The recent announcement that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has terminated funding to the National Endowment of the Humanities, and by extension, our state humanities agency, Nevada Humanities, is shocking and unsurprising. While it’s easy to think of so much of what DOGE does as abstract, I wanted to share the ways in which Nevada Humanities has made life in Northern Nevada better for me, my family and my community.

According to the Federation of State Humanities Councils, on “Wednesday, April 2, all humanities councils received emails and letters under the signature of NEH Acting Chair Michael McDonald notifying them that all awarded grants — including their 5-year General Operating Grants and other program-specific awards — were canceled in their entirety, effective April 1.” This is yet another arbitrary, across-the-board decision by DOGE (an agency that shouldn’t exist, by the way). 

When I moved to Reno 13 years ago, I knew the region for its gambling, its proximity to Lake Tahoe and for the Nevada Museum of Art. What I didn’t expect was the rich, varied and accessible cultural activities throughout the city. Over those 13 years, I have attended so many art exhibitions, literary readings, talks and discussions about Nevada’s history that I’ve lost count. And don’t get me started about the amazing National Cowboy Poetry Festival, a one-of-a-kind event that draws people to Elko from all over the world. 

When we first moved to Reno, I had no idea about Nevada Humanities, and it took me a while to see how integral they were to all these events I’d been attending. Nevada Humanities was behind so many different kinds of events — from dance, to lectures, to any number of local cultural activities — that I slowly became more aware of its impact and reach. As I started to recognize some of the folks doing the introductions and manning the refreshments tables, I started to put two and two together. These folks make this a great place to live.

Some of the many highlights over these years include the Nevada Humanities Literary Crawl, an annual gathering of more than 80 local, national and international authors who come together for a day of talks, readings, discussions and workshops. Everyone from writers such as Kiese Laymon and Anthony Doerr to formerly incarcerated poets have presented work over the years. These events fill the streets of Midtown Reno with eager audiences of all ages. One year, Nevada Humanities organized a children’s poetry workshop taught by the acclaimed poet and essayist Aimee Nezhukumatathil. Aimee taught the children in attendance to write poetry about animals, developing their literacy, their imaginations and observational skill. My daughter loved this event and talked about it for days afterward. 

Nevada Humanities is not some faceless bureaucracy with a nice logo: Nevada Humanities is our community. And I’m really not sure what will happen to the cultural life of this state if they can’t keep the lights on. 

While I’m sure the economic impact of the arts is significant and real, the real work of organizations such as Nevada Humanities is to turn federal dollars into beautiful exercises of the imagination, creating places where we can think and imagine, where we can dream a better world together. I am so grateful for Nevada Humanities, because it has made Reno a great place to live, to raise a family and to work as an artist. 

I urge everyone to write to their members of Congress in support of Nevada Humanities. If this funding really does dry up, everyone needs to ask themselves how much they’re willing to support the free and open exchange of ideas and imagination that Nevada Humanities supports. 

In the coming years, they, and we, are going to need it. 

Jared Stanley is a poet and writer based in Reno. He is the author of four collections of poetry, most recently So Tough. His writing has appeared in publications such as The New York Times, Harvard Review, Bennington Review and The Spectacle. Stanley teaches creative writing at UNR.