US politics

US agency that funds museums and libraries ‘cannot’ be unilaterally eliminated, advisory board warns

In a letter to the Institute of Museum and Library Services’ new, Trump-appointed acting director, the agency's advisory board emphasised that its activities are governed by Congress

Trump appoints deputy secretary of US Labor Department to lead museum-funding agency marked for elimination

Keith Sonderling, the new acting director of the Institute of Museum and Library Services, plans to steer the agency to “promote American exceptionalism and cultivate love of country”

Trump layoffs leave more than 26,000 government-owned artworks in limbo

Nearly half the art and historic preservation workers at the General Services Administration have been put on leave and are expected to be terminated

Trump signs executive order to ‘eliminate’ agency that funds museums and libraries

The Institute of Museum and Library Services is listed alongside six other ‘unnecessary’ organisations

Diplomacy museum and buildings designed by Breuer and Mies van der Rohe among hundreds of US federal properties briefly listed for sale

The list of buildings, briefly posted on the General Services Administration website, included 443 properties, many with cultural and historic significance

Washington, DC demolishes Black Lives Matter mural and plaza

The street mural, just steps from the White House, is being removed after a Republican legislator threatened to withhold federal funding for DC unless the area was renamed "Liberty Plaza"

Chair of National Endowment for the Humanities steps down ‘at the direction of President Trump’

Shelly C. Lowe, the first Native American to lead the federal agency, was nominated by Joe Biden and held the role for just over three years

Trump administration seeks to close 34 National Park Service offices, including at only Unesco World Heritage site in Texas

The San Antonio Missions National Historic Park's headquarters are central to the management of five 18th-century missions in and around the city

San Francisco museums brace for layoffs as a result of the city’s budget deficit

The de Young Museum, Legion of Honor and Asian Art Museum may let go of 20% of their security personnel

Artists in the US feel impact of Trump’s tariffs in rising material costs

Tariffs of 20% on imports from China and 25% on imports from Mexico and Canada are causing havoc for artists, who rely on imported raw materials and overseas fabricators

How artists have used the ‘uncanny’ as a feminist strategy

The eerie and uncomfortable new show at the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, DC comes at a poignant moment for women in the US

Art Museum of the Americas cancels shows of Black and LGBTQ+ artists amid Trump’s DEI crackdown

The Washington, DC institution had been due to open exhibitions about queer identity and the African diaspora in the Americas this month

Art trade considers effects of Trump halting probes on Russian oligarchs

