Trump’s Administration To Gut NPR, PBS by Cutting NEA

It’s been said that (very soon to be) 45th  President of the United States Donald Trump and his administration will end the NEA (National Endowment of the Arts) which is a funding source for NPR and PBS.

While it’s already very clear that America‘s cultural elite mostly disagree with Trump and his shockingly unprepared presidency tactics (yeah, we’d rather see Audioslave reunite than 3 Doors Down, sorry), Trump actually gutting the arts is a horrible sign for culture.

NPR (National Public Radio) is a very powerful source of music discovery, even still in our modern streaming age. Especially through the likes of their amazing Tiny Desk Concerts series. PBS follows a similar situation, however is more for television, however recently began airing their acclaimed Blank on Blank animated interviews series which we’ve even hailed.

The NEA (and NAH, for museums) usually gain around $150 million from the American government yet have always been an issue for conservatives, however even Ronald Reagan was informed about NEA‘s abilities and left it the hell alone.

They’re also set to privatize the CPB, which gains around $445 million from the government in-which half of it goes towards public television channels such as PBS.

While PBS heavily survives off their famed pledge drives and NPR forcefully pulled back from government funding many moons ago and now receives 10% of their funding from the government (figure courtesy of A.V Club).

While neither will die because of the actions, it’s still a head shot to the U.S culture and arts world which to be fair is already fighting. Without us getting too political, we’d like for some cultural Trump supporters to actively wake up and smell the pie.

It’s such a shock that Trump has a less-than-nobody inaugural ball for Friday night while Prophets of Rage can convince Jackson Browne, Jack Black, Vic Mensa and even get an Audioslave reunion to fight against him.

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