In December, the Weston History & Culture Center was given a $25,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
The funds were to support a permanent exhibition in the Coley Barn, called “Weston at Work.”
Last week, the grant was canceled.
Executive director Samantha Fargione thought it was a phishing scheme.
An attachment on the Endowment’s letterhead said, “NEH has reasonable cause to terminate your grant in light of the fact that the NEH is repurposing its funding allocations in a new direction in furtherance of the President’s agenda.”
A phone call Thursday morning determined that the email was sent not from the NEH, but by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
The Weston History & Culture Center says, “The termination of the NEH grant award and the loss of $25,000 are devastating for the WHCC – a small, independent, 501c3 non-profit cultural organization.
“WHCC does not receive town funding and is not a line item in the state of Connecticut’s budget. It is funded by grants, donations, membership, business sponsorships, and programs.
“WHCC has been planning and developing ‘Weston at Work’ for over 2 years. We still hope that ‘Weston at Work’ will open in October, but that’s now in doubt.”
Weston History & Culture Center, and Coley Barn.
The exhibit was planned to include interactive experiences for all ages. It will highlight the people behind the tools; explore stories of struggle, experience, and success, and weave voices of underrepresented groups into each section.
Without the grant, WHCC now needs to raise $75,000 to bring this first phase of “Weston at Work” to life for the community. They ask for donations via their website, or at PO Box 1092 Weston, CT 06883,
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