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What Does Trump’s Elimination of the National Endowment for the Arts Mean For Artists and Culture

5/5/2025

 
I decided to get my doomscrolling out of the way early in the morning. One of the first posts on my Instagram feed shared the news of sweeping National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) grant cancellations. NPR reported that theatres like Berkeley Repertory Theater, Central Park Summer Stage in New York City, and the Chicago-area arts education nonprofit Open Studio Project all received no-reply emails from the NEA stating, “The NEA is updating its grantmaking policy priorities to focus funding on projects that reflect the nation's rich artistic heritage and creativity as prioritized by the President…Consequently, we are terminating awards that fall outside these new priorities." 

​As a playwright, this is terrifying. 


Whether you work in the arts, have an arts-adjacent job, or are just a human being who enjoys critical thinking, here’s a breakdown of what’s going on with the NEA and Trump’s budget cuts.

What is the purpose of the National Endowment for the Arts? 

The National Endowment for the Arts is an independent federal agency that funds arts and arts education for the United States of America. Congress created the NEA in 1965 to advance opportunities for arts participation. The NEA creates and maintains an environment where the arts benefit everyone in the United States. The NEA funds non-profit arts organizations, public art agencies, tribal communities, and individual writers and translators through grants. Project grants can range from $10,000 to $100,000 for matching grants and $30,000 to $150,000 for subgranting programs.

What does this mean for artists?

The NEA is a government-owned and operated program that helps individual artists and art collectives develop and produce art. Art can include theatrical productions, new play development, visual arts (painting, sculpture, photography, etc.), literary arts (creative writing, translations, etc.), media arts (film, TV, radio, etc.), arts educational programs, museums, and research.
 

It is also important to emphasize supporting non-profit organizations. A non-profit is an organization that operates not to create a profit, but to benefit its community. Non-profit organizations do this by reinvesting any profits they make back into their organization for future programming. For-profit businesses distribute their earnings to shareholders and owners. 

The NEA is responsible for funding the careers, projects, and programs of many acclaimed arts and institutions, including Kimberly Peirce, who wrote the film Boys Don’t Cry. Peirce perfectly outlines why NEA grants are incredibly valuable. In Esquire, she states, “Without the funding, Boys Don't Cry wouldn't exist. I mean, look, I had a full-time job, so I was supporting myself. It gave me the ability to go to Sundance with the script and go back and fix the project with mentors like Denzel Washington. So I got access to them, but then even that extra money or that support allowed me to go back and actually make use of all the lessons that I learned, which I think is so essential. I am a lifelong career artist, which itself is a bit of a miracle. It's really challenging to be a career artist. I would say that the argument for grant funding is not only did my movie do some social good—hopefully it opened people's eyes—but you created a working artist."
I would say that the argument for grant funding is not only did my movie do some social good—hopefully it opened people's eyes—but you created a working artist."

Why you need to care about the NEA cuts ​

That phrase, “career artist,” is mostly just a dream for many of us. The daily grind of existing in a capitalistic world distracts even the most passionate of us from the art we love. Working a full-time survival job - 40 to 60 hours a week - balancing domestic responsibilities, relationships, and taking care of personal health is emotionally and physically draining. It is also important to acknowledge artistic colleagues who are caregivers for either elderly parents or their children. And then, there are those artists who juggle the trifecta of survival jobs, parenthood, and continuing education.

Without grants like the NEA, the challenges to create art are insurmountable. Many of your favorite plays, movies, paintings, music, writers, events, or institutions would simply not exist. 

Why is the Trump administration attempting to eliminate the NEA?

Political affiliations aside, what the Trump administration stated in black and white in their 2026 Discretionary Budget Request is “The Budget includes the elimination of, or the elimination of Federal funding for, the following small agencies (including the NEA)—consistent with the President’s efforts to decrease the size of the Federal Government to enhance accountability, reduce waste, and reduce unnecessary governmental entities.  Past Trump Administration Budgets have also supported these eliminations.  Remaining funds account for costs of orderly shutdowns.”

