Save Utah Humanities: DOGE Cuts to the National Endowment for the Humanities will Impact Cultural Organizations in Every Corner of the State 

On Monday, March 31, DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) targeted NEH with the aim of substantially reducing its staff, cutting the agency’s grant programs, and rescinding grants that have already been awarded. The National Endowment for the Humanities is the only federal agency that funds our nation’s 56 state and jurisdictional humanities councils, including Utah Humanities.  

If humanities councils lose funding, Utahns will no longer have access to: 

• Grants that support local humanities programming  

• History programs commemorating the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence including our upcoming tour of the Smithsonian Institution’s Museum on Main Street exhibit, Voices and Votes 

• Vital support for students with aspirations to attend college  

• Capacity building training and resources for rural museums and historical societies 

• Community Conversations programming to bring different viewpoints together to discuss important Utah issues 

• The statewide Utah Humanities Book Festival and Utah Book Awards 

Here are actions you can take NOW: 

STEP 1: Call or message your U.S. senators and representatives and urge them to protect NEH and Utah Humanities. You can use this form from the National Humanities Alliance to contact your member of the U.S.Congress. Feel free to replace the text with your own personal message or paste the Utah specific message (available below). 

STEP 2: Call or message your state and local elected officials and let them know how this loss of funds will impact your community. You can use this form to contact Governor Spencer Cox and your local elected officials. Use the pre-loaded text, replace it with your own message, or paste in the Utah specific message below.  

STEP 3: Share this action alert on social media, then send it directly to five people in your network and ask them to take action as well. 

Protect NEH/ Save Utah Humanities  

As a constituent, I am [writing/calling] to urgently request that you support the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) in the face of the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) attempt to substantially reduce its staff, cut the agency’s grant programs, and rescind grants that have already been awarded. NEH is the only agency that funds our nation’s 56 state and jurisdictional humanities councils, including Utah Humanities, which provide vital cultural services and critical funding to local nonprofit organizations across the state.  

[Say something about Utah Humanities here.] 

NEH was created by an act of Congress in 1965 and reaffirmed by Republican and Democratic Presidents and legislators over the following 60 years. DOGE’s reductions to the NEH budget and workforce will block the agency’s ability to carry out Congressional intent. Every Congress for 50 years has supported the state humanities councils and their effective distribution of federal dollars across America. These funds go directly to states (and your district) and allow councils to raise $2 in private investment for every federal dollar spent. The loss of NEH funding to humanities councils will decimate the ability of Utah Humanities to serve communities across our state, eliminating programs that are essential to our cultural infrastructure.  

Again, I urge you to protect NEH and NEH funding for humanities councils.