To understand the challenges the Utah Humanities Book Festival faced this year, you have to go back to April 3.

That was the day, according to Jodi Graham, the executive director of the nonprofit Utah Humanities, that the organization received an email out of the blue, letting them know that their operating support grant from the National Endowment of the Humanities had been canceled.

That meant a loss of over $1 million — half of Utah Humanities’ operating budget.

The email came as DOGE, a department headed up by Elon Musk earlier this year, was tasked with cutting government spending. Utah Humanities, which has hosted programs and offered grants to organizations across Utah for 50 years, was hardly the only group affected. Arts groups across the country saw their funding slashed ove

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