Seven cultural organizations—led by the National Coalition Against Censorship and including AICA International, Artists at Risk Connection, the Authors Guild, Dramatists Guild of America, Dramatists Legal Defense Fund, and PEN America—issued a statement this week expressing outrage at “the Trump Administration’s recent efforts to establish ideological control over federally-funded cultural initiatives in the United States.”

Recent changes in guidance from the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities require applicants for federal grants to “comply with all applicable executive orders while the award is being administered.” The legal requirements laid out by the NEA prohibit organizations seeking funding from operating any programs dedicated to diversity, equity, and inclusion or promoting what the administration refers to as “gender ideology.”

An “assurance of compliance” included with the guidance states the NEA “may conduct a review of your organization to ensure that the applicant is in compliance with these statutes, regulations, and executive orders.” It adds: “If the NEA determines that a recipient has failed to comply with any of these statutes, regulations, or executive orders, it may suspend or terminate the award, and/or recover the funds.”

Although it is not yet clear how the new guidance will be implemented, it could have wide-ranging consequences for not-for-profit book publishers and authors who rely on the federal government for grants. Representatives of the NEA, contacted multiple times for clarification, did not respond to request for comment on which executive orders were applicable to grantees outside of three specifically mentioned, all of which were related to DEI and LGBTQ+ initiatives. In theory, the new strictures could prohibit any publisher with a book in print featuring a transgender character—or even including the words “Gulf of Mexico”—from receiving federal grant funding.

Shortly after the endowments updated their guidance for grant applicants, President Donald Trump fired many of the board members at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and installed himself as chairman, telling reporters aboard Air Force One last month that “we don’t need woke at the Kennedy Center” and declaring on his Truth Social platform that the center’s new leadership would share his “Vision for a Golden Age in Arts and Culture.” The organizations that signed the statement warned that these moves “threaten to turn federally-funded institutions into tools of government propaganda, starving independent artistic expression and endangering democracy itself.”

“These efforts to make federally-funded arts programs the mouthpiece of the presidential administration should be concerning not just to artists, creatives, cultural organizations, and scholars, but to all Americans—regardless of where they fall on the political spectrum or their taste in art,” added Elizabeth Larison, director of the arts and culture advocacy program at the NCAC, in her own statement. “A robust, free, independent cultural sphere is a hallmark of a democratic society, and the Trump Administration’s recent actions imply a desire to wrest control over culture.”

Though some of the Trump Administration’s anti-DEI efforts have been blocked by a court injunction, the new requirements about how to apply for NEA and NEH grants have caused widespread confusion. They represent a huge issue, in particular, for the Council of Literary Magazines and Publishers and its members, 60% of which are nonprofits: CLMP members were awarded 51 individual grants by the NEA for 2025, totaling over $1.2 million. CLMP executive director Mary Gannon told PW that the organization “has been working as swiftly as possible to get more information and clarity around the NEA guidelines and compliance before the March 11 deadline,” which pertains to projects specifically for literary journals and independent presses.

CLMP is also the administrative lead for LitNet, a coalition of literary organizations across the U.S. that works to fund and promote the literary arts in American culture. The organization is holding a virtual meeting for members on February 28, with attorneys from the Authors Guild set to share information and help applicants—to the extent that it is currently possible—understand what the guidelines mean.

This article has been updated for clarity.