It is a hallmark of authoritarian regimes to attack arts and ideas, seeking to shut theaters and other “dangerous” places where people gather. And indeed one of the first acts of Donald Trump’s second presidency was to cancel the children’s play “Finn” at the Kennedy Center.
It can be tempting to wonder why the administration was afraid of a lighthearted play about a shark who likes sparkles but they are in fact right to be afraid. Because plays like “Finn,” and so much of what is being censored right now, are powerful. They let us know that there are many different ways of being in the world, other ways of becoming who we truly are, and those ways are joyful and free. And that can indeed change the world.
As the attacks have rolled out — with tens of millions of dollars cut from grants to NYC cultural organizations in just the past few weeks — we can see another ugly theme emerging. Authoritarians seek to erase the past and create their own skewed national narrative.
The history that this administration would like to remove is that of Black people; the heritage they want to deny is that of immigrants; the contributions they want to ignore are that of Latinos; the story they don’t want told is that of indigenous Americans.
From the removal of civil rights exhibits at the National Museum of African American History and Culture in D.C., to the pause of two festivals of Latino playwrights in Chicago, to the devastating cuts to New York Folklore, which funds immigrant and Native American cultural groups across the state, it’s clear that the attack on arts is an attack on the stories and cultures the administration wishes to erase. We must name the racism inherent in these cuts.
Now is the time to stand up for every American’s First Amendment right to tell their story, to dissent from the government’s world view, to celebrate the resilience and fortitude of ancestors who fought for their rights and their culture in this country. If we do not act boldly these rights and heritages will be lost — and not for the first time.
Jim Crow not only removed constitutional rights for Black Americans, it erased the evil of slavery from the history of the Civil War, casting it as a war over states’ rights in which the North was the aggressor. More recently, the 1990s attacks on queer culture by Sen. Jesse Helms decimated the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the state Council on the Arts for decades.
When the government decides which stories are and aren’t OK to tell, we all lose. Even commercial work on Broadway depends on the tireless creative engine of our nonprofit theaters. Silencing them will damage us all.
Luckily, we still have states and cities that can challenge the federal government. New York must stand up for arts, culture, and the First Amendment, and make sure that our city’s cultural groups and artists have the support they need to survive this attack.
Federal funding from the NEA, the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS) provided $32 million in grants to NYC cultural organizations in 2024. We are seeing nearly all of that rescinded, and the agencies themselves destroyed. This is a huge hit for our city’s cultural ecosystem.
The mayor delivered for our cultural community in his budget with an investment in the Department of Cultural Affairs that will help stabilize the creative sector. The City Council needs to fight for an additional $30 million in order to increase funding and protect the city’s cultural groups from the ongoing attacks on nonprofits coming from Washington.
The good news is that this investment in free speech, in cultural heritage, in celebrations of every community’s art pays the city back many times over. Cultural centers attract visitors and spur tourism. They drive traffic to local bars, restaurants, and small businesses. Together the creative economy generates $110 billion of economic activity for New York City!
Most importantly, cultural engagement strengthens our communities. It increases connections across differences, elevates education outcomes, and improves mental health. When we invest in culture, we invest in New York. We are saying our city is not afraid of powerful visions of a country where people are free to be themselves and share their stories.
New York can be a shining beacon of what truly makes America great: our many cultures, our true histories, our respect for the free expression of all people.
Leguizamo is a Colombian-born, Queens-raised, Tony and Emmy Award-winning actor, writer, and producer.
