How Loss of NEA Funding is Impacting Colorado Theaters

When the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) pulled its funding earlier this month, Colorado’s theater community didn’t just lose money—it lost momentum. For local companies like Boulder’s Motus Theater and Denver’s Phamaly Theatre Company, the rescinded grants was a gut punch to carefully planned tours and community programs, forcing leaders to make impossible choices overnight.

“I’m looking at a $100,000 deficit for my organization this year from losing an NEA grant,” said Corinne Melon, managing director of Phamaly. “I feel like we’ve been punched in the gut or the rug has been pulled out from under us because we worked so hard to get that funding.”

The NEA is a federal agency that gives grant money to diverse arts organizations throughout the country. On May 5, the NEA was the most recent victim of federal spending downsizing, and Colorado-based theaters are feeling the impact of the loss of funds. 

The NEA gave $39,035,629 in grants in the state, a majority of which have now been pulled. Motus and Phamaly are two of the companies having to adapt projects that were relying on that funding. 

“The grant was going to fund the tour, the premiere of a new group of autobiographical monologues,” Rita Valente-Quinn, producing executive director of Motus Theater, said.

The production is called  “Youth Behind & Beyond Bars with Musical Guests: The Reminders.” Valente-Quinn described the experience as autobiographical monologues that were written by “African American leaders” who experienced incarceration when they were young. 

Motus Theater was given $35,000 by the NEA to fund the tour, but has since had that grant money rescinded. This did not stop Motus Theater from having the monologues produced; in fact, on May 31 at the Canyon Theater in the Boulder Public Library, the pieces will be performed because, to Valente-Quinn, “we’ll do everything to honor our monologuists and honor community.” 

Although private foundations and the City of Boulder contributed to the upcoming premiere of Youth Behind & Beyond Bars at the Boulder Public Library’s Canyon Theater, the full regional tour, which was originally scheduled to include stops in Boulder County, Colorado Springs, and Denver, is in question.

Similarly, Phamaly Theatre Company, which is the country’s longest-running disability theater, has lost its NEA funding. Phamaly received a $130,000 ArtsHere grant from the NEA that was supposed to fund a two-and-a-half-year pilot program that included a new full-time staff member and costs associated with its touring production of “Pericles.” 

“I have a staff member I have to figure out how to keep paying for their job right now,” Melon said. “To get funding to get this program started and then to have the funding just taken away for absolutely no reason, because we’ve been doing everything we were told to do, puts us in a bind.”

The show, which recently toured to communities in Aurora, Boulder and Colorado Springs, utilized the Hunter Heartbeat Method created by Kelly Hunter. Melon explained that the production consisted of “eight or nine actors leading around nine to 12 participants who have a high-impact cognitive disability.”

Phamaly Theater Company underwent a rigorous application process for the ArtsHere grant, which was awarded by the regional NEA program called Creative West. The company was one of two organizations that qualified for the ArtsHere grants in the state of Colorado. Despite receiving an acceptance letter, Phamaly did not ultimately receive the full amount of the funding that was awarded to the company.

Phamaly was going to use the money from the ArtsHere grant to produce more productions using the Hunter Heartbeat Method so that more people have the opportunity to have that experience. To Melon, the loss of funding is “heartbreaking for our community.” 

Bucket List contacted the NEA and its regional organization, Creative West, but did not receive a response. Despite the loss of federal funding, both Melon and Valente-Quinn shared the same idea on how people would be able to help. Go see local theater productions. 

“Coalesce with your friends, get together and go see an art show and support the arts,” Valente-Quinn said. “And look for the leaders and the organizations that are taking action and link arms with them.”

Both Motus Theater and Phamaly aim to provide voices for marginalized groups, such as people of color and people with disabilities, but Melon stresses that the productions these companies produce are not only for those groups of people. 

“Don’t be afraid,” Melon said. “We want you to come and experience the amazing artwork our folks are making.”  

Since the NEA is a program that serves every type of arts organization and not just theater, Valente-Quinn recommends that people “call your representative to speak to them about why the arts and the NEA are important.”