US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order intended to eliminate seven federal agencies, including the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, which is affiliated with the Smithsonian Institution.
The order, which was signed on Friday (14 March), states that the president has determined a total of seven agencies to be “unnecessary”, and that each will “be eliminated to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law”. It also requires the heads of each of the agencies to submit, within a week, a report to the director of the Office of Management and Budget confirming compliance and outlining which of their agency’s activities “are statutorily required and to what extent”.
Representatives for IMLS and the Wilson Center did not immediately respond to The Art Newspaper’s requests for comment.
The IMLS, along with the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), is one of the largest conduits for federal arts funding in the US. Like the NEA and NEH, the IMLS’s funding comes in the form of annual appropriations that are decided by Congress; the IMLS’s appropriation for fiscal year 2024 was $294.8m.
Last year the agency provided $266.7m in grants to libraries, museums and related institutions across the country and its territories. Those grants ranged widely in value and purpose, such as $343,521 to support an internship and fellowship programme at the Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico or $10,350 for the Art Museum of Eastern Idaho to develop new curricula for groups of visiting schoolchildren.
In a statement posted on Instagram, the American Alliance of Museums wrote: "Eliminating the only federal agency dedicated to supporting museums directly undermines the will of the people and the critical roles museums play in American society."
Library organisations were also outspoken in their support for the agency. The non-profit Every Library released a statement explaining that “we risk losing critical programmes and services in every state” and urging supporters to sign a petition and contact their government representatives. The American Library Association also issued a statement, warning that “the Trump administration’s executive order is cutting off at the knees the most beloved and trusted of American institutions and the staff and services they offer”.
The Wilson Center, which is affiliated with the Smithsonian and located just steps from the White House, was created in 1968 and functions as a bipartisan think tank that gathers scholars and provides policy guidance on issues related to international relations, development, economics, security and more. Its current president and chief executive Mark A. Green was the head of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) during Trump’s first term; the current administration has sought to completely dismantle USAID. Earlier this month, Green had requested $14.1m in federal funding for the Wilson Center for 2025.
The other agencies targeted for elimination in Trump’s executive order are the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, the United States Agency for Global Media (which operates the Voice of America media network), the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness, Community Development Financial Institutions Fund and the Minority Business Development Agency.
During his first term, Trump repeatedly sought to slash funding to or completely shutter the IMLS, NEA and NEH, though the agencies’ activities and funding levels remained largely unchanged. While the NEA and NEH were not named in Trump’s executive order on Friday, both are currently without leaders. In fact, just two days earlier the chair of the NEH, Shelly C. Lowe, the first Native American to lead the agency, stepped down “at the direction of President Trump”.
Last month, Trump purged the board of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts of all its Biden-era members, installed 14 new board members including himself and Usha Vance, the wife of Vice President J.D. Vance, and was promptly elected board chair. Earlier this month, drag performers held a protest rally at the Kennedy Center and Vance was booed by other audience members when he attended a National Symphony performance there.
