The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) has terminated the $50,000 grant awarded to the Massachussetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA) in 2024 to support Jeffrey Gibson’s installation commission, POWER FULL BECAUSE WE’RE DIFFERENT (2024). The funding was pulled due to the current US federal administration’s ‘new priorities’, the museum’s director Kristy Edmunds said in a statement.
POWER FULL BECAUSE WE’RE DIFFERENT features seven oversized garments adorned with beads and found materials. The artist has described the installation, which is periodically activated by performances, as an invitation to other Indigenous creatives to contribute to the space.
In her statement, Edmunds warns that the NEA and other federal agencies are terminating grants ‘en masse’. In its email correspondence with MASS MoCA, the NEA wrote that it has updated its grantmaking policy ‘to focus funding on projects that reflect the nation’s rich artistic heritage and creativity as prioritized by the President… Funding is being allocated in a new direction in furtherance of the Administration’s agenda.’
MASS MoCA has also had funding cut by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) – a body effectively dismantled in April. The funding previously awarded by the IMLS ‘no longer serves the interest of the United States’, the Insitute said.
‘As painful as this is financially, what is more so is the diminishment of our revered national agencies and their staff after decades of service in elevating our national creativity, innovation and cultural contributions’, writes Edmunds.
POWER FULL BECAUSE WE’RE DIFFERENT will remain on view as initially scheduled at MASS MoCA through August 2026.
