The President's Council on the Arts and Humanities (PCAH) was established in the United States in 1982 by President Ronald Reagan. Its members are appointed by the president and include artists, scholars, and philanthropists dedicated to the arts and humanities.

Former members of the PCAH include Frank Sinatra, Yo-Yo Ma, Jon Batiste, Lady Gaga, Bruce Cohen, Shonda Rhimes, Jennifer Garner, George Clooney and Kerry Washington.

Now, as part of an executive order aimed at reversing the previous administration's arts and culture policies, the Trump administration has disbanded the PCAH, the New York Times reports.

Over the years, the PCAH has helped restore funding for public arts education, expanded tax incentives for cultural philanthropy, and developed the Kennedy Center’s Arts Transformation initiative to advance arts education in America’s schools.

While the committee remains nonpartisan, The New York Times viewed it as at odds with Trump's administration during his first term.

The PCAH was previously disbanded in August 2017, when its members resigned in protest of Trump's right-wing rally in Virginia. The White House later issued a statement saying Trump had planned to disband the committee on the grounds that it was "not a responsible way to spend American tax dollars."

However, Biden has reinstated the PCAH after nearly two years as president; he believes it is “the soul of America and reflects our multicultural and democratic experience…[addressing] the biggest challenges of our time, such as the climate crisis and the scourge of violence fueled by hate.”

The PCAH, which has an annual budget of approximately $335,000 in 2024, met six times after its restoration. Its last meeting was held on January 9th, 2025.

"Not only did he fire all of us, he disbanded the actual committee, which shows an active hostility to the arts and humanities," former New York Democratic Rep. Steve Israel, a former member of the PCAH, said in the New York Times.

The decision to disband the PCAH is part of the Trump administration's effort to reallocate resources to organizations beyond cultural institutions. So far, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) are still operating. Media reports said Trump called for defunding both agencies during his first term as president but has not mentioned it during this term.

Although the PCAH has been disbanded, the Presidential Advisory Council on the Arts (PACA), which Biden also reinstated during his term, appears to still exist.