America.
Schoolchildren, elderly residents and everyone in between discussed the present and past of the North Country, creating new bonds within the community.
“We don’t know each other well, but we are starting to now,” said Joe Marshall, president of the Jefferson Historical Society, which orchestrated the event. “This brought a lot of people together, and everybody has really really enjoyed it.”
The exhibit, which has since moved to Plymouth, took place in part through a $3,000 grant from New Hampshire Humanities, a nonprofit that distributes federal funding to support humanities activities — those that explore culture, history and social values. Last year, grants from the organization touched 172 of New Hampshire’s 234 cities and towns, said Michael Haley Goldman, executive director of the organization.
The Smithsonian exhibit, ‘Crossroads: Change in Rural America,’ drew hundreds of people to the North Country town of Jefferson this spring. The exhibit was ‘a real game changer’ for the community, says Joe Marshall, president of the Jefferson Historical Society. (Courtesy Jefferson Historical Society).
But similar programs across the state are facing an uncertain future — and some are already canceled — because of federal funding cuts. In April, the National Endowment for the Humanities canceled nearly all its grants, including to New Hampshire Humanities, to comply with requests from the Trump administration and the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. In turn, NH Humanities has had to reduce its own grantmaking, canceling grants to a program exploring artificial intelligence in Hampton Falls and Holocaust education in Meredith, among others.
“We’re already thinking about cutting back on the programs we’re going to offer next year because the funding has ceased,” said JerriAnne Boggis, executive director of the Black Heritage Trail of New Hampshire, which depends on grants from NH Humanities for its Tea Talks series exploring the Black experience.
At the same time, funding has been halted for Granite State organizations that had received grants directly from the National Endowment for the Humanities, including the state’s largest-ever humanities grant, awarded to support a library currently under construction in Mont Vernon.
“It’s a betrayal,” said Cindy Raspiller, a trustee at the Mont Vernon Library. “It sounds harsh, but it’s an apt word.”
‘A real game changer’
Each year, NH Humanities has received about $900,000 from the federal endowment. A large portion of that money must be matched through private fundraising, bringing the organization’s operating budget to $1.6 million annually, said Haley Goldman. The organization doesn’t receive any state government funding.
NH Humanities then makes 20 to 25 grants each year to support organizations around the state, Haley Goldman said. That includes major project grants of up to $10,000 and mini-project grants of up to $2,000.
In addition, NH Humanities provides ongoing programs for organizations like libraries, schools and community groups around the state. One of its most popular programs — Humanities to Go — is a speaker series.
With the funding cuts, many of those operations are on pause. So far this fiscal year, NH Humanities has awarded about two-thirds of its allocated grant funding, Haley Goldman said. Programs that have already been promised a commitment will go ahead, but the other third of grant dollars will not be given out, and NH Humanities is not accepting applications for in-house programs such as Humanities to Go or Perspectives, a book group.
Instead, the organization is focused on making sense of its new funding reality.
“We’re really trying to figure out what’s sustainable for next year,” Haley Goldman said. “There is a sustainable path forward, which relies on the support of the community."
Funding from NH Humanities has a ripple effect for communities. The Jefferson Historical Society, for example, used its $3,000 grant for the Smithsonian exhibit as a “springboard to generate all the other in-kind dollars,” Marshall said. It also led to community partnerships and connections that will continue long after the exhibit leaves.
“This is a real game changer,” Marshall said.
‘Deep conversations’
Last fall, the Cohen Institute for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Keene State College received a grant from NH Humanities to host a series of book groups centered on the book “Treblinka: Archaeological and Artistic Responses,” which explores the response to human remains and artifacts found at the notorious Nazi concentration camp in Poland.
The recent showing in Jefferson of ‘Crossroads: Change in Rural America’ led to community partnerships and connections that will continue long after the exhibit leaves, says Joe Marshall, president of the Jefferson Historical Society. (Courtesy Jefferson Historical Society).
Participants received the book for free and were invited to attend a lecture by author Caroline Sturdy Colls last September.
The program “opened up deep conversations about the meaning of human remains (both historically and today), and it also inspired some of my own students at (Keene State College) to delve deeper into the field of forensic anthropology,” said Kate Gibeault, director of the Cohen Institute.
