Art advocate groups are rallying in defense of federal arts funding after reports surfaced that President Donald Trump may cut endowments.
Trump's transition team reportedly considered eliminating both the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities, as well as privatizing the Corporation for Public Broadcasting as part of a wide-spread series of budget cuts.
Both endowments and the CPB make up 0.02 percent of the federal budget.
"Even apart from the essential resources at stake, the signal sent by this gesture is a slap in the face to artists, writers, researchers, and scholars who are learning that the administration seems to consider their work worthless," Suzanne Nossel, PEN America executive director, told The Hill.
Memphis-area Congressman Steve Cohen, a Democrat, said the funding was vital to the people he represents.
"On the eve of the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump, I fear that America will soon be thrust into cultural and societal deterioration, a new Dark Ages," he said in a statement, according to the Hill.
"I don't take anything for granted with the will of an elected body, whether it's federal state or local. Anything can happen," Robert L. Lynch, president and CEO of Americans for the Arts, told the Hill. "So it's important for the arts community to voice its concerns as much as possible."
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