Trump’s culture cuts ‘jeopardise independence celebrations’

Donald Trump’s cuts to US cultural agencies could jeopardise the delivery of the “extraordinary celebration” he has called for to mark the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, it has been claimed.

Trump signed an executive order in his first few days in office that created a federal task force to plan the celebrations.

Since then, Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) has cut funding for the National Endowment for the Humanities, the chair of which is part of Trump’s celebrations task force.

According to the Federation of State Humanities Councils, 80% of the NEH’s staff were placed on administrative leave earlier this month.

State officials say cuts have already led to them shedding staff and suspending new programming.

Gabrielle Lyon, executive director of llinois Humanities, said: “This commemoration… is an extraordinary opportunity to talk about the things we most hold dear: freedom, equality, independence, our interdependence.”

But they added: “The programs that we have already started to outline are all going to be jeopardised”.

Mary McCartin Wearn, president of Georgia’s humanities council, said it had planned to give grants to local communities to support their own projects celebrating the 250th anniversary.

However, she said it is now unlikely to be able to fund such events as Trump’s cost-cutting “threatens our very existence”.