{"id":71556,"date":"2025-07-18T03:01:12","date_gmt":"2025-07-18T03:01:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/71556\/"},"modified":"2025-07-18T03:01:12","modified_gmt":"2025-07-18T03:01:12","slug":"chicago-arts-organizations-press-on-despite-gut-punch-federal-cuts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/71556\/","title":{"rendered":"Chicago arts organizations press on despite ‘gut punch’ federal cuts"},"content":{"rendered":"

To Nita Win, a South Shore mom of two, there\u2019s a freedom of expression that the arts provide that\u2019s refreshing. It\u2019s a feeling, that as much as she can, Win tries to expose to her 8-year-old daughter and 14-year-old son.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday night, Win and her family did just that, attending the opening performance of this year\u2019s Rhythm World, the country\u2019s longest-running tap dance festival that for 35 years now has called Chicago home.<\/p>\n

She left the performance, a free showcase at downtown\u2019s Studebaker Theater, amazed. She enjoyed every bit, though she thought it bittersweet, knowing she could have seen more.<\/p>\n

Amid federal funding cuts, this year\u2019s Rhythm World is nearly half as long as originally planned, spanning six days instead of 10.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat a shame,\u201d Win said following Tuesday\u2019s performance, noting it was her family\u2019s first time at the festival. \u201cMe being able to come here and experience this free performance is wonderful. And without \u2026 funding, this is not possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Organizers opted to shorten the 35th anniversary programming so they could weather changes without losing the heart of the festival, they say. But their choice is becoming a familiar one these days, as federal downsizing places pressure on arts organizations across the Chicago area to make do without funding.<\/p>\n

On May 2, the White House released President Donald Trump\u2019s budget proposal, which\u00a0called for billions of dollars of sweeping cuts, including the elimination of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), the largest funder of arts and arts education in the country.<\/p>\n

Candace Jackson looks forward to Rhythm World, which has long received NEA grant funding each year, the Edgewater resident said ahead of Tuesday\u2019s opening performance.<\/p>\n

\u201cI live for this week,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

A novice tapper herself, Jackson has been an avid attendee of Rhythm World for more than a decade, she said. Usually, she goes to every festival performance possible. Jackson, who remembers Rhythm World in full form, said news of the NEA cuts \u201csaddened\u201d her. And even still, she didn\u2019t anticipate the cuts affecting the festival as much as they did.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought it was just going to be maybe a day or so,\u201d she said. \u201cBut they cut performances, they cut some training.\u201d<\/p>\n

Over the past three years, some 192 organizations and institutions have received funding from the NEA across Illinois, according to data compiled by Arts Alliance Illinois. Shortly after Trump\u2019s budget plan was released, NEA sent notifications to hundreds of grant recipients across the country terminating and withdrawing awards in progress.<\/p>\n

The Chicago Human Rhythm Project (CHRP), the nonprofit behind Rhythm World, received a termination notice on May 2. \u201cThe NEA is updating its grantmaking policy priorities to focus funding on projects that reflect the nation\u2019s rich artistic heritage and creativity as prioritized by the President,\u201d the emailed notice stated. \u201cConsequently, we are terminating awards that fall outside these new priorities.\u201d<\/p>\n

In and of itself, the notice was a moot point. CHRP had already received funding, distributed on a reimbursement basis, for the in-progress award that NEA cut short, according to Lane Alexander, founding director of CHRP. The award, in part, was used to fund last year\u2019s Rhythm World. The bigger question was what the notice meant for pending grant money, Alexander said.<\/p>\n

CHRP starts planning Rhythm World a year in advance, said Jumaane Taylor, its artistic director. Organizers need the time to arrange programming and especially funding. \u201cIt takes months of finding the money for it,\u201d Taylor said. \u201cYou know, how are we going to pay for all of this?\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TapTap dancer Jumaane Taylor, artistic director for the Chicago Human Rhythm Project, rehearses at Mayfair Arts Center in Chicago on July 11, 2025, for an upcoming performance. (Terrence Antonio James\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

For this summer\u2019s Rhythm World \u2014 originally a $165,000 venture \u2014 CHRP had applied and planned for NEA funding to cover about $30,000, some 18%, of total festival expenses, Alexander said. However, after the upheaval in May, the status of that pending grant was left uncertain. CHRP has reached out to NEA for clarification but, to date, has only received a short response from the endowment saying funding was still under evaluation.<\/p>\n

NEA did not return multiple requests for comment.<\/p>\n

When Taylor, who\u2019s been CHRP\u2019s artistic director since 2021, heard about the NEA cuts hitting home, he took a step back for an hour or two and worked out what he was feeling in the dance studio, he said. Born and raised on the city\u2019s South Side, Taylor, 39, started tap dancing when he was 7 years old. He was first introduced to CHRP as a student at 13, he said.<\/p>\n

Now tasked with directing Rhythm World, Taylor found himself deciding how he could still authentically and proudly put on the festival despite frozen NEA funding this year.<\/p>\n

It took some fine-tuning, he said. In light of the pending grant, CHRP canceled all festival programming originally scheduled from July 9-13. That meant cutting an opening concert at the Jazz Showcase, one of the city\u2019s oldest jazz clubs, in the Loop, a free concert at the DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center and a slate of master classes.<\/p>\n

Instead, the nonprofit abbreviated the festival to a second week of master instruction plus three performances. But ultimately, what was important was ensuring that less funding didn\u2019t entail a lesser product, Taylor said.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven if (the festival) does have to be scaled down a couple of years,\u201d he said, \u201cat least we\u2019re all up here at the top putting our best efforts forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sarah Savelli, a performing artist in this year\u2019s Rhythm World, lingered at the Studebaker long after Tuesday\u2019s performance ended. Attending the festival since she was a teenager, Savelli, 48, said every time she returns gives her \u201cwarm fuzzies.\u201d From the get-go, Savelli wasn\u2019t slated to be a part of any canceled programming this year but feeling the weight of NEA cuts, even tangentially, was sobering, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany of these organizations are built on these donations and they\u2019ve just grown to expect it. Their seasons are already planned, people have commitments,\u201d she said. \u201cYou\u2019re just left with, what do you do?\u201d<\/p>\n

Seeing Rhythm World press on despite it all, though, is encouraging, Savelli said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese moments, this connection, this feeling,\u201d she said, \u201cis why we all do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Local arts programs plow ahead without funding<\/p>\n

Other Chicago area arts organizations echo the sentiment.<\/p>\n

In January, the NEA announced that Midnight Circus, a beloved Chicago company that promotes theater and circus arts, had received a $20,000 grant. The award was poised to help the nonprofit underwrite the costs of this year\u2019s tour of performances, set to start in September, so that ticket prices could remain affordable, according to Jeff Jenkins, the circus\u2019 founder and executive director.<\/p>\n