The Arts, Entertainment, and Media Industries (AEMI) coalition within AFL-CIO said it is prepared to fight back against Trump’s proposed cuts that would eliminate the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), the National Endowment for Humanities (NEH), and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB).
Trump’s 2026 “Skinny” Budget Request went out last week, continuing his attacks on nonprofit arts organizations such as National Public Radio and PBS.
“Unions are prepared to fight back again against efforts to eliminate the NEA, NEH, and CPB,” said Katie Barrows, Communications Director at the Department of Professional Employees at the labor union in a statement released Wednesday.
The AEMI coalition includes the DGA, IATSE, SAG-AFTRA, Writers Guild of America East and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW).
“Nonprofit arts, humanities, and public media enjoy broad, bipartisan public support because they power local economies in every state and expand access to quality artistic and educational content across communities. Shutting down the NEA, NEH, or CPB would be a radical action that would harm everyday people,” she continued.
She added, “The notion that federal funding for the arts, humanities, or public media is a financial burden for working Americans is plainly wrong.”
Barrows went on to list the economic value of federal funding for the arts, humanities, and public media, including providing entry points into the industry for people in rural areas, as well as a positive economic impact.
“Audiences spend an estimated $38.46 per person, per event, beyond the cost of admission, on goods and services in the communities where they attend arts and cultural programs,” she said.
Barrow also expressed the union’s “deep concern about the “haphazard termination of hundreds of NEA and NEH grants,” and with them, jobs and projects.
Barrow added, “Private money cannot fully replace federal funding. Eliminating the NEA, NEH, or CPB will lead to the loss of good, middle-class jobs. The most acute economic pain will be far from the soundstages of Hollywood and bright lights of Broadway. Job losses will be in communities where the NEA may be the only funder for regional theater or at local TV or radio stations that depend on CPB funding.”
She asked that Congress increase funding for the nonprofits “as an investment that helps put people, including our members, to work and enriches the fabric of our democracy.”
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