Museums & Heritage

World Monuments Fund announces over $15m for climate change initiative

New initiatives emphasize WMF's commitment to the preservation and revitalisation of historic sites under threat of destruction from climate change

Orlando Museum of Art faces financial troubles in Basquiat fiasco’s aftermath

Since it was raided in 2022 by the FBI, which seized 25 purported Basquiat works, the museum’s legal and communications costs have surged while public and private support slowed

Labournews

Denver Art Museum workers launch campaign to form union

Staff at the museum are the latest to join the unionisation movement that has swept across the sector in the US

In Arles, Lee Ufan, ‘the man in the middle’, finds a lasting home

The Korean-born artist says he was drawn to the southern French city’s ancient roots as a fitting place for his work

US museum under fire for cancelling Palestinian artist’s retrospective

The Eskenazi Museum of Art of the Indiana University in Bloomington cited “safety concerns” when it abruptly cancelled Samia Halaby’s show

National Galleries of Scotland facing ‘a very real challenge’ as report reveals continuing financial strain

A new dossier shows how those running the organisation are struggling to “find a path to a balanced budget”

Leaderscomment

The next urgent -ism: museums must change their ageist ways

Museums in the US and beyond are neglecting members of a rapidly expanding demographic who also historically have been the sector’s biggest donors

Canadian museum removing name of former director and Nazi supporter Ferdinand Eckhardt from its entrance hall

The longtime Winnipeg Art Gallery director's Order of the Buffalo Hunt, one of Manitoba’s highest honours, has also been posthumously rescinded

Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts to end its degree-granting programmes

The institution, which began offering BFAs and MFAs in 2013, will wind down those programmes next year

Who wants to be the next British Museum director? Post advertised with a salary of £216,000

Successful candidate will have their work cut out for them to restore the institution's reputation after last year's theft scandal

Toronto construction crew unearths ancient Indigenous burial ground

Work on a water line near the city’s Greektown section has turned up human remains believed to be at least 700 years old

How the Townley collection became the British Museum’s ‘forgotten’ marbles

Many of the British Museum thefts of engraved gems and glass pieces, revealed last August, were likely from Charles Townley’s collection

At last, institutions join forces to take environmental action

Major events in London and Tokyo signal a much-needed shift in the conversation around museums and growth, and a move towards significant practical action

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Frick Collection director to retire after $195m renovation

Ian Wardropper has been leading the museum since 2011, guiding it through its renovation and temporary relocation to the former Whitney Museum building

Crime news

Final suspect in string of art and memorabilia heists that nabbed works by Pollock and Warhol surrenders

All nine suspects in the string of heists, which spanned 20 years, are now in federal custody

UK arts funding: Nottingham institutions under threat as Windsor & Maidenhead pledges to maintain arts services

Austerity continues to bite for art galleries and museums as non-statutory cultural budgets are slashed

The National Trust keeps its critics at bay for now, but will the populist threat return this year?

The UK conservation charity has rejected fresh attempts by the activist group Restore Trust to infiltrate its council, but those close to the issue feel the campaigns are likely far from over

Demolition of Marie Curie's Paris laboratory suspended at 11th hour

The move has been welcomed by heritage bodies, but scientists—including Curie's great-grandson—support the construction of a new research centre on the site

Hacked for the holidays: how a late-December cyberattack has affected US museums’ digital collections and archives

The Gallery Systems software used by many cultural institutions has been breached, limiting online access for both museum employees and the general public

UK local council wants to cut all arts funding in latest austerity move

Suffolk County Council wants to slash £500,000 for culture, which could put local museums at risk

V&A and the Met in tug-of-war over £2m medieval ivory

The 12th-century walrus ivory sculpture represents “one of the most culturally and aesthetically significant objects” the UK government’s reviewing committee has handled in the past five years

Acquisitions round-up: stained glass window by Tiffany’s greatest female designer finds new home at the Met

Plus, last Donatello in private hands is sold to Bargello and Courtauld’s Claudette Johnson purchase helps demarginalise Black women

Nazi-looted Dutch Golden Age painting returned to Goudstikker heir

Latest restitution of work by Cornelis van Haarlem is part of years-long campaign to reunite works with family of Dutch-Jewish dealer

Archaeologists discover ancient Pueblo calendar and other petroglyphs in Colorado

The findings, by a team from Poland working inside Mesa Verde National Park, add to our understanding of the 13th-century Pueblan communities

Jack Lang is re-elected chair of the Institut du Monde Arabe, securing his fourth term

The 84-year-old—the only candidate in the running— has extended a Palestinian culture season

UK museums acquire works by Damien Hirst and Claude Monet under tax relief schemes

More than 40 items worth over £52m allocated to galleries nationwide including a £10.5m miniature Renaissance bronze

Van Gogh in 2023: the best-ever series of exhibitions

Other highlights include the dramatic recovery of a stolen painting and an astonishing donation

Creator of TV drama Law & Order donates more than 200 works to the Metropolitan Museum

Dick Wolf gives works by Van Gogh, Bronzino and Artemisia Gentileschi to the New York museum

Metropolitan Museum's deaccessioned George Washington portrait could bring $2.5m at auction

The Gilbert Stuart painting is one of less than 20 versions of the image known to exist