Eneida Cardona was hard at work preparing the fellowship issue of the journal Nueva Luz for En Foco. Suddenly, Cardona, alongside other non-profit art institutions in the Bronx, received a devastating email.
A vital federal grant had been pulled from underneath them.
En Foco, a non-profit art organization and photo gallery in Mott Haven, supports and amplifies the work of African, Asian, Latino, Native American, and Pacific Islander photographers. On May 5, En Foco was informed that a $30,000 grant they’d been promised by the National Endowment for the Arts had been revoked—a grant that would have supported the 50 year-old gallery’s operation through 2025.
According to the email, “The NEA is updating its grantmaking policy priorities to focus funding on projects that reflect the nation’s rich artistic heritage and creativity as prioritized by the President. Consequently, we are terminating awards that fall outside these new priorities. The NEA will now prioritize projects that elevate the Nation’s HBCUs and Hispanic Serving Institutions…”
En Foco immediately appealed NEA’s decision to withdraw their funding, calling out the irony of their shift in priority. “We believe this decision stands in contradiction to the NEA’s updated priorities, which emphasize support for Hispanic-serving institutions and projects that uplift the nation’s diverse artistic heritage.”
Shifting in Place, an exhibition at En Foco that opened on May 8th, is a collaboration that “uplifts the nation’s diverse artistic heritage. Shifting in Place delves into the transition in space experienced by Asian-American artists whose identity is tied to a place that is or once was.
“The exhibit focuses on the Asian diaspora. The artists explore the duality of being physically here while having a deep connection with someplace else,” Cardona said.
En Foco says the NEA’s shift in vision is precisely what the gallery is all about. It was founded in 1974 by Puerto Rican photographers in the Bronx and for fifty years has built a pathway for photographers and artists of color into the broader arts and culture world. The En Foco Fellowship, which started in 2016, has provided crucial support to Latino artists throughout New York. According to En Foco, 44.6% of their fellowship applicants identified as Latino.
Once a year, En Foco chooses fifteen New York artists to feature in a special issue of their photojournal, Nueva Luz.
“This Fellowship is more than a grant. It is a space where cultural preservation, creative expression, and professional advancement converge,” En Foco said in a statement announcing their appeal of the funding cut. “We urge the NEA to reconsider this decision, and we remain committed to providing opportunities that reflect the richness of our communities.”
“Receiving the En Foco Fellowship last year was one of the highlights of my career,” said Lieh Sugai, a 2024 fellowship recipient. “It offered more than recognition–it provided meaningful guidance and connected me with an inspiring and supportive community. At a time when funding opportunities are shrinking, support like this truly makes a difference.”
“Great artists can come from anywhere,” Cardona said, as she prepared the opening reception for Shifting in Place.
But not all artists have the financial means to turn their creativity into a vision. En Foco serves as a bridge for the wealth gap in the arts, she explained, nurturing artistic careers, and any loss in funding makes it increasingly difficult to do that.
Shina Tser-shiuan Peng was also featured in Nueva Luz as a fellow in 2024. Peng is a Taiwanese American who was born and raised in Japan. Today, she is on the ground expanding her portfolio in photography following the fellowship opportunity.
“I’m grateful to En Foco for allowing me to pursue my dream and make me feel that this was the right thing to do,” Peng said. “It came at a really important time where I was unsure how I was going to make ends meet because freelancing was not giving me enough money.”
A $25,000 grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) is on the chopping block as well. Trump’s 2026 budget proposal aims to completely eliminate the IMLS. In anticipation of losing these key grants, En Foco fell into an uncomfortable position of letting go an independent contractor hired to work on their archives.
It isn’t just En Foco. The Bronx Documentary Center lost a $25,000 NEA grant it had been counting on for four major exhibitions. Because most federal grants are managed via reimbursement, the Center had already spent its money on a show for the acclaimed photographer Jamel Shabazz, and their annual Latin American Foto Festival, a landmark cultural event that features the work of leading photographers from across Latin America.
“The BDC is now forced to absorb these costs, jeopardizing our ability to deliver the remaining 2025 exhibitions and free public programs that serve many thousands in the Bronx and beyond,” the BDC said in a statement.
Despite the huge loss in federal funding, artists are continuing to support each other.
At BronxArtSpace, Mexican artist Blanca Amezkua alongside two organizers recognized that the existing budget wasn’t enough to cover the full scope of their exhibition Te Amo Porque S.O.S. Pueblo! The exhibition included works by immigrant artists who came to the US as undocumented minors and artists that have familial history with crossing borders.
According to Amezkua, through outreach and the help of friends, peers, and other institutions in the art community, they were able to raise the necessary resources to create a show they could be proud of.
“The Bronx—despite its rich cultural output— [is] underfunded and struggling to sustain grassroots and non-profit initiatives over the long term,” she said. “Now more than ever, we need to support and uplift Bronx-based non-profits like the Bronx Documentary Center, Bronx Council on the Arts, En Foco, BronxArtSpace, The Point CDC, and Casita Maria. These are essential spaces that amplify community voices—voices that must be heard, especially in these challenging times.”
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