Youth programs at SLO art museum threatened by federal funding cuts
Programs at at least one of San Luis Obispo’s public museums could be on the chopping block as a result of the Trump administration’s recent federal downsizing efforts.
Established in 1996, the Institute of Museum and Library Services is the federal agency that funds America’s museums and libraries nationwide, including in SLO County.
The San Luis Obispo Museum of Art was award two highly-coveted Institute grants last year which would’ve funded children’s arts programs in schools and at the museum, covering 9% of their operating budget every year for three years, museum executive director Leann Standish told The Tribune.
Last month, the Institute was put on the president’s short list of “unnecessary” government departments slated for “maximum” funding reductions — potentially including the local art museum’s grant.
Standish hasn’t been able to get through to any of their contacts in the agency since.
Now, unless the grant comes back or the museum can find the funding somewhere else, students and children may no longer able to access the museum’s subsidized programs.
“It feels like it would be such an easy thing to reconsider,” Standish said. “It just feels like there are other places to cut.”
SLO art museum gets federal grant revoked
On March 14, the White House released an executive order “continuing the reduction of the federal bureaucracy,” as it was titled, by making cuts to seven government agencies that “the president has determined are unnecessary” — including the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
Trump had previously attempted to defund the agency along with other arts and culture agencies during his first term through the regular legislative process, but Congress denied his requests and continued funding at its then-regular levels.
This time, he took a different approach, sticking instead to his new strategy of attempting to bypass Congress with an executive action.
Similar to other budget-slashing executive orders, the agencies were given a week to eliminate to the “maximum extent” any programs or functions of the agency not required by law and to provide a report to the Office of Management and Budget outlining which aspects of the agency are necessary to keep — and which are not.
In August 2024, the SLO Museum of Art was awarded two Institute grants totaling just under $300,000 over a span three years, Standish said.
The grant money would’ve subsidized youth art programs in SLO County schools and paid to bring more students to the museum. The art museum serves between 1,500 and 2,500 school kids who visit the museum each year.
“Regionally, there’s a lack of arts education,” Standish said. “It’s been cut and marginalized all over the place. It’s been more at the low-income schools than any other schools, and we were filling that gap.”
When Standish heard their grants might be on the rocks, it was through a secondary source at the American Alliance of Museums. In fact, the museum never heard directly from the Institute.
“We received no notifications from the agency itself, no communications at all,” Standish said.
Still without clarity on whether their grants were canceled or not, the SLO art museum tried to appeal to the federal government to reverse the decision.
The Institute is a small government agency, with its spending making up less than 0.01% of the total federal government’s budget. According to the official government spending database, the agency received $162.83 million in funding for fiscal year 2025 — just over half of what it received the prior three years — though it requested $280 million.
“It is so minor in that picture and so major in the picture — specifically for organizations like ours that are in smaller communities — where the arts are really crucial and typically underfunded,” Standish said.
Then, on March 31, the majority of Institute employees were put on administrative leave.
“There’s no one to answer an email,” Standish said.
The art museum has still never been notified of any change in their contract, but “there’s just no one, now, in those offices to answer when we submit a bill or when we ask a question,” she said.
The museum has already racked up expenses related to the programs they believed would be supported by the grants, including hiring for positions that now might not be funded.
In light of this, the museum has issued a call to action, asking the community to write to SLO County’s congressional representatives asking to fight the cuts.
The museum published a step-by-step guide on how to find your local representatives on its website, as well as letter template to send out.
But eventually, they will have to turn to fundraising appeals, Standish said.
“For the time being, we plan to continue the program self-funded, and continue to bill into the ether to see if this might be like some of the other programs were reversed, but we can’t do that forever,” Standish said.
SLO County public libraries not impacted by federal cuts
Though the budget cuts to the Institute are impacting other libraries nationwide, SLO County’s public libraries seem to be outside of the line of fire.
“It will not effect us in our library system in SLO directly,” SLO County Library Director Chris Barnickel told The Tribune.
SLO County has 14 public libraries spanning from Ocean to Cambria to Shandon that are open to the public and free to access.
None of the libraries are directly funded by the agency, instead getting most of its funding from property taxes, Barnickel said.
The only way the cuts could impact any SLO County libraries are through one-time grants, such as the Institute grant that paid for the construction of the Shandon Tool Library. No library programs are currently Institute-funded, he said.
However, the agency being defunded is still “a big deal for libraries as a whole,” Barnickel said.
“It does impact us, but its not as if we have to close our doors as a result.”
This story was originally published April 29, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
