Bay Area arts groups are trying to come to terms with the “devastating” and sudden cancelation of millions of dollars of much-needed funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, the nation’s largest funder of arts programs in U.S., amid new priorities by the Trump administration.

More than 80 Bay Area arts nonprofits received grants from the Biden administration. They ranged from $10,000 to $85,000 each and represented a total outlay of more than $2.5 million. Nearly 30 of these groups have confirmed they lost all or a portion of the grants.

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The NEA informed arts companies that henceforth it will focus on works “that reflect the nation’s rich artistic heritage and creativity as prioritized by the President.”

“Your project unfortunately does not align with these priorities,” explains an email sent recently to a wide range of nonprofits across the country.

Adding insult to injury, local arts groups members say, is that the cuts feel more political and punitive than frugal.

“It is shocking to have an administration that puts arts on a political chopping block,” Giovanna Sardelli, artistic director for TheatreWorks Silicon Valley, said in a statement. The NEA withdrew a $10,000 grant to fund the company’s workshop for new and established Bay Area writers.

Bay Area companies known to have received the emails include Berkeley Repertory Theatre; American Conservatory Theater; San Jose Museum of Art; San Jose Taiko; SFJAZZ; ODC Dance Company; the Oakland Theater Project; and Opera San Jose. The Richmond Art Center; Kitka, a women’s vocal ensemble; the San Francisco International Arts Festival; the independent magazines McSweeney’s and ZYZZYVA; the San Jose-based artist collective Local Color; and Frameline, which hosts what is billed as the largest LGBTQ+ film festival in the world, also lost grants.

Local arts leaders said it’s unlikely that any company will go under due to the cuts, but many will be left with difficult decisions about costs or finding new sources of revenue.

Smaller organizations will have a more difficult time making up budget shortfalls, said Colin Mandlin, managing director for the Oakland Theater Project. His company lost half of a $30,000, two-year grant it expected to use toward an ambitious stage adaptation of the classic American 19th-century novel “Moby-Dick.” The theater also lost a $25,000 California Humanities grant after the National Endowment for the Humanities also slashed millions of dollars worth of grants to arts and culture groups across the country.

“Commissioning a new play is an expensive endeavor and it takes several years,” Mandlin said, adding that creating productions that “stand out” is one of the essential goals a company must meet in order to stay afloat.

San Jose Taiko, whose popular performances are inspired by traditional Japanese drumming, said that its $25,000 grant to produce a series of online educational videos had been withdrawn.

Like many groups facing the cuts, San Jose Taiko is likely to appeal the NEA decision, making a case that their drummers help support Asian American economic development, said executive director Wisu Uemura. But he added, “Advocacy organizations are encouraging arts organizations to file appeals with the understanding that probably, yes, it’s unlikely that we’ll win.”

Projects deemed worthy of NEA backing include those that celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, as well as works and events that “empower houses of worship to serve communities,” “make America healthy again” and make “the District of Columbia safe and beautiful,” according to emails that Bay Area arts groups received from the NEA.

But many Bay Area arts leaders say they feel the NEA is pushing a Trump-friendly agenda that excludes works geared toward minority and LGBTQ communities. Others noted that the president has in the past advocated eliminating the NEA altogether.

“This is an insult, and it’s deliberate,” said Wanda Ravernell of the Oakland-based Omnira Institute, which lost its $10,000 grant for a Sept. 13 Black-Eyed Pea Festival, a West Oakland celebration of Black music and art.

Opera San Jose learned that it would not receive its promised $25,000 grant to help fund its production of “Zorro.” The news came as the production, in its Northern California premiere, was heading into its final weekend at the historic California Theatre.

“We are devastated,” Opera San Jose CEO and General Director Shawna Lucey said in a statement. Lucey also noted the irony in the NEA saying one of its goals was to “elevate Hispanic Serving Institutions” while withdrawing support for “Zorro.”

“Our production of Zorro is sung in Spanish and English, and like all our operas, features both English and Spanish supertitles,” said Lucey. She added that Opera San José “is acutely aware of its Hispanic community” and has long prioritized operas “that speak to that community, such as ‘Zorro.’”

Both the NEA and the National Endowment for the Humanities were established by Congress in 1965. At the time, President Lyndon Johnson referred to the arts as “a nation’s most precious heritage.”

Sixty years later, that heritage, or at least federal support of it, faces an uncertain future.

Leaders at San Francisco’s New Conservatory Theatre Center, which celebrates the voices of LGBTQ people, were not at all surprised that a Trump-led agency would rescind the company’s $20,000 grant, which they hoped to use to present “Simple Mexican Pleasures,” a play about a gay Latino man who travels to Mexico City to rediscover his sense of identity, familial ties and cultural heritage.

Company founding artistic director Ed Decker and executive director Barbara Hodgen said in a statement their company is “at the intersection of several communities that scare the hell out of the current regime: the arts community, the queer community, and community activists.”

But officials at the Walnut Creek-based California Symphony were mystified that the orchestra lost the second half of its $20,000, two-year grant, even though it had long planned to use the money for a concert to celebrate America’s 250th birthday. The symphony planned to commission its composer-in-residence, Saad Haddad, whose works explore Western and Middle Eastern musical traditions, to create a short symphonic piece for its May 2026 concert.

“This concert was going to be part of the 250th anniversary celebrations, so for them to take away the grant is senseless,” said Donato Cabrera, the orchestra’s musical and artistic director. “There’s no rhyme or reason for it.”