Lifetime Arts’ Federally-Funded Creative Aging Program Serving Older Adults Through Public Libraries Cancelled by Executive Order

Lifetime Arts’ Federally-Funded Creative Aging Program Serving Older Adults Through Public Libraries Cancelled by Executive Order

Lifetime Arts announces the early closure of its national initiative, Advancing Creative Aging through State Library Leadership, following the cancellation of its grant by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). This three-year project, funded by the Laura Bush 21st Century Library grant, was terminated after an executive order to defund IMLS.

Although five months remained in the original timeline, the Advancing Creative Aging project successfully trained library staff in Missouri and Wyoming over the past 2 ½ year to plan and deliver participatory arts programs. The grant had also included funding to run 100 creative aging programs - proven to enhance health and wellbeing in aging populations- across both states.  

Participants have voiced how deeply the project has impacted their lives. As one older adult participant shared in a recent midpoint report:

"This program gave me a reason to get up and out of the house again. I feel like I’m part of something, and I’ve made friends I never would have met otherwise."

Learn more about the project and it's impact in this video documenting the second round of programming in 2024.

The cancellation letter received by our partners on April 8th, 2025 from Acting Director of the IMLS Keith Sonderling states:

“Upon further review, IMLS has 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 the IMLS Program. IMLS is repurposing its funding allocations in a new direction in furtherance of the President’s agenda. Independently and secondly, the President’s March 14, 2025 executive order mandates that the IMLS eliminate all non-statutorily required activities and functions. See Continuing the Reduction of the Federal Bureaucracy, E.O. 14238 (Mar. 14, 2025). Therefore, the IMLS hereby terminates your grant in its entirety effective April 8, 2025.”

Lifetime Arts is deeply saddened that the leadership of IMLS view this initiative–designed to combat social isolation amongst older, largely rural Americans, including veterans–as out of alignment with the priorities of the current administration. At the time of the grant’s cancellation, 38 programs had been completed, 18 were in progress, and 47 were in planning or waiting to be assigned to a library. The early termination of this project will result in a loss of programming for hundreds of older adults, particularly in our most rural parts of the country. 

Heather Ikemire, Executive Director of Lifetime Arts, shared:

“This sudden cancellation is a disservice to the older adults, library workers, and teaching  artists who have been actively building inclusive, creative community spaces. Dismissing a proven, equity-driven approach to healthy aging and lifelong learning as ‘no longer in the interest of the United States’ undermines the role of public libraries as vital hubs of connection, learning, and well-being—especially in rural communities.”

Like all IMLS grants, funding for this project was structured as reimbursement-based. Libraries, Califa, a nonprofit library consortium and grant partner, and Lifetime Arts have already expended significant funds to support this work, but with the grant terminated, there is currently no pathway to recover those costs. It remains unclear whether the federal government will honor reimbursement requests for expenses incurred prior to the termination of the grant.

Lifetime Arts remains committed to advocating for the value of creative aging and the vital role that public libraries play in serving older adult populations nationwide. Lifetime Arts encourages concerned citizens to write to their representatives in Congress to protect and preserve funding for our most vital community and cultural institutions. You can find out how to contact your representatives here, or through the American Library Association.