According to a press release from Oklahoma Humanities, which is Oklahoma’s state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities, all 56 humanities councils across the country received notices that they would no longer be receiving general operating support grants from the federal agency at the direction of DOGE.

Caroline Lowery, the executive director of Oklahoma Humanities, said these funds account for about 75 percent of its annual operating budget, and the cuts will essentially close the headquarters for the National Endowment for the Arts in Oklahoma.

“It will result in loss of programming to veteran centers, rural libraries, centers of incarceration, K-12 public schools… it will be a devastating loss to the preservation of Oklahoma’s stories and culture,” she said.

According to the press release, Oklahoma was one of the six states that participated in the National Endowment for the Arts pilot program in 1971. Since then, Oklahoma Humanities has distributed over $42 million in federal funding to all 77 counties in the state.