After the Woodmere Art Museum learned that a $750,000 grant already approved by the federal government was being revoked, it appealed. Then the Philadelphia-centric Chestnut Hill museum recruited the help of elected officials to intervene.
Nothing worked. And so the Woodmere on Tuesday filed a lawsuit against President Donald Trump and his administration, seeking a reversal of the reversal. Some of the money has already been paid — about $195,000 — but the suit asks for full payment of the grant money awarded from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, plus additional expenses.
“We had exhausted all polite options,” said William R. Valerio, Woodmere’s director and CEO, declining to comment further.
IMLS, established by Congress in 1996, became one of Trump’s targets through executive order early in his term. In late March, the administration placed the institute’s staff on leave and canceled its grants, and Woodmere received official notification of the grant cancellation a few days later.
But other organizations had their grants restored, and Woodmere hoped its award would be, too — especially since it believed its work aligned with “the President’s desire to encourage collections that exemplified America’s extraordinary heritage,” says the lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
A request seeking comment from IMLS was not immediately answered.
Woodmere was awarded the $750,000 grant in September through IMLS’s Save America’s Treasures program. It was intended to pay for conservation of important works, such as George Biddle’s drawings of the Nuremberg trials; additional storage to relieve overcrowding; updates to cataloging; and digitizing works in the collection. The grant terms required that Woodmere raise matching funds of an equal amount, which the museum had done.
These advancements in the museum’s collections care were, and are, slated for both Woodmere’s existing building and Maguire Hall — an addition set to open in November. The museum has been attempting to raise money to make up for the lost funds.
“Woodmere planned to showcase its collection of works by Philadelphia artists for use in future exhibitions, most immediately its America 250th celebration to be titled ‘the Arc of Promise,’ beginning in 2026,” the lawsuit states. The show is scheduled to open this spring.
The lawsuit makes the argument that it is Congress’ job to appropriate funds to agencies it created, such as IMLS, and that a “unilateral executive action to decline to expend appropriated funds therefore infringes on Congress’ appropriations power and is unconstitutional.”
The lawsuit also makes the point that Woodmere relied on faith in the already-awarded Save America’s Treasures grant to solicit the matching-money component as well as to enter into contracts to have the work done.
The cancellation of the grant “caught Woodmere in midair, and it has been scrambling ever since to keep our SAT project alive.”