Community Update on Federal Funding: What it Means to Be "the People"

To: Illinois Humanities community

From: Gabrielle Lyon

Re: Community Update: How to BE "the People"

Date: July 16, 2025

I last shared a community-wide update on May 29, 2025.

To recap: On April 3, I was informed that DOGE had terminated our National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) funding - $2M, a third of our annual budget and support we have relied upon for 50 years. Since that time we have been:

1) Meeting with elected officials and letting people know what is happening and why it matters by talking with local and national reporters;

2) Asking people to call Congress (You can find your members of congress HERE. The message is simple: tell them that you want funding returned to Illinois Humanities so that those dollars can work for you in your community.);

3) Bringing our voice and perspective to local, regional, and national meetings about how organizations can collaborate to protect and preserve local history, heritage, arts, and cultural organizations. We know that our most critical public humanities partners will shoulder the brunt of the accumulation of federal funding cuts that impact people who live on low incomes, and in small towns and rural communities.

Late last month, we added one more activity to these efforts:

4) I provided testimony for a national lawsuit calling for the reinstatement of federal funding to humanities councils nationwide.

Illinois Humanities was founded to return federal dollars to Illinois for Illinoisans to have access to the power of the humanities. It is literally why we were established as a nonprofit organization in 1974. Our funding from the federal government isn't a grant for special projects: it is a nonpartisan commitment that the country - via Congress and the President - made to itself. In order for us to be a world-class democracy we need to invest not only in science and jobs, we also need to invest in our ability to be a creative and connected society.

This upheaval in funding is making the role of the federal government in our daily lives visible. It is also providing an important reminder: the government doesn't "give" us things in the United States of America. The government is US. National Endowment for the Humanities funding - awarded to Illinois Humanities and to every council in our 56 states and territories - is our own tax dollars coming home to Illinois for Illinoisians to put to work as we best see fit: To be more livable, to be more creative, and to ensure that our histories and heritage, arts and culture, are not only preserved, but thrive and evolve. It is worth noting that this mechanism is replicated in 55 other states and territories. From many, we become one. It's a remarkably bi-partisan manifestation - and an extraordinarily efficient model - of how our federated democratic system of government can work.

So, what's ahead?

We are simultaneously trying to get our funding reinstated while also working on a plan for how to sustain our programs in the year ahead. Meanwhile, Congress is creating next year's budget. This week the House recommended the National Endowment Humanities receive $135M, down from $207M, in previous years. This is a 35% cut. Will any of those funds come back to Illinois? It's unclear.

Illinois Humanities is already preparing for a reduction in our operations this fall. We are working to protect:

• Free community reading and discussion programs throughout the state
• Funding for history and heritage programs, rural museums and historical societies
• Resources to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence
• Free book and cultural festivals that draw tourism and private investment
• Free education programs for youth and adults

And we aren't standing alone.

How do we BE "the People?" By doubling down on what we have been doing together since April.

Thousands of people around Illinois responded when we asked you to call elected officials. You've also joined us in interviews with journalists and at programs, testifying in your own voices about why the humanities are essential to a just, creative, and connected Illinois. For that, we are deeply grateful. The NEH has been under attack before, but it is through our collective action that we resist the erosion of the public square and our communal investment in ensuring nonpartisan access to the humanities - no matter where you live or what your story is.

Let's keep BEING "the People."

Please CALL CONGRESS AGAIN. Call your representatives AND call your senators. Ask them not to cut funding to the National Endowment to the Humanities and to keep funding Illinois Humanities.

Bonus: Ask a friend or family member to make one call.

I would be remiss not to mention a very special thing that has happened during all of this. We've been given a $50,000 "match" opportunity by both the Mellon Foundation and an anonymous donor. This means EVERY dollar you give will be tripled through Labor Day – including gifts to our 50th anniversary.

Please DO call your congress people. And, if you are able, make a donation at any amount and it will help us take advantage of the match opportunity. You can:
  

     1. Donate online.
     2. Purchase a 50th anniversary ticket.
     3. Become a monthly donor and provide sustained support for our mission.

All of these fund our future.

Thank you again for being part of our extraordinary humanities community and for making sure "We the People" are able to be creative, connected, and just in Illinois.

Gabrielle H. Lyon
Executive Director