September 29, 2024
By Hannah Edgar
Horrible as it was, Kate Dumbleton saw it coming.
Like so many arts administrators, the executive director of the Hyde Park Jazz Festival kept a watchful eye on the news after President Trump announced his intent to cut funding for the National Endowment for the Arts. A glimmer of hope arrived in January, when the agency reaffirmed that the $30,000 promised to the festival would, indeed, be coming through.
It turned out to be false hope. A second letter, in May, announced that the festival’s offer letter had been withdrawn. By now already booked, the festival was left to figure out the shortfall on its own.
“It was a gut punch,” says Dumbleton.