San Diego museums and libraries are worried federal money they relied upon is now in limbo. Among the federal spending being targeted by President Donald Trump’s administration, the president signed an executive order that would slash money going to the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS).
“The cultural district in Balboa Park and all of its museums are such an important place for San Diegans and for visitors all over the world,” said Jessica Hanson York, the executive director and CEO of the Mingei International Museum.
The Mingei celebrates folk art and designs from all eras and cultures. York said that over the last several years, the museum has benefited from nearly $300,000 worth of IMLS funding.
“At the Mingei International Museum, just in the last few years, IMLS support has allowed us to develop new programs for isolated seniors and at-risk youth, and it also helped the museum develop its digital infrastructure,” she said.
While the museum doesn’t currently have an IMLS grant, she said other local museums do.
The San Diego Natural History Museum told NBC 7 that in the last 10 years, IMLS funded $875,000 in projects that have helped care for their research collection and develop exhibits.
York said all museums with grants currently have their funding paused, but they’re at risk of losing it all together, which could impact their programs.
“I think for people who are in the middle of a current funding cycle or a current grant, there are no answers to be found at the moment, which is a real problem,” York said. “It’s really devastating.”
She said although the IMLS makes up a small fraction of the federal budget, its funding makes a huge difference for libraries and museums that rely on it.
“I think the big concern is a lot of our institutions use federal funding and big grants to leverage additional funding,” York said. “When we see federal funding cuts, and we’re seeing potentially our city funding at risk because of the city of San Diego’s budget crisis, this has a compounding effect for the arts and culture nonprofits in our region.”
Several states received notifications on Thursday that their library grants have been cancelled, including California.
In a statement to NBC 7, the CEO of the Library Foundation San Diego said the cuts would impact a wide range of San Diegans and that the library is a core public service that needs to be safeguarded.