What the Trump administration defines as “waste” is stated in the document's cover letter. “The recommended funding levels result from a rigorous, line-by-line review of FY 2025 spending, which was found to be laden with spending contrary to the needs of ordinary working Americans and tilted toward funding niche non-governmental organizations and institutions of higher education committed to radical gender and climate ideologies antithetical to the American way of life.”

I highly advise you read through the entire document to see the list of agencies on the chopping block, along with the administration’s reasoning for the cuts. Within their justifications, it becomes very clear that the Trump administration’s definition of “ordinary working Americans” means white, male, cisgender, straight, and completely aligned and blindly loyal to the MAGA agenda.  

Words and phrases like “woke” (used 12 times), “DEI” (used 31 times), “LGBTQ” (used 6 times), “transgender” (used 5 times), “racism” (used 5 times), and “climate change” (used 10 times) are littered throughout the document. Any agency that funds diversity programming, projects, or research that presents findings and facts that are contradictory to the current administration’s beliefs must be eliminated. 

The Trump administration does not want to debate, be challenged, or remain objective. They are not interested in different viewpoints and do not want to engage in conversations with people outside of their “ordinary working American” definition. They want total control of the American narrative. They want to rewrite history and erase anyone who has a different opinion from what the administration dictates. This is the opposite of free speech.

The elimination of critical thinking

Throughout history, it is the arts that have provided the medium, stage, and dialogue for protest. It is also the arts that bring people together by sharing stories from different views, but have universal sentiments. Most importantly, the arts provide us with a chance to think critically about issues, events, history, and people. 
​

The definition of critical thinking is the ability to analyze information objectively, identify biases, and form reasoned judgments or solutions. Critical thinking involves doing the difficult work of looking internally, questioning assumptions, and evaluating hard evidence so that you can make your own informed decision. 
It is clear from the language in the budget request that the Trump administration does not want you to come to your own decisions. They want you to always agree with them. They are afraid of critical thinking. They are afraid of the arts and what artists can inspire.

What can you do to support the arts?

I am a big believer in the phrase, “There is nothing too small you can do.” Here are a few small, actionable things you can do right now to support the artistic institutions and artists in your life.
  • Buy a ticket: Go see a play, performance, production, installation, event, etc. Money talks. And right now, the arts need to keep the lights on.
  • Spread the word: If you know an artist or there’s a performance/event you want to support, then tell people about it! Go on social media, make a post advocating the art/artist(s) you are excited about. Tag, share, comment, and help boost the signal.
  • Follow and like: Speaking of social media, it is one of the best (and cost-effective) ways for artists to market themselves and their art. Help them grow by following their social media accounts and engage with their posts so their audience reach expands.
  • Chat with an artist: If you have an artist friend in your life, it’s always beneficial to talk about what they are creating. Send a text or grab some coffee. A casual chat about their work can make a big difference.

    Have you been impacted by NEA cancellations? 

Submit

How to Prepare for Playwriting Competitions 2024

11/2/2024

 
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Playwrights in the United States might seem a preoccupied, stressed, and a little depressed these last few months. It’s submission season. From early September through mid-December playwrights across all 50 states gather around their computer screens to sift through theatre websites, forums, and calendars to find playwriting competitions, contests, festivals, awards, residencies, and more. With the season almost over, let’s explore how you can still take advantage of the remaining playwriting submission opportunities and how you can prepare for next season.

Give me the cue-to-cue

  • When are playwriting competitions available?
  • 11 steps to prepare for playwriting competitions
  • Where to find playwriting submission opportunities

When are playwriting competitions available?

Playwriting submission opportunities are available all year round. However, the heat of the season is around September 15th – December 1st. During this 10-11-week period, some of the most well-known theatres and organizations put their annual call out for new plays. Theatres and festivals like the O’Neill National Playwrights Conference, The Bay Area Playwrights Festival, The Great Plains Playwrights Conference, Seven Devils, and more.
What are ​ festival curators looking for?
Typically, the theatres hosting the festivals seek something fresh. They want new works. Plays written within the last year (sometimes two) and have never been produced.

Why? Well, festivals and residencies want to help playwrights develop their work. Festival curators provide the playwrights with dramaturgs, directors, actors, designers, and more. If your play is “complete” and ready for production, then the organization’s resources aren’t going to be of much help.

