AMERICAN THEATRE | Maria Rosario Jackson Steps Down From NEA

WASHINGTON, D.C.: Maria Rosario Jackson, PhD, whom former President Biden named the chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts in October 2021, posted her resignation from the post last week, citing Jan. 20 as her last day at the government arts agency. That day also marked the inauguration of Donald J. Trump, who in 2018 was the first president to propose total elimination of the NEA in his budget (though its funding actually slightly increased in subsequent years, thanks to bipartisan support in Congress). Resignation by political appointees upon the inauguration of a new government is standard practice, though in some cases they are asked to stay until their positions are filled.

In her resignation letter, Dr. Jackson does not refer to the new administration or its plans for arts funding, instead touting the accomplishments of her agency during her tenure, in which she put a strong emphasis on the health benefits of the arts, including last year’s summit on “healing, bridging, thriving,” an effort to coordinate this work with other government agencies, and a program to use the arts to “increase vaccine confidence.” Under her tenure the NEA also advanced programs to address disparities in arts engagement and launched a national arts statistics center.

She concludes her letter with an expression of gratitude “for the experience and the honor of working alongside a dedicated and talented team of public servants committed to ensuring all Americans can benefit from the arts.” The closest her letter comes to a political gesture is to say that she is “grateful to have worked with an administration that believes in the power of the arts, demonstrated by the largest-ever increase in the NEA’s budget, an historic Executive Order on arts integration, and consistent recognition of artists and artistry at the White House.” Indeed, under President Biden the NEA’s budget went from $167.5 million in his first year to $210 million in his FY 2025 budget—a welcome increase, though still only about .003 percent of the U.S. federal budget.

Dr. Jackson closes by saying, “I am hopeful for the future of the arts in America.” It is true that while the new administration did at least partly campaign on slashing government spending, and has since made headlines with Elon Musk’s independently led effort to follow through on that promise, arts funding has not been explicitly targeted, nor has it been the subject of the new president’s flurry of regressive executive orders.

The NEA recently gave out nearly $37 million in grants to organizations and projects in all 50 states, roughly $5 million of those in the theatre category.