Lakes Area Music Festival goes on, despite NEA grant cancellation

BRAINERD — Scott Lykins, Lakes Area Music Festival executive and artistic director, remembers when the organization got its first NEA grant, after several rejections.

“That really made us feel like we had the national stamp of approval on our programs,” he said.

The Brainerd organization brings top classical musicians to the area for chamber music, orchestra and opera performances.

It is among the grant recipients that received an email from the federal government Friday, May 2, stating their National Endowment for the Arts funds were canceled.

In January, the organization was awarded its largest NEA grant to date to support an opera production.

Lykins’s first thought after receiving the cancellation notice was, "How will we replace that $20,000?"

“Because at this point, we have contracts already signed by our artists, and we’re not going to back out of any of those," he said. "We've announced our season to our audience, and the opera team specifically, since that's what the grant was for, has already had a number of meetings starting to plan for that production."

This summer will be Lakes Area Music Festival’s 17th season, with a Myths and Magic theme that includes Aug. 9 and 10 performances of Hänsel & Gretel, with a score by Engelbert Humperdinck.

Lykins said they’re going on with their season, but they have a little extra work to raise funds through their donors.

“But this is a time where everyone is also dealing with increased costs of everyday items and a really uncertain stock market that’s affecting financial planning," he added. "So that will be an extra challenge.”

As he's reflected, Lykins has thought more about the future of the arts in the U.S. Even though the NEA makes up a small portion of the federal budget, he said, but it's the largest arts grant-making organization in the country.

"We're just one organization in Central Minnesota," he said. "But this email that went out and the future of the NEA affects arts organizations across the country, of all different sizes and all different genres."

In President Donald Trump's first term, he budgeted to eliminate the NEA, which he did again last week. But Lykins said every time, Congress approved funding.

"The arts are such a bipartisan issue," he said. "The arts serve everyone. Everyone, whether you think of it or not, is taking in arts on a daily basis. So it's a really easy thing to support."