Like many American nonprofits, Art Spark Texas’ origins can be traced back to an American president. It was Jean Kennedy Smith – President John F. Kennedy’s sister – who launched the Very Special Arts organization in 1974. The goal was simple: Give Americans with disabilities artistic training, and show the world what they do. The nonprofit would operate in the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts, a living memorial to JFK’s legacy. It received grants from federal agencies and praise from federal administrations.
Ronald Reagan proclaimed May 1985 Very Special Arts Month. He said then, “This program deserves the support and assistance of all Americans.” George H. W. Bush told VSA performers in 1989, “You guys don’t let any disabilities stand in your way, and so it’s up to us to make sure that discrimination doesn’t stop you.” When Barack Obama awarded Jean Kennedy Smith the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011, he underscored her founding of VSA, and how it “touched millions of lives.”
Now, VSA affiliates and spin-off organizations nationwide are under threat from the Trump administration. “I don’t know if he’ll be successful, but will everything be so decimated before he’s done that we – what will we look like? I don’t know. I don’t know,” says Celia Hughes, longtime head of Art Spark Texas (formerly Very Special Arts Texas).
As a result of DOGE cuts, Art Spark lost a $51,000 grant, which would have served 1,500 Texans with disabilities. DOGE cuts to the National Endowment for the Arts and One Big Beautiful Bill’s reduction of the Department of Education could both affect Art Spark. “It is a situation of falling dominoes,” Hughes says.
Meanwhile, federal funding that is still available has taken on new meaning: The NEA has announced it’s prioritizing funding patriotic projects, ones “celebrating and honoring America250,” which is the administration’s branding of the nation’s 250th anniversary. The NEA says “we strongly encourage” grant applicants to adopt this focus, while Trump has proposed eliminating the NEA all together.
“I’ve always said from the very first grant I wrote, you know, I operate at the intersection of arts, disability, and education – the three things that people least want to fund,” Hughes says. “But this is different. What’s happening now is different. … You know, the government is being so destroyed.”
Hughes is well connected to other nonprofit leaders. Nationally, she’s worked with other VSA spin-off organizations across the United States for decades. Locally, she’s a member of One Voice Central Texas, a collective of executive directors from regional nonprofits. Many are dealing with serious funding losses from DOGE or One Big Beautiful Bill. Beyond that, the most vulnerable people served, like those with disabilities, are also facing higher health care costs and cuts to SNAP.
“I would not be lying if I said that the mood is pretty grim,” Hughes says.
Still, Art Spark Texas’ work continues, serving approximately 10,000 Texas adults, children, and teachers each year. Right now, federal funding makes up roughly 10% of Art Spark’s budget. Hughes said support from the community is still reliable, and her staff is still dedicated. Young adults’ internships in technology and arts continue. Festivals, like Art in the Park, continue. Classes continue. The annual veteran art exhibit – open in Georgetown through November 30 – continues. Hughes seems relentlessly committed to Art Spark’s work. A podcast recording the stories of Texans with disabilities paused for a year after its leader, Nano Boye Nagle, passed away. Now, Hughes and others are working to relaunch the podcast, so despite their grief, even this project continues.
“I see hope in the resilience of the people that I work with. People with disabilities live on $720 a month. They’re not allowed to have any money. They are MacGyvers and they MacGyver their way through life,” Hughes says. “And what gives me hope is the people of this country. I have great faith in the people of this country and that we just can’t give up. The lawsuits that are filed every day, the No Kings marches. Even when you don’t see any results from that, it’s people saying, ‘No, this is not right, and we are not going to do this.’”
This article appears in November 28 • 2025.