In addition, the funding allowed the Cohen Institute to partner with other libraries and schools across the state “in ways that otherwise wouldn’t have been feasible,” Gibeault said.
Often, NH Humanities grants support programs that are replicable in other communities, amplifying the impact of the dollars spent.
“It’s one of the things that is special about New Hampshire — being able to share this information freely,” said Erin Sniderman, outreach librarian at the Hampton Falls Free Library.
Sniderman has used NH Humanities funding in the past to create events that weave together Hampton Falls’ past and present, including a 2023 historical display and expert lecture about indigenous artifacts in town, after a community reading of “Braiding Sweetgrass,” a book that brings together indigenous wisdom and science.
“Being able to pull all of these elements in together … we wouldn’t be able to do that without the humanities funding,” Sniderman said.
Sniderman was planning a similar community event this summer, exploring the impact of artificial intelligence and robotics. The program was meant to serve as a template that other libraries could use to open discussions about those technologies, but it’s been scaled back now that NH Humanities isn’t making new grants.
Some elements — such as a robot petting zoo — have found other funding sources, but without funding from NH Humanities, “we lose those professional scholars,” Sniderman said. “We get the toys, but we don’t get the education.”
A small library forges ahead
Mont Vernon is a small town of about 2,500 people in Hillsborough County. It’s also the location of the largest National Endowment for the Humanities grant in New Hampshire’s history: $655,000 to support construction of a new library.
“We were very impressed with ourselves that we won,” said Raspiller, the library trustee.
Winning the grant — one of 23 given out nationwide — was only the beginning, however. The grant required $4 in matching funds for each $1 of grant money. The community met the challenge, and last September broke ground on the new library, which is slated to be finished in the fall, Raspiller said.
So far, the project has collected about $164,000 from the national endowment, but on April 29 Raspiller received a notification that the grant had been terminated. No appeals process was available, the notice said.
Now, the town is left scrambling to finish the library without the federal funding. Luckily — with many adjustments and with contingency funding — the project remains on track, but the loss of the grant is a major upset.
A Smithsonian exhibit came to Jefferson earlier this spring, in part thanks to a $3,000 grant from NH Humanities. Similar programs are now under threat due to federal funding cuts. (Courtesy Jefferson Historical Society).
“It’s a little like someone tripping you at mile 25 of the marathon,” said Bonnie Angulas, library director in Mount Vernon. “You know you’re going to finish, but you might crawl across the line.”
The substantial federal humanities grant wasn’t a win just for Mont Vernon, Angulas said, but for New Hampshire as a whole. Each day she was fielding calls from other librarians, asking for advice on their own grant applications.
“They were so hopeful about this project,” she said. After the cancellation, “it’s a little disheartening to everyone. … The federal government should come through on their promise.”
Planning for the future
Previous grant recipients say less funding for NH Humanities could lead to fewer community events and deeper discussions that bring people together.
“Grants like these are critical in ensuring that all community members have access to conversations about what it means to be human,” said Gibeault of the Cohen Institute.
Boggis, of the Black Heritage Trail, said that, just as the grants have a ripple effect, so does their cancellation.
“The trickle-down effect of this loss of funds is more than that one grant,” she said. “It’s felt in the community.”
Small organizations that “can’t go one season without that support may never come back,” she added.
Nevertheless, NH Humanities will continue to exist, no matter what happens with federal funding, Haley Goldman emphasized.
“We see a path to sustainability without the federal funding because of the type of support we’ve had within the state,” he said. “Not every state is feeling as fortunate.”
In April, the Mellon Foundation announced $15 million in emergency funding to state humanities councils, including NH Humanities. That infusion of about $200,000, plus possible matching funds, will allow NH Humanities “to start next financial year in a much better place,” said Haley Goldman. Yet the organization is still working hard to decide what its new normal will look like without federal funds. That loss remains “detrimental,” he said, especially at a moment when Americans are feeling increasingly disconnected from those around them.
"The cultural work of our communities isn’t a nice bonus if we can do it,” he said. “It’s the core of what we do as a society.”
These articles are being shared by partners in the Granite State News Collaborative. For more information, visitcollaborativenh.org.