Storyteller Claudia Rains reads to families during Prime Time Family Reading at Henry Park in Lincoln, Neb., on May 14, 2026. Prime Time is a program that helps children hone their reading and critical thinking skills and is supported by Nebraska’s endowment fund.
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Walker Pickering for NPR
They do things a little differently in Nebraska.
They’re the only state in the union with a unicameral legislature — meaning they have just one chamber. They eat chili with cinnamon rolls.
And they have a unique way of supporting cultural programming — thanks in part to Johnny Carson. The late, famed talk show host grew up and attended college in the Cornhusker State, and went on to become one of Nebraska’s most loyal philanthropists.
“Johnny wrote a check for half a million dollars. And that was our first really large donation,” said Maggie Smith.
Smith is the executive director of the Nebraska Cultural Endowment, a fund seeded by that initial Carson check in 1998. The endowment has grown to $30 million and generates $1 million each year for arts programming and to help the state’s cultural groups weather federal funding uncertainties.
That money could be particularly handy now, since the Trump administration’s proposed 2027 budget calls for the elimination of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) – the two federal agencies that support everything from poet laureates to community theater around the country. (This is the sixth time the Trump Administration has called for the elimination of these agencies since it first came into power in 2020.)
But lately, the Nebraska Cultural Endowment has come under attack, and arts and culture advocates across the state are working to protect its future.
An unusual fund
This unusual, public-private fund is made up of philanthropic donations matched dollar-for-dollar by the state. The combined kitty generates investment income for the Nebraska Arts Council and Humanities Nebraska, which make grants to cultural groups across Nebraska. The organizations also receive separate funding from the national endowments, as well as state and private dollars.
“We’re the only endowment in the country that operates in this way,” Smith said.
Johnny Carson, comedian and host of NBC’s The Tonight Show, in 1964.
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The Johnny Carson Foundation continues to provide support. “Johnny liked the fact that you could provide all this arts and entertainment and culture to small towns,” said Johnny Carson Foundation program director and board vice chairman Jeff Sotzing. “And the fact that he could contribute to that was very gratifying for him.”
Should the arts be supported with public dollars?
Nebraska’s endowment was founded in 1998, after several years of Congressional wrangling that threatened the existence of the National Endowment for the Arts.
But in Nebraska, they thought public spending on the arts was worth preserving.
“A few local donors and state senators got together and decided to create a fund that would safeguard the Arts Council in Nebraska and the Humanities Council in case of federal defunding,” Smith said.
Indeed, there has long been a struggle in this country over whether federal tax dollars should be spent on arts and culture.
Some believe the government should support the arts because, in return, the public receives goods like libraries, museums, and festivals — even if individuals and deep-pocketed donors aren’t available to pay for them.
“A lot of communities don’t have that what we call traditional arts and culture infrastructure,” said Erin Harkey, CEO of the national arts advocacy group Americans for the Arts. “And so a lot of these dollars are funding programming that is often given to the public free or at very low cost.”
Others believe ticket buyers and philanthropists should foot the bill — not taxpayers.
“One person’s masterpiece is another person’s outrage or even just a waste of money,” said Ryan Bourne, an economist with the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank. “We can all tolerate art we dislike, but I don’t think we should be forced to pay for it.”
Threats under Trump
The threats to federal arts and culture funding returned in full force under the current Trump administration. For example, the abrupt termination of more than 1,400 humanities grants last year devastated humanities organizations across the country.
But not in Nebraska.
“What other states have experienced in the humanities realm of cuts to their operations, to their programming, to their staffs, we have not had to do here – because of the Cultural Endowment,” said Humanities Nebraska Executive Director Chris Sommerich.
Chris Sommerich, Executive Director of Humanities Nebraska, hands out bags to students during Prime Time Family Reading at Henry Park in Lincoln, Neb. on May 14, 2026. The program was led by a storyteller and discussion leader for underserved children and their families to read and discuss award-winning children’s books.
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(In May, a federal judge declared the federal cuts unconstitutional. The National Endowment for the Humanities now plans to restore some of the slashed funds, but it remains unclear how and when the money will be distributed.)
Helping the people of Nebraska
Sommerich said the Nebraska endowment not only acts as a “rainy day” fund during troubled times, but also enables Nebraska’s cultural agencies to expand their offerings. “It is a godsend helping us continue to serve all these communities and people all over the state,” he said.
Organizations supported by Nebraska’s endowment include Prime Time, a program which helps children hone their reading and critical thinking skills.
Prime Time was founded in Louisiana in 1991. But Sommerich said that in Nebraska, the cultural endowment has helped grow it to nearly 50 programs in communities of all sizes – at no cost to participants.
At a recent Prime Time event in a suburban park in Lincoln, around 10 families gathered on blankets and lawn chairs for a discussion about the book Saturday by Oge Mora.
“They feed us dinner. We hang out with our friends. You know, it’s just a fun family night in which we appreciate great books,” said Marcia Nordmeyer, a Prime Time regular, who attended with her two children. “It will be tragic if Prime Time goes away.”
State budget woes
The program likely won’t go away. But there’s now a possibility it could be significantly scaled back.
In his state address in January, Nebraska governor Jim Pillen, a Republican, called for government “belt-tightening” in the face of one of the largest budget deficits in the state’s history — $471 million — owing in large part to tax cuts.
His administration proposed that it sweep the half of the endowment — $15 million — funded by taxpayers and held by the State of Nebraska into a general fund.
Nebraska state senator and appropriations committee vice chair Christy Armendariz, a fiscal conservative, told NPR that lawmakers were faced with tough choices. “I was for however we were going to get to the balanced budget,” Armendariz said.
State Sen. Christy Armendariz chats with a colleague on the legislative floor of the Nebraska State Capitol in 2024, in Lincoln, Neb.
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Rebecca S. Gratz/AP
In tight budget years, Armendariz said, cultural groups ought to rely more on philanthropy. But arts and culture advocates, such as Nebraska Arts Council Executive Director Mike Markey, said they need those matching dollars from the state to attract private donors.
“The cultural endowment is much more than just a funding source,” said Markey at a legislative hearing in February. “It is a partnership. It is a promise. And it is proof that the state believes that Nebraska’s arts and culture are what makes it better to live here than somewhere else.”
In a statement to NPR, the Council on Foundations, a nonprofit membership association of grant-making foundations and corporations worldwide, said, “Matching funds typically encourage more donations, regardless of if the matches are funded publicly or privately.”
Continued insecurity
Like most of the appropriations committee, Nebraska state senator and committee chair Robert Clements said he wasn’t comfortable with Pillen’s proposal.
“I’m very much a supporter of the governor’s policies,” Clements told NPR. “But I was not comfortable proposing to zero out that fund. It does do a lot of good things.”
Instead, state lawmakers decided to cut $5 million.
Nebraska Cultural Endowment director Smith said she is relieved. But the future of the remaining tax-payer funded $10 million that is held by the state is by no means secure.
“Our concern is that in the next legislative session, if they continue to need to balance the budget, they’re gonna take the remaining part of our fund,” she said.
Arts and culture advocates are now launching a statewide campaign to explain why public funding for this endowment matters — before it’s too late.
Jennifer Vanasco edited this story for broadcast and digital. Chloee Weiner mixed the audio. Danielle Scruggs was photo editor.
