Last year, Rancho Alegre applied for the Challenge America grant, which was offered through the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), to support the 2025 Rancho Alegre Conjunto Music Festival. We were awarded $10,000 through the program, funding for which has been frozen by President Trump since January 27, 2025. We have no updates from the NEA, and quite frankly, despite Federal judges ordering the funds' release, we do not expect this grant to ever come through.
To say this is frustrating, infuriating, and heartbreaking is an understatement.
Those of you who know us know where our festival began in February 2012: at the bottom. We had no money. Frank's health, which has always been an issue, was especially bad, but he had a vision and we made it happen. Thanks to a lot of help from people like Jesse Colunga and the Moose Lodge, Oscar and Dulcez Martinez, Julian Fernandez, Nancy Flores, all of the bands who took a chance on us that first year, and more, we did it.
So imagine, with those humble beginnings and 13 years of growing, but still having to fight every year to keep it going, we scored funding for that same event from the NEA?
We were over the moon. Not just because $10,000 is crucial for our event and significant for an organization as small as we are, but because it marked a milestone in our development as a nonprofit organization. It was something to be proud of and it was an honor to be on the list with the other 64 Texas organizations who also received grants. And we remain very proud of this accomplishment, regardless of whether the grant actually gets paid out or not.
As always, we are fighting. We have contacted our representatives in Congress and speaking out about it to anyone who will listen. If you believe this freeze is wrong and believe, as we do, that Texas culture is not waste, fraud, or abuse, we ask you to do the same.
But that will take time that we don't have. Our festival is scheduled for April 25-27 here in Austin and we have a $10,000 shortfall to make up for. If you are able, we humbly ask you to consider supporting us March 5-6 during Amplify Austin.