NPR is receiving a highly symbolic financial boost days before Congress is expected to vote on the fate of federal funding that supports the news and culture nonprofit.
Ann Philbin, former director and current director emeritus of the Hammer Museum at UCLA, has been named this year’s Getty Prize recipient. The honor comes with a $500,000 grant for a nonprofit of the winner’s choice, and Philbin has selected NPR and its Los Angeles member stations, KCRW and LAist.
The prize is considered the Getty’s highest honor and recognizes what the institution calls “cultural leaders whose work expands human understanding and appreciation of arts and culture.” Previous awardees include Frank Gehry, Mark Bradford, Ed Ruscha, Yo-Yo Ma and Thelma Golden.
“I wanted to shine a light on one of the most pressing issues of our day,” Philbin said in a phone interview. “And that’s freedom of speech and freedom of the press.”
Philbin said she requested that half of the Getty grant go to NPR and the other half to be split between KCRW and LAist.
“Those two radio stations for me — and I think for so many Angelenos who spend so much time in their cars — are constant companions,” Philbin said. “We listen to them all the time, and they’re precious to us. To even think about the fact that they might not exist is unbearable.”
NPR Chief Executive Katherine Maher in May filed a lawsuit against President Trump after he issued an executive order directing the Corp. for Public Broadcasting to freeze all funding to NPR and PBS. She said Philbin’s decision to split the donation between NPR and its local affiliates showed a level of understanding about the interdependency of the local and national radio platforms not often mirrored in the national conversation.
“It is an extraordinary gift at an extraordinary time with real, material impact for the stations,” Maher said.
Congress has until the end of the week to vote on a White House proposal known as the rescission bill that would claw back $9 billion in foreign aid and more than $500 million per year in federal funding already approved for the Corp. for Public Broadcasting, which funnels financial support to NPR and PBS as well as local public radio and TV stations across the country.
Trump has been adamant that his allies vote in favor of the rescission package, writing on Truth Social last week that he will withhold support and endorsements from any Republican who doesn’t vote in its favor. He called the Corp. for Public Broadcasting, NPR and PBS “a monstrosity.”
The proposed cuts to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting would total $1.1 billion over the next two years. Federal funding accounts for about 15% of PBS’ budget and 1% of NPR’s budget, according to NPR, but local stations would be the hardest hit and some may not survive, Maher said. If they vanished, she added, they would take with them the kind of hyper-local, community-based reporting that helps forge and maintain a sense of place, identity and purpose, particularly in rural communities.
“That impact is something that is hard to conceptualize, even when you are a member of Congress who represents some of these communities,” Maher said. “Because you spend so much time living with one foot in the world of places like Washington, D.C., and very little time in the areas of the country where broadband services are not reliable or easily available, and cellphone service is not necessarily consistent and universal.”
Philbin noted that NPR’s mission statement is to create a more informed public and to celebrate the diversity of the human experience, and that those values are being challenged by a storm of misinformation.
The Getty Prize was founded in 2013 as the Getty Medal. It was initially given to several individuals each year, but last year it transformed into its current incarnation, honoring a single person who chooses the “pay-it-forward” grant recipient.
Last year’s honoree was Mark Bradford, who chose to steer the grant money to the Arts for Healing and Justice Network, which brings arts programming to minors in the juvenile justice system.
