BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WIAT) — A nonprofit group dedicated to offering a space for autistic people to make and display their art is looking to the community for help after losing thousands of dollars in funding due to significant cuts the Trump administration has made to the National Endowment for the Arts.
Studio by the Tracks, located in Irondale, has operated as a free studio and gallery for both children and adult on the autism spectrum, offering classes and giving artists a chance to display their work. In fact, the studio even sells different pieces done by these artists, giving 60% of the sales back to them.
On Tuesday, the studio announced that with through cuts at the NEA, the ArtsHERE grant program had been eliminated, resulting in over $50,000 that had previously been awarded to them being gone. In his new fiscal budget, the Trump administration is seeking to do away with the NEA entirely, which would cause many arts groups across the country to losing significant chunks of their funding.
“The termination of the grant is a blow to our organization, our staff, our artists and caregivers,” the group wrote in a social media post Tuesday.
ArtsHERE was first established last fall as a way to increase artistic and creative projects in underserved communities.
Merrilee Challis, executive director of Studio by the Tracks, said that with the loss in funding, she and her staff will have to make difficult choices, including the possibility of cutting back on summer art programs they had been planning, as well as letting go of staff.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen with the youth program,” Challis said. “It remains to be seen if the community will step up and shore up these losses.”
Challis said that the studio, which was started in 1989, typically operates on a tight budget on a cycle-by-cycle basis, a third of their funding being from federal grants while the rest comes from philanthropic support and community donations.
Challis said that with cuts to NEA, Studio by the Tracks has had trouble seeking funding other places. Two other grants that they had previously applied for through the Challenge America program and the Alabama Humanities Alliance have already been cancelled.
Challis said having a program that serves the autism community should be one that people can get behind, one that allows autistic individuals, both verbal and nonverbal, the opportunity to speak through their art with every color, brush stroke and line they use.
“It’s the power of art that is communicating what is inside these people and it’s beautiful,” she said. “It should not be political. It’s about expression.”
Currently, Studio by the Tracks is hosting a membership drive for $15 a month. Challis also encourages the community to buy some of their art for sale online, the majority of the proceeds going to the artists.
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