On April 3, Moscow’s Kenworthy Performing Arts Centre was notified that the Department of Government Efficiency had cancelled all National Endowment for the Humanities funding. The money is usually distributed by the Idaho Humanities Council, which will now be forced to suspend major project grants.
One of these cuts involves a recently approved $7,500 grant intended to go towards the restoration of the 1919 western film, “Told in the Hills.” This was the first feature film shot in Idaho and involved a cast of 100-200 Nez Perce actors, who also consulted on production design.
KPAC’s initial goal had been to synthesize 200 production photos and 22 minutes of film footage to restore this piece and exhibit it at the KPAC Silent Film Festival in September. However, as the theater has lost IHC grant funding and is assuming future losses of further federal funding, the project will be stopped.
The Argonaut spoke with the Executive Director of the KPAC, Colin Mannex, who shared further details, saying, “The IHC grants are authorized by a board of Idaho residents – many appointed directly by the governor – who make funding decisions based on the value that they determine will be added to our shared cultural heritage. We lose the ability to make these decisions on a state and local level when cuts are made.”
Humanities councils and grant recipients across multiple states received emails late on April 2 announcing these slashes, being told that “funding allocations [would be repurposed] in a new direction in furtherance of the president’s agenda,” according to the New York Times.
“Your grant’s immediate termination is necessary to safeguard the interests of the federal government, including its fiscal priorities,” the letters said. “The termination of your grant represents an urgent priority for the administration, and due to exceptional circumstances, adherence to the traditional notification process is not possible.”
“This year’s festival was scheduled to be a celebration of early Idaho filmmakers with an exhibition of both ‘Told in the Hills’ and select works from writer-director Nell Shipman, who ran an independent production company at Priest Lake,” said Mannex. “Without ‘Told in the Hills,’ we’ll have to suspend that whole plan and come up with something different.”
“This KPAC Silent Film Festival speaks to the unique cultural history of our region and also the venue,” Mannex continued. “KPAC was founded as a silent cinema in 1926. We rely on grants to celebrate this chapter, while simultaneously pushing some of our most audacious new works in partnership with leading regional composers and musicians.”
NEH grants are also critical for funding museums, historical sites, scholarships and other humanities-based projects countrywide. The IHC announced April 4 that “this money was revoked against the express will of Congress,” and encouraged supporters to contact their representatives and voice their opposition towards these cancellations.
“We’re not giving up,” Mannex said. “Reach out to our state representatives and let them know what we risk losing when the federal government rescinds humanities grants at a local level.”
Julia Kolman can be reached at arg-news@uidaho.edu.