The Auburn Citizen - (archived: https://archive.ph/odhSe ) Auburn museum loses $50K federal grant due to Trump cuts

Robert Harding Apr 18, 2025
Updated Apr 18, 2025



An Auburn museum was notified it will lose a $50,000 federal grant after President Donald Trump's executive action to effectively eliminate the agency that awarded the funding.

The Cayuga Museum of History & Art was awarded the grant from the Institute for Museum and Library Services, a federal agency, in 2023. The grant was matched by a donor, Brad Schwartz, and funded a curator position for two years. The museum hired Haley Boothe to serve as curator and develop an interpretive plan for an exhibit on Cayuga County's history.

In a Facebook post Thursday, the museum announced it received notice the grant "has been terminated." According to the museum, the Institute for Museum and Library Services said it "determined that your grant is unfortunately no longer consistent with the agency's priorities and no longer serves the interest of the United States and IMLS program."

Kirsten Gosch, executive director of the museum, told The Citizen that she will reallocate funds to continue the project. But she added that it is "a huge blow to our limited budget and will be extremely challenging to maintain without the federal funding and puts the future of the project in peril."

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