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The National Endowment for the Arts took back $30,000 the agency awarded to the North Portland art gallery Oregon Contemporary to fund its Artists’ Biennial, a long-running biannual exhibition that traces its legacy back more than 70 years.
In a letter to supporters sent Nov. 6, Oregon Contemporary’s executive director Blake Shell said the NEA funding had been in limbo since the spring, but had been confirmed in August. According to the NEA’s letter, Oregon Contemporary’s “selected artists/artist information submitted for consideration is not consistent with the original project as recommended.” Shell said the NEA revoked the funding due to the names and biographical statements of artists involved, including curator TK Smith.
“It is a huge hit to the biennial, especially in its timing as payments to artists were meant to go out this month,” Shell tells WW via email. “We are still committed to the program and are urgently fundraising.”
President Trump has used the NEA and the National Endowment for the Humanities to rewrite creative directives across the nation since taking office in January, using tax dollars to bend artistic institutions to his curatorial will. Trump clawed back Biden-era awards given at the end of 2024, through the NEH at the behest of the Department of Government Efficiency, (then led by Tesla owner Elon Musk), and through the NEA by retroactively changing award criteria to suit his vision ahead of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence’s signing next summer.
Oregon Contemporary had previously scaled back programming due to budget constraints, and was not affected by the NEA’s rescinded awards earlier this year, and Shell confirmed that the $30,000 was guaranteed as of August. Although Oregon Contemporary could sue the government over the award, following the path of other creative leaders in Oregon and across the country, Shell noted to supporters that the 2026 Artists’ Biennial would be over by the time any court decision was made.
“These artists deserve a chance to be seen, and the public deserves a chance to engage with their concepts and programs at a crucial time for our country,” she wrote in an email to Oregon Contemporary supporters.
