MISSOULA - Humanities Montana, a state-wide non-profit that serves Montana by bringing local history and stories to communities across the state, lost all of their federal funding this spring.
The loss of the federal funding resulted in the non-profit laying off four of its six-person staff, as federal funding accounted for 90% of their budget.
“It's devastating. And in my opinion, unnecessary to have to make those types of cuts. But we're not defeated. You know, we are keeping our doors open. We're moving forward,” said Humanities Montana executive director Jill Baker.
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Humanities Montana brought local poets and speakers to libraries, promoted local history across the state, funded the Democracy Project in Montana and served as Montana’s Center for the Book for the Library of Congress.
On top of this, they also partnered with organizations like Montana PBS to help produce documentaries about Montana history, like The Story of Us, a film about the history of women in Montana.
“Those are the types of projects that we funded for over 50 years in our state,” said Baker.
The notice of the termination of their funding came in a letter on April 2 from the National Endowment for the Humanities, in which Michael McDonald, acting chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities, wrote that Humanities Montana “no longer effectuates the agency’s needs and priorities” and continued by stating that the agency had “a new direction in furtherance of the President’s agenda.”
This came as a surprise to Baker, as their funding was allocated by Congress.
“There's hope that Congress will restore funding to the NEH and to state humanities councils. It's included in the House budget. It's included in the Senate's budget.
But despite losing 90% of their funding, Baker says that they are still committed to delivering the services they have provided for decades.
“We're here to serve all Montanans and we do that through stories and conversations and by sharing different perspectives. And so we'll continue to do that good work and we will continue serving Montana and provide all sorts of perspectives around the issues that are important to Montanans,” stated Baker.
In a statement, a spokesperson for U.S. Senator Tim Sheehy said, “As the administration works to rein in spending and deliver government services more efficiently, Senator Sheehy will work to ensure cost-saving measures are targeted responsibly and the critical resources Montanans rely on are protected.”
A spokesperson for U.S. Senator Steve Daines said, “Senator Daines supports efforts to reduce waste and abuse in the federal government to ensure Montanans’ taxpayer dollars are used effectively.”
MTN reached out to Representative Zinke’s office for a statement, but did not hear back from them after several days.
Baker says that thanks to a donation from the Federation of State Humanities Councils and the Mellon Foundation, they will be able to continue their work for at least another year.
After that, Baker said that the remaining two employees, one being herself, are hopeful that private donations will be able to continue to provide funding for their mission.
She also said that she hopes a future Congress will restore the funding already allocated to them.
