Juneteenth celebrations adapt after corporate sponsors pull support

Key Points

• Corporate sponsors are scaling back or withdrawing support for Juneteenth celebrations as companies rethink diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, forcing events like Denver’s Juneteenth Music Festival to shrink to one day.
• Several state and local governments have cut or canceled Juneteenth events, including West Virginia dropping official activities amid budget deficits and Scottsdale dissolving its DEI office.
• The National Endowment for the Arts rescinded grants to dozens of Juneteenth organizers, leaving groups like San Diego’s Cooper Family Foundation to cover lost funding for performers after a $25,000 grant was pulled.
• Economic uncertainty and conservative pushback on brand activism have led firms to view Juneteenth sponsorships as nonessential, curtailing funding that boomed after George Floyd’s murder.

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Juneteenth celebrations have been scaled back this year due to funding shortfalls as companies and municipalities across the country reconsider their support for diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.

Canceled federal grants and businesses moving away from so-called brand activism have hit the bottom line of parades and other events heading into Thursday’s federal holiday, which celebrates the end of slavery in the United States. The shrinking financial support coincides with many companies severing ties with LGBTQ celebrations for Pride this year and President Donald Trump’s efforts to squash DEI programs throughout the federal government.

In Denver, for example, more than a dozen companies backed out of supporting the Juneteenth Music Festival, which is one of the city’s biggest celebrations of the holiday, according to Norman Harris, executive director of JMF Corporation, which puts on the event.

“There were quite a few sponsors who pulled back their investments or let us know they couldn’t or wouldn’t be in a position to support this year," said Harris, who has overseen the event for more than a decade.

The festival, which takes place in the historically Black Five Points neighborhood, has been scaled back to one day instead of two because of the budget shortfall. It has only been able to stay afloat thanks to donations from individuals and foundations.

“Thankfully, there was a wide range of support that came when we made the announcement that the celebration is in jeopardy,” Harris said.

Juneteenth celebrates the day the last enslaved people in Texas were told they were free on June 19, 1865, two years after President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. The day has been celebrated by Black Americans for generations, including in Harris’ family, but became more widely celebrated after becoming a federal holiday in 2021.

After the 2020 murder of George Floyd, many companies pursued efforts to make their branding more inclusive, but it has slowed down over the past few years after some received blowback from conservatives and because many companies didn't see it as an important part of their revenue stream, said Dionne Nickerson, a professor in marketing at Emory University.

Some companies can no longer afford to support Juneteenth celebrations because they just don't have the money given the economic uncertainty, according to Sonya Grier, a marketing professor at American University.

“It's a whole confluence of issues,” Grier said.

Rollback of local support

Many state and local governments hold or help fund celebrations, but some decided not to this year.

The governor's office in West Virginia stated that the state won’t be hosting any Juneteenth events this year for the first time since 2017 due to a budget deficit. Republican Gov. Patrick Morrisey last month signed a bill to end all diversity programs.

“Due to the continued fiscal challenges facing West Virginia, state government will not be sponsoring any formal activities,” deputy press secretary Drew Galang said in an email.

City Council members in Scottsdale, Arizona, dissolved their DEI office in February, which led to the cancellation of the city's annual Juneteenth festival.

Event organizers in Colorado Springs, Colorado, had to move locations due to fewer sponsors and cuts in city funding, said Jennifer Smith, a planner for the Southern Colorado Juneteenth Festival.

Around five companies sponsored the event this year, compared to dozens in years prior, Smith said.

“They have said their budgets have been cut because of DEI,” and that they can no longer afford it, she said.

Some groups have also mentioned safety concerns. Planners in Bend, Oregon, cited “an increasingly volatile political climate” in a statement about why they canceled this year's celebration.

Slashes in federal funding

Many local organizations have also had their budgets slashed after the National Endowment for the Arts pulled funding for numerous grants in May.

The Cooper Family Foundation throws one of the largest Juneteenth celebrations in San Diego each year. It was one of dozens of groups told by the NEA in May that its $25,000 grant was being rescinded.

The email said the event no longer aligned with the agency's priorities, said Maliya Jones, who works for the foundation.

The grant money went toward paying for arts and dance performers. The event will still take place this year, but members of the Cooper family will have to divide up covering the costs, said Marla Cooper, who leads the foundation.

“That’s $25,000 we have to figure out how we’re going to pay for," Cooper said.

“We will always have Juneteenth. And we will work it out,” she said.

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Lathan is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.