The Coalition of State Museum Associations (COSMA) stands in strong support of statewide museum associations and their respective museum members— spanning all types and sizes and serving every American community. We defend federal agencies like the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) as well as the Smithsonian Institution (SI) and National Parks Service (NPS), all of whom play important roles in the sector and the cultural ecosystem. These pillars of American culture currently face serious threats that will damage them and make the entire cultural landscape less vibrant, less meaningful, and less able to serve the public.

COSMA condemns the disruption caused by additional proposed funding cuts, elimination of services, and abrupt terminations of legally awarded grant funding from the IMLS and NEH to cultural institutions across the nation. The proposed termination of federal employees and the elimination or reduction of agency services have sown uncertainty in our field and have threatened to damage institutions and organizations that have projects with and funding they expected from IMLS and NEH.

Cuts to the NEH negatively affect some of COSMA’s strongest partners, state humanities councils, that receive funding for their operations and services at the state level. We condemn these wrongful grant terminations and budget cuts to the state humanities councils who rely on this funding to deliver public programming, educational initiatives, and outreach efforts at the state and local levels.

A recent Executive Order (EO), “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History,” targets the SI and NPS. The EO insinuates that these leading cultural institutions are not aligned with the American people and our values. There is, in fact, broad public support for the nation’s museums, parks, and cultural community. The Smithsonian family of museums and the National Parks foster critical thinking, a sense of place, and self-expression, which are fundamental to the well-being and education of our citizens with free speech at its bedrock.

COSMA stands united with our partners and colleagues across the cultural sector in ensuring that we protect the full richness of our history and oppose censorship or self-censorship.

COSMA urges statewide museum associations to contact appropriate members of the United States Congress and to encourage all of the American public who believe in the power and inherent necessity of museums and cultural heritage sites to work towards restoring these federal agencies to their full power as authorized by federal law, and support them in doing the important work of preserving and sharing our rich cultural heritage.