North Texas arts groups respond to federal agency\u2019s cuts to DEI programs<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cDidn\u2019t really realize how much of a big deal it was until we got it,\u201d Davis said.<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s play was Harriet Tubman:Take My Hand and Follow Me. Without NEA funds, 40% of their summer budget was gone. Alanna Stern is strategic operations manager for Maroon 9. She said she worried about how the funding loss would affect students. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt just kind of once again reiterated how, in a lot of people\u2019s eyes, the arts aren\u2019t necessarily a priority and how the rug can kind of just be ripped from up under you at any given time,\u201d Stern said. <\/p>\n
Organizations who lost NEA funding quickly put out statements urging for community support. Some of them, such as the Welman Project, mentioned Maroon 9 as an organization that also needed help. After Davis saw other groups putting out statements, she called for an emergency board meeting and shortly afterward, Maroon 9 released its own statement announcing a campaign to raise $10,000. <\/p>\n
![\"Maroon](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/4QU6D5VPRJFXFC2GOOUT7YW2GU.jpg\")
Maroon 9 students practice at Texas Wesleyan University on June 5, 2025 days before opening night.(shavonne davis)<\/p>\n
\u201cI was really nervous because I just want to make sure that how the community perceives us is always in a positive light,\u201d she said. \u201cI wasn\u2019t sure if people who weren\u2019t familiar with what was going on would be like, \u2018Well, they lost their funding. Why? What did they do wrong?\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n
Within the first day, Maroon 9 raised about $725 in donations.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was so in shock because we had never just come to the community for funds,\u201d Davis said. \u201cI transferred it right then. I was like OK, just in case this disappears, let me go ahead and get this over.\u201d<\/p>\n
And money kept rolling in. Two days later, Davis woke up to multiple PayPal donations after TikTokker Ehleshea Anderson created a series of videos<\/a> urging her followers to support the Black youth theater program. People from all over the world donated, helping Maroon 9 exceed their $10,000 goal.<\/p>\n\u201cTheater has the power to change lives,\u201d Anderson said. \u201cAnd in any art form where a child gets to just dedicate their heart and soul to something after school, their life is already on a different trajectory.\u201d<\/p>\n
With the new support, Maroon 9\u2019s production of Harriet Tubman: Take My Hand and Follow Me could continue. Plus, the organization learned to raise money in a new way and is planning on launching a $1 million capital campaign. <\/p>\n
\u201dThis was a confirmation that we cannot solely rely on grant funding in general,\u201d Davis said. \u201cIt definitely was a confirmation that the community sees us, the community values us, and that if we come back with a really big project, which is our own space, that people will support.\u201d<\/p>\n
Arts Access is an arts journalism collaboration powered by The Dallas Morning News and KERA.<\/p>\n
This community-funded journalism initiative is funded by the Better Together Fund, Carol & Don Glendenning, City of Dallas OAC, Communities Foundation of Texas, The University of Texas at Dallas, The Dallas Foundation, Eugene McDermott Foundation, James & Gayle Halperin Foundation, Jennifer & Peter Altabef and The Meadows Foundation. The News and KERA retain full editorial control of Arts Access\u2019 journalism.<\/p>\n