Motus Theater in Boulder lost $35,000 in National Endowment for the Arts funding after the Trump administration canceled hundreds of grants last week.
The cuts came just hours after President Trump proposed eliminating the NEA entirely in his 2026 discretionary budget request, according to NPR. Motus had secured the grant to support a statewide tour of “Youth Behind & Beyond Bars: Stories from the Juvenile Justice System,” a monologue performance series written by people who were incarcerated as children and teens.
Motus received a no-reply email from the NEA, stating the project no longer aligned with the administration’s new priorities.
The show will still premiere in Boulder — at the Boulder Public Library’s Canyon Theater on May 31. But the rest of the planned tour, which included stops across Boulder County, Colorado Springs and Denver is now in jeopardy. Motus is reassessing the feasibility of moving forward and may have to cancel much of the tour.
NEA grants require a 1:1 fundraising match. Motus now needs to raise the full $70,000 — $35,000 that would have been covered by the grant, and $35,000 in matching funds — to move forward with the tour.
“Based on how successful we are in doing that, we will do more or less touring of the project,” said Producing Executive Director Rita Valente-Quinn.
Valente-Quinn said the performers were “disheartened and disappointed about the grant cut.” Staff were disappointed too, but not surprised. “We knew that there was a scenario in which something like this could happen,” she said. “What we’ve tried to make sure is that this derailing does not distract us from other programs.”
Motus was one of two Boulder-based organizations to receive an NEA funding this cycle, out of 22 in Colorado. At least eight organizations had their grants pulled, according to the Denverite.
The other Boulder recipient, Turning the Wheel Productions Inc., also lost its grant. But the loss was fully covered by the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, which committed to replacing all 80 canceled NEA grants at the $10,000 grant level. Turning the Wheel is a Boulder-based organization that works nationally, planned to use their grant to support a theater and dance program for underserved youth in North Carolina.
“On a personal level, it’s heartbreaking, but not unexpected,” Suzanne Palmer, national program coordinator for Turning the Wheel, said. “The arts don’t get enough credit for all they accomplish anyway, and do so much with so little funding.”
A process reversed
NEA grants go through a rigorous review process involving independent panel evaluations and final recommendations to the National Council of the Arts. Motus received its award offer in November 2024 and accepted in December. On Jan. 10, the NEA published the full list of grantees.
“The offer had nothing tentative about it,” Valente-Quinn said.
Then, late in the evening on Friday, May 2, hundreds of organizations received a no-reply email stating:
“The NEA is updating its grantmaking policy priorities to focus funding on projects that reflect the nation’s rich artistic heritage and creativity as prioritized by the President. …Consequently, we are terminating awards that fall outside these new priorities.”
Valente-Quinn said the newly stated priorities were not those in place during the application process. “Some priorities were so new, they weren’t even included in a list of priorities for next year’s grant cycle,” she said.
Motus and Turning the Wheel, like others, were given seven days to appeal. One of the new priorities was titled “Make America Healthy Again,” Valente-Quinn said. Motus and Turning the Wheel both argued their project qualified under this category.
“We wrote an appeal making the case that the folks who go through the criminal legal system, incur a lot of health issues, including chronic illnesses and a lower life expectancy,” Valente-Quinn said.
Palmer said they argued Turning the Wheel’s program advanced youth mental and emotional health by “getting kids moving” and supporting social relationships.
The National Endowment for the Arts was founded in 1965 and is currently funded at $207 million — about 0.003% of the federal budget. It is among several cultural agencies targeted for elimination in Trump’s 2026 budget proposal, alongside the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Institute of Museum and Library Services. On May 7, all 10 directors who oversee grantmaking resigned in response to last week’s cuts.
CU Boulder has already lost eight grants as a result of cuts to these agencies.
Correction, May 15, 2025 11:35 am:
A previous version of this story misstated the date the no-reply email was sent. It was sent on May 2, not May 10.
Correction, May 15, 2025 11:34 am:
A previous version of this story incorrectly stated that Motus had already raised the $35,000 in matching funds required by the NEA grant. Motus still needs to raise both the $35,000 match and an additional $35,000 not covered by the grant, totaling $70,000 to execute the tour.