On Friday, the Dramatists Guild signed onto an amicus brief filed by the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) alongside Poets & Writers, Electric Literature, Authors Guild, and lawyer Annie Dorsen. The amicus brief was filed before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in Rhode Island Latino Arts v. National Endowment for the Arts, urging the court to affirm that the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA)’s implementation of the Trump Administration’s Executive Order prohibiting the use of federal funds to “promote gender ideology” has created an impermissible chill on artistic expression.
Amicus partners in this filing were represented by Albert Sellars LLP. The brief argues that arts organizations are particularly vulnerable to viewpoint discrimination because NEA funding is an integral financial resource. If the NEA is permitted to favor certain organizational views over others in making funding decisions, arts organizations will be pressured to either compromise their missions to gain favor or forgo NEA funding altogether.
To read the full press release by the NCAC, please click here.