Theatre festivals also want to be the ones who discovered the hottest new play. If the play takes off, that theatre can be the one to say they discovered this exciting new piece of theatricality.
What does this mean for playwrights?
The demand for brand new plays requires us playwrights to churn out new pieces of writing or significant rewrites of an “older” play every year. We’ll get to why “older” is in quotation marks in a moment. If the play doesn’t get produced or selected for any opportunities, few playwriting contests will accept a resubmission of that same play next year. For better or worse, that means onto the next. And sadly, I’ve seen so many great pieces of writing stashed away in archived folders or dusty drawers, never to see the stage lights. These plays might be only 2-5 years young. Nothing old about that.

I’ve written before about how theatres can help those plays spread to future seasons at other organizations. You can check out that blog here and here for some extra tips.

​If you are ready to start submitting, remember that rejection comes with the territory. Don’t let that stand in your way. Use submission season to motivate you to sit down and write. Make that your goal. What happens with playwriting contests, awards, and festivals you cannot control. The act of writing you 100% can control.

Now, let’s explore how you can prepare for this remaining playwriting submission season.

11 steps to prepare for playwriting competitions

Submission season can be summed up in three phases: Plan, execute, and evaluate.
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  • 1.) Write a new play: Use mid-December through August to get working on your newest piece of writing. Within eight months, you can divide up your writing into small, manageable chunks. Maybe start with outline and journal a bit about the work the first month of two. Then write two pages of dialogue everyday or every week. Don’t punish yourself if you miss a week – life happens. By the time September rolls around, you’ll have roughly 60 pages of a new play done. Of course it won’t be perfect – what play is? At least you’ve developed a discipline, have a product to submit, and are no longer left staring at a blank page.
  • 2.) Prep your play: This will save you time, especially when some submission opportunities are time sensitive. When your draft is ready, divide your play into a 10-page sample and a blind draft (no identifying information like your name, address, etc).
  • 3.) Prep your materials: More time saving tips. Develop your letters of intent, play synopsis, update your resume, and bio. Many theatres want to learn a little about you and how they can help workshop your play. Your letter of intent is there to outline what you need from the theatre to take your play to the next stage in development.
  • 4.) Find your submissions opportunities: Now that you have everything ready, it is time to submit! There are various forums out there that list calls for new plays. At the end of this blog, I list a few of my favorites.
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  • 5.) Submit early: I highly recommend not waiting until the last moment to submit to any playwriting opportunity. Submitting early puts your play at the front of the pack for readers with fresh eyes to examine your work. Remember, we are all humans. Play readers and literary managers get overwhelmed and tired just like any of us. You want to position your play at the front of the line to get the best chance of being evaluated.
  • 6.) Follow instructions (exactly): When you find your submission opportunity, do NOT ignore their guidelines. Read them and follow them to the letter. See if the submission needs to be blind or if they only want 10-page samples. I’ve seen so many submissions get tossed out by literary committees because the playwright did not follow the guidelines. Don’t disqualify yourself!
  • 7.) Save submission confirmations: Create a folder somewhere to save all your play submission confirmations. This is a great way to verify the playwriting competition received your submission.
  • 8.) Track your submissions: I like to keep a handy submission tracker via Excel or Google sheets. This way I can see who I submitted to, what play I submitted, the deadline to submit, and what materials they asked me to send. This will not only help with follow-up later in the submission process, but it will also ensure I don’t send the same play to that same festival back-to-back years.
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  • 9.) Measure your results: Here’s where I’m a little nerdy. In my submission tracker, I keep track of certain metrics. What is my acceptance rate, finalist stats, and no-replies. This helps me decide if I want to keep applying to the theatre festival. Look, at the end of the day, submissions are extremely time consuming. If year after year you submit and the theatre doesn’t even take the time to notify you with a mail merge rejection, maybe they don’t deserve your talent.
  • 10.) Follow-up: People get busy and deadlines change. It is totally okay to write a little email to a theatre to ask about the status of your submission.
  • 11.) Find common trends: Here’s another nerdy thing that I do. I keep track of how long a submission opportunity takes me to complete. I have a scoring system that I use on a scale of 1 to 10. If a submission opportunity was overly complicated and required a ton of assets like a letter of intent, artistic statement, letter of recommendation, blind submission, resume, full play synopsis, and a submission fee, that is getting a 10! Similar to step number nine, I do this because if I take all this time to properly submit every piece of material the theatre requested, pay a fee, and I hear crickets, or I just never seem to advance, then maybe my energies are best spent elsewhere.
At the end of the day, remember your time is just as valuable as the theatres and festivals you submit to. These submissions are hard work. Send your play where your time and talent are respected.

