One night last month, President Ronald Reagan's voice floated above music from his film career at his presidential library and museum in Simi Valley, Calif. He is the star of a new orchestral and video work highlighting episodes from his colorful life.
A regional group, the New West Symphony, created "The Ronald Reagan Overture" as part of a bigger concert marking the country's 250th anniversary. The work includes excerpts from the soundtrack of his 1942 movie King's Row, his 1987 speech encouraging Russian leader Mikhail Gorbachev to "tear down" the Berlin Wall, and plenty of images of the former Hollywood actor waving and smiling.
Patriotic art like this is taking center stage this year. But behind the stirring melodies and flag-draped stages, a significant shift in federal policy is quietly reshaping what kind of culture gets funded in America.
"Stirring patriotism on America's birthday: That is a solid message," said Michael Christie, the New West Symphony's music director, in an interview with NPR. "I'm proud of it."
Christie and the musicians performed in the lofty atrium against the backdrop of an enormous American flag, with Reagan's Air Force One hanging above the audience. Quite a few of the 600 people in the room were decked out in red, white and blue.
"It reaches out to your heart. It touches you inside and out," said audience member Theresa Brunasso. "And it makes you so proud to be an American."
A policy shift
"The Ronald Reagan Overture" was made possible with the help of a $25,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) — one of 50 such grants the federal agency awarded to cultural groups around the country to create artworks in celebration of some of the figureheads slated for inclusion in the "National Garden of American Heroes."
President Donald Trump first proposed the sculpture park, featuring 250 life-size statues of notable American figures, in 2020. Reagan is on the list, along with Muhammad Ali, Susan B. Anthony and Elvis Presley. The construction of the project is still at the proposal phase.
The NEA has always funded far more than patriotic programming. But this anniversary year, the endowment has placed a particular emphasis on national pride.
In a statement, the NEA said the anniversary is "an opportunity to celebrate our nation's rich artistic heritage and cultural legacy" through "many artistic disciplines and perspectives."
In 2025, the Trump Administration rescinded $21 million in NEA grants, according to the arts advocacy nonprofit Americans for the Arts.
The money was pulled from projects that did not meet the administration's funding objectives — for example, if they were too focused on diversity, equity and inclusion. As NPR reported, the NEA eliminated the "Challenge America" grant program, which supported organizations focusing on "historically underserved communities that have limited access to the arts relative to geography, ethnicity, economics, and/or disability." The administration then prioritized grant applications that focused on more patriotic works, like military band performances.
Artists lean into the spirit of American patriotism
The unexpected loss of funding that they had counted on devastated arts groups around the country. As NPR reported last year, hundreds of arts groups received emails that suddenly informed them their grants had been terminated.
Last fall, media outlets reported that some groups refused grants, because they didn't want to be restricted by the NEA's new policies, which make applicants certify that they will not operate any programs promoting "diversity, equity, and inclusion" in accordance with one of Trump's executive orders.
But other arts groups, such as Sones de México Ensemble, leaned into the spirit of American patriotism.
Last year, the NEA abruptly rescinded a $20,000 grant awarded to the Chicago-based, Mexican folk music group for the creation of concerts and education programs around a popular type of Mexican ballad known as a corrido.
"The argument was that it didn't fit the new guidelines under the new administration," said the group's cofounder, Juan Díes.
So when he heard about the NEA's new grants, Díes decided to look down the list of proposed statue subjects.
"And I picked eight people in U.S. history that I felt I could write a corrido about," Díes said.
He re-pitched the project to the NEA, this time using Trump Administration-approved subjects like aviator Amelia Earhart and baseball star Roberto Clemente. The grant came through.
Like other corridos, Díes' new ballads are celebratory. But they also don't shy away from darker details, such as including lines about the racism Clemente faced as a high-profile Puerto Rican in the U.S.
"Nunca agachó la cabeza y condenaba el racismo," Díes sings in his corrido about Clemente. "Though he faced plenty of racism he never bowed down his head."
"I don't feel like we're compromising our goals or mission," said Díes of tailoring his grant application to fit in with Trump Administration priorities. "By playing with the rules, we are able to give our perspective on the lives of these American heroes."
Two forms of patriotism
David Lubin, a retired Wake Forest University professor who has written books about American art, politics and cultural propaganda, said there are two forms of patriotism.
"One is, 'My country, right or wrong,' that America is the greatest place on the face of the earth," Lubin said. "And the other is the patriotic emotion of, 'We can do better. And it's our mission in life to keep hewing to the ideals of the origins of the country.'"
Lubin said patriotic art can be a useful tool for governments because it can unite people around policies and ideologies. But when a country is as politically divided as the U.S. is today, Lubin said patriotic art often only ends up reinforcing rifts.
"It feeds into thought patterns that are already prevalent among half the population," Lubin said. "Like preaching to the converted."
Arts, patriotism and civility
Back at the Reagan Museum and Library, Reagan Foundation spokesperson Melissa Giller said the 40th president believed patriotism could coexist with a wide range of perspectives.
"He really believed in bipartisanship, always believed in reaching across the aisle," she said.
Giller said the foundation is now working to spread the late president's worldview.
"We've created a new center called the Center on Civility and Democracy," Giller said. "In fact, we were giving away free "Civility Handbooks" when people were checking in."
The handbook aims to help Americans engage in respectful dialogue in everyday situations. During intermission, people thumbed through the small paperback with its stars-and-stripes cover, afterwards, slipping it into their purses and pockets.
Jennifer Vanasco edited the broadcast and digital versions of this story. Chloee Weiner mixed the audio.
Copyright 2026 NPR
