AILSA CHANG, HOST:

The story of federal funding for the arts over the last few months has had a clear theme - cuts. But then - get this - a House committee has approved a budget proposal to boost funding for the Kennedy Center - about six times what it usually gets each year from Congress. NPR’s Jaclyn Diaz has been looking into this proposal and joins us now. Hey, Jaclyn.

JACLYN DIAZ, BYLINE: Hey.

CHANG: OK, so what have you learned so far about this proposed funding?

DIAZ: Yeah, so this new proposal was approved by the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee last week. It’s asking for more than $250 million for the Kennedy Center, and that’s way more than the roughly $40 million it gets from Congress each year.

CHANG: Yeah.

DIAZ: And almost all of this money would be specifically for operations, repair and restoration of the building and not for concerts. This budget request comes straight from the White House, and it comes after President Trump made himself chairman of the center back in February. He also got rid of all Biden appointees on the Kennedy Center’s board. Back in March, Trump visited the Kennedy Center and wasn’t too impressed by what he saw.

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PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: It’s in tremendous disrepair, as is a lot of the rest of our country, most of it because of bad management.

DIAZ: A White House spokesperson said this project is, quote, “essential to advancing President Trump’s vision of restoring greatness to our nation’s capital.”

CHANG: OK, you mentioned the money that’s being proposed would be for operation and repairs, not for performances. Do you have any more details about what exactly this money could be used for then?

DIAZ: Yeah, so there are actually still a lot of questions around the specifics of the budget request. Kennedy Center President Richard Grenell said in a statement that the front and back of the house, quote, “have been left in an embarrassing state.” I spoke to Tooshar Swain. He’s the director of public policy for the Americans for the Arts. They’re an arts advocacy group based in Washington, and he has some concerns because this budget request is happening when the White House has made major cuts to grants that fund the arts.

TOOSHAR SWAIN: We support adequate and appropriate funding for the Kennedy Center because of how symbolic it is to our country. It should not be seen as a substitute for arts funding to these other critical agencies.

CHANG: OK, well, what kinds of things are you hearing now from lawmakers about this idea to increase funding for the Kennedy Center?

DIAZ: Right. And so, just to be clear, this is just a proposal right now.

CHANG: Right.

DIAZ: It’s part of a big bill that Republicans are hoping to pass by this summer, and President Trump calls it his big, beautiful bill. But at least one Democrat is raising some red flags about this money for the Kennedy Center. Representative Chellie Pingree of Maine is the top Democrat on the House committee that oversees funding for the National Endowment for the Arts. She called the proposal exorbitant. Republican leaders on the House Transportation Committee didn’t want to comment.

CHANG: And what about arts groups? Like, what do they make of this proposal?

DIAZ: Right. Tooshar Swain, of the Americans for the Arts, said his group shares Congresswoman Pingree’s concern. Their main question is, how is this funding different from what the center usually gets? There are rules and protections over how that government money is used by the Kennedy Center. For example, it can’t pay for performances. But despite those rules, Swain has worries about how the money will actually be used.

SWAIN: And that, I think, is done in part to prevent government overreach in artistic expression. So, you know, do these funds also adhere to those principles as well?

CHANG: That is NPR’s Jaclyn Diaz. Thank you, Jaclyn.

DIAZ: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.