Where to find playwriting submission opportunities

Here are just a few places you can find  submission opportunities for playwriting competitions, contests, and more. I divided them up into paid and free.  These sites I am providing curate your submission opportunities in one place making the search process a little more efficient.
Free
  • Play Submission Helper: The monthly blog provides a snapshot of playwriting contests available across North America. 
  • Personal research: Visit individual theatres’ websites that are local to you or anywhere in the world to find what programming options are available for you. 
Paid
  • Play Submission Helper (paid version): $9.99/mo
  • Playwrights' Center: $10 – $15/mo
  • New Play Exchange: $12 – $18/yr
  • Dramatists Guild: $130/yr

Ready. Set. Submit! 

Playwriting submissions can be overwhelming. Take back the control by preparing your play and yourself. You can’t control what happens after you press submit. You can control the time you spend searching for submissions, developing your play, and curating your submission materials. Whether you submit this year, next year, or the year after, remember that your time is precious. Get a head start by taking small steps now.

Did you find this blog helpful?

If you liked what you read, please share with friends on social media. You can tag (and follow me) on:
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I also provide classes on the business of playwriting. Please reach out to me if you want to learn how I can help your writing community.

Playwriting Competitions: How Theatres Can Support Playwrights After Rejection

4/28/2024

 
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I, along with roughly a hundred other playwrights who were listed as semi-finalists, received our O’Neill National Playwrights Conference rejection email for my play How to Kill a Caribou. The institutions that produce these playwriting competitions typically send an email rejection letter. The National Playwrights Conference’s email was sincere and empathic. It states that we playwrights should be proud of making it to the semi-finals. People at O’Neill championed our work. And the fact that we made it to a select group of 250 plays out of 1500 that submitted is, “a full-throated affirmation of your artistry, your acumen, and the powerful impact of your craftsmanship.”
 
I am grateful. I am proud of myself. But what now? If you’re unfamiliar with the National Playwrights Conference, here’s the gist.

About the O'Neill National Playwrights Conference

​The “O’Neill,” is one of many playwriting competitions. This particular playwriting competition has been around since 1964 developing plays from some of the biggest names in playwriting like Dominique Morisseau, Martyna Majok, Beth Henley, and Samuel D. Hunter — many of whom have gone on to win the Pulitzer Prize, Obie, and MacArthur awards.
The O’Neill Playwrights Conference is a premier developmental opportunity for fresh, new plays that have never been produced. It is a chance for playwrights to collaborate with leading theatre professionals, workshop plays, network, and potentially, launch their careers.

What happens after rejection?

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What happens to all those plays that didn’t advance? Whenever playwriting competitions reveal to me how many applications they received, I can’t help but get this feeling of dread. I think about a playwriting friend who asked, “What does that mean for the state of the theatre industry that they don’t have space for everyone?” Where are those plays supposed to go? Unfortunately, many plays will be tucked away in a desk drawer or filed in a computer folder labeled “Old Plays.” I don’t think it has to be that way.  

I'll explain how theatres, festivals, and institutions can help support new plays after rejection. 

Give me the cue-to-cue

  • What is new play development in playwriting competitions?
  • What challenges do playwrights face?
  • Why rejection might happen
  • 3 ways theatres can support new plays and new playwrights after rejection

What is new play development in playwriting competitions?

New play development is the support of new theatrical works. The support can be:
 
Financial: A theatre provides funding to the playwright or team of artists so they may focus their time and energies on the creation of the new work.
Why is this important?: Many playwrights have to juggle full-time jobs on top of their artistic endeavors. Having the financial freedom to dedicate 100% of your time to writing your play helps reduce burnout and increases writing productivity.

Developmental support: A playwriting competition provides the playwright with the tools, space, structure, and resources needed to develop their new play.
Why is this important?: Often referred to as new play development festivals, new play workshops, or play readings, these opportunities give playwrights access to resources they might not be able to find on their own. Theatres tap into their networks to bring together directors, dramaturgs, stage managers, actors, designers, etc. The playwright now has a set period to work on their play aided by the professional advice of other artists. We can see the play on its feet while actors read lines in front of an audience.
 
Promotional support: A theatre company, network, or institution increases the new play and playwright’s public awareness (brand awareness) through marketing and advertising.
Why is this important?: Word of mouth is often the best form of advertising. Recommendations and reviews go a long way in theatre. If one theatre hears from another theatre that a play is worth their time, there’s a higher probability they will consider working on the play.

What challenges do playwrights face?

I shared a few challenges playwrights face above — financial freedom,  access to resources, and limited to no brand reach. For me, one of the biggest challenges is playing a game of numbers. I’m not even talking about competition. Healthy competition breeds better writing.
 
Most playwrights are taught to get used to rejection. You’ll submit to 100 playwriting competitions in a year and maybe be accepted into 5-10 of them (maybe). Sometimes you might not be accepted at all.
 
I’ve previously shared why playwrights should not let rejection get them down. You don’t need to wait for anyone’s permission to share your voice. If you get rejected, move on and find collaborators who see the value in your work. But let’s dig into rejection for a moment. Why are the odds not in our favor? I’ll use the O’Neill National Playwrights Conference as an example.
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Why rejection might happen

Fifteen hundred new plays were submitted. Think about that number. Picture 1500 pencils. 1500 apples. 1500 cats. It’s a lot.
 
Now, think about 1500, but it’s plays. Full-length plays. A typical full-length play is 60 - 120 pages. For the sake of this example, let’s say every play was 90 pages. 1500 plays at 90 pages each is 135,000 pages total. Have you ever read anything that was 135,000 pages?
 
Now, of course, the O’Neill uses teams of play readers that divide up the plays so it is much more manageable. No one person is reading 135,000 pages in one sitting. That is still a ton of work. And play readers are people. They have opinions, tastes, favorite and hated genres. They get overworked and tired. They have bad days and good days. I often joke that when I’m rejected, it’s because the person reading my play spilled coffee all over their white shirt, got a speeding ticket, stubbed their toe, and then had to read my play which was number 18 out of 20 for the day’s quota. It’s all subjective. What do we do with 1500 new plays when we only have space for 8?
 
Theatre companies across the globe are popping up, asking, searching, and demanding new plays to make their way onto stages. If theatres want to help new plays get produced, (that they cannot produce) here’s how.

3 ways theatres can support new plays and playwrights after rejection 

1.) Introduce the playwright to your network.
I’ve been involved with so many festivals that said they loved my work. They just don’t have the (budget, resources, or audience) to produce it on their stage.
 What I would love to see them do is share my play with their network. Write an email, and recommend us to a colleague. Call up your people, put our plays in front of them, and tell them what you like about it and why it would be a good fit for their theatre.
 
2.) Write a review.
There are various public platforms where you can provide your stamp of approval for the world to see. The New Play Exchange (NPX) is one of my favorites. It is an online platform that offers playwrights space to post their new plays for theatre companies to download and read. If you like a play, you are encouraged to leave a positive review.  You can also write a review on the playwright’s Facebook page, YouTube, or blog.
 
3.) Be loud on social media.
Follow, like, comment, and share the playwrights’ posts and social media profiles. It takes a simple tap of the heart icon. Suddenly, the mystical algorithm promotes us to the public. Share our profiles and follow along on our journey as writers. Keep liking posts and stay connected even after the playwriting competition is over.

Share the network power

​You can do any one of these things together or separately. Mix and match. Look, I get that budgets are tight and stage space is limited. But don’t underestimate the power you have through your network and your own institutions’ prestige. There are 1500 new plays out there and that’s from just one competition. Help keep as many of those new plays from ending up stashed away and forgotten.

    Did I miss anything? What else can theatres do to help after rejection?

Submit
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