10/07/2026
In January 2025, executive orders like “Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs” told federal agencies to strip funding from anything tied to DEI, “gender ideology,” or systemic racism.
How did they find it? Keyword searches. And in at least one agency, AI. Court records show government staff ran humanities grant descriptions through ChatGPT, asking whether each one “relate[d] at all to DEI.” More than 1,400 grants were cancelled. The White House budget office is now building an AI tool to flag grants that don’t fit its agenda.
Organizations serving Black and Indigenous communities and communities of colour were among those hit. But the gate was already there. These groups were underfunded long before the cuts, and art as an investment has always been gated by wealth and relationships.
When an algorithm can switch your funding off, ownership becomes the floor no one can take away.
Swipe for the three gaps, and why market access matters more now, not less.
ArtAsAnAsset BreakingTheGate GoldmanAdele FinArt
