{"id":65657,"date":"2025-11-26T07:58:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-26T07:58:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/65657\/"},"modified":"2025-11-26T07:58:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-26T07:58:08","slug":"austin-nonprofit-elevating-artists-with-disabilities-perseveres-despite-funding-cuts-the-austin-chronicle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/65657\/","title":{"rendered":"Austin Nonprofit Elevating Artists with Disabilities Perseveres Despite Funding Cuts \u2022 The Austin Chronicle"},"content":{"rendered":"

Like many American nonprofits, Art Spark Texas<\/a>\u2019 origins can be traced back to an American president. It was Jean Kennedy Smith \u2013 President John F. Kennedy\u2019s sister \u2013 who launched<\/a> the Very Special Arts organization in 1974. The goal was simple: Give Americans with disabilities artistic training, and show the world what they do. The nonprofit would operate in the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts, a living memorial to JFK\u2019s legacy. It received grants from federal agencies and praise from federal administrations.<\/p>\n

Ronald Reagan proclaimed<\/a> May 1985 Very Special Arts Month. He said then, \u201cThis program deserves the support and assistance of all Americans.\u201d George H. W. Bush told VSA performers<\/a> in 1989, \u201cYou guys don\u2019t let any disabilities stand in your way, and so it\u2019s up to us to make sure that discrimination doesn\u2019t stop you.\u201d When Barack Obama awarded Jean Kennedy Smith the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011, he underscored her founding of VSA, and how it \u201ctouched millions of lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, VSA affiliates and spin-off organizations nationwide are under threat from the Trump administration. \u201cI don\u2019t know if he\u2019ll be successful, but will everything be so decimated before he\u2019s done that we\u00a0\u2013 what will we look like? I don\u2019t know. I don\u2019t know,\u201d says Celia Hughes<\/a>, longtime head of Art Spark Texas (formerly Very Special Arts Texas).<\/p>\n

As a result of DOGE cuts, Art Spark lost a $51,000 grant, which would have served 1,500 Texans with disabilities. DOGE cuts to the National Endowment for the Arts and One Big Beautiful Bill\u2019s reduction of the Department of Education could both affect Art Spark. \u201cIt is a situation of falling dominoes,\u201d Hughes says.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, federal funding that is still available has taken on new meaning: The NEA has announced it\u2019s prioritizing funding patriotic projects<\/a>, ones \u201ccelebrating and honoring America250,\u201d which is the administration\u2019s branding of the nation\u2019s 250th anniversary. The NEA says \u201cwe strongly encourage\u201d grant applicants to adopt this focus, while Trump has proposed eliminating<\/a> the NEA all together.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always said from the very first grant I wrote, you know, I operate at the intersection of arts, disability, and education \u2013 the three things that people least want to fund,\u201d Hughes says. \u201cBut this is different. What\u2019s happening now is different. \u2026 You know, the government is being so destroyed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Credit: Art Spark Texas<\/p>\n

Hughes is well connected to other nonprofit leaders. Nationally, she\u2019s worked with other VSA spin-off organizations across the United States for decades. Locally, she\u2019s a member of One Voice Central Texas, a collective of executive directors from regional nonprofits. Many are dealing with serious funding losses from DOGE or One Big Beautiful Bill. Beyond that, the most vulnerable people served, like those with disabilities, are also facing higher health care costs and cuts to SNAP.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would not be lying if I said that the mood is pretty grim,\u201d Hughes says.<\/p>\n

Still, Art Spark Texas\u2019 work continues, serving approximately 10,000 Texas adults, children, and teachers each year. Right now, federal funding makes up roughly 10% of Art Spark\u2019s budget. Hughes said support from the community is still reliable, and her staff is still dedicated. Young adults\u2019 internships in technology and arts continue. Festivals, like Art in the Park, continue. Classes continue. The annual veteran art exhibit<\/a> \u2013 open in Georgetown through November 30 \u2013\u00a0continues. Hughes seems relentlessly committed to Art Spark\u2019s work. A podcast recording the stories of Texans with disabilities paused for a year after its leader, Nano Boye Nagle, passed away. Now, Hughes and others are working to relaunch the podcast, so despite their grief, even this project continues.<\/p>\n

\u201cI see hope in the resilience of the people that I work with. People with disabilities live on $720 a month. They\u2019re not allowed to have any money. They are MacGyvers and they MacGyver their way through life,\u201d Hughes says. \u201cAnd what gives me hope is the people of this country. I have great faith in the people of this country and that we just can\u2019t give up. The lawsuits that are filed every day, the No Kings marches. Even when you don\u2019t see any results from that, it\u2019s people saying, \u2018No, this is not right, and we are not going to do this.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

This article appears in November 28 \u2022 2025<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A note to readers:\u00a0Bold and uncensored,\u00a0The Austin Chronicle\u00a0has been Austin\u2019s independent news source for over 40 years, expressing the community\u2019s political and environmental concerns and supporting its active cultural scene. Now more than ever, we need your support to continue supplying Austin with independent, free press. If real news is important to you, please consider making a donation of $5, $10 or whatever you can afford, to help keep our journalism on stands. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Like many American nonprofits, Art Spark Texas\u2019 origins can be traced back to an American president. It was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":65658,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[34087,132,134,133],"class_list":["post-65657","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-art-spark-texas","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65657","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65657"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65657\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65658"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65657"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65657"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65657"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}