ROCHESTER, N.Y. – A number of local museums are scrambling after learning that promised federal grants will likely never come to fruition.  The Department of Government Efficiency, under the Trump administration, has essentially shut down the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and that leaves at least a half-dozen local museums in peril.

Over the last decade, the George Eastman Museum has been able to secure more than $1 million in grants from the IMLS.  “The government sort of puts in the first money for some of these big projects and we’re only going to get that money if we complete the project, it gives us an ability to go to other organizations or individuals and say, we have this government money, now would you help us out and match it,” explains Director Bruce Barnes. 

Historically, the model has worked to fund a number of projects but this time around, it doesn’t look like the IMLS will come through with more than $250,000 that was already approved to help the George Eastman Museum with new galleries in the upper floor of the renovated mansion and a project to digitize part of its collection.

“It is a pretty grim outlook in terms of our ability to make some of these transformative projects happen in the future,” Barnes says.

The Genesee Country Village & Museum is losing out too. It was just starting a project, funded with an IMLS grant, to broaden its teachings about the history of enslavement in the 19th century in New York State.

“Because we were just very recently granted it, we haven’t spent very much of it. Of the $189,000 the vast majority has not been used here at the museum yet for this exhibit,” explains Beth Bojaeski, the Vice President of Programs at GCV&M. 

And now, it might be too late.

“We will still do it, this history is really important, it’s critical that we tell our whole history and not just the parts that feel comfortable but it will change our pace and it will change the way we go about it,” Bojaeski says.

In addition to the Eastman Museum and GCV&M, the Rochester Museum and Science Center (RMSC), the Memorial Art Gallery and the Livingston County Historical Society and Museum also have, or had, open grants with the IMLS.

Making matters worse, they all learned Friday that many previously-approved grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities have also been cancelled.

“If someone told me, we’re going to have a 4-year suspension of grants, we’d say “okay, we’ll figure out a way to get by with that” but when you’re taking apart the whole structure that is making the grants, then it feels very grim to me, frankly,” Barnes says.

Much of the grant money in question has already been appropriated by Congress so, there is a question about whether it can legally be withheld.  The museums aren’t counting on the cash but a number of federal lawmakers say they are urging the administration to push at least this round of funding through. 

Late Friday, Attorneys General for 20 states, including New York sued the Trump administration in an effort to stop the dismantling of the IMLS.  In a statement, Letitia James says, “New York received over $8 million (in 2024), which helped to fund literacy programs for children and adults, provided training for over 200,000 library staff across New York’s 7,000 libraries, improved internet access in libraries, and paid the salaries of two-thirds of New York State Library employees. The administration’s action will threaten hundreds of library staff across the country who provide essential services to their communities.”

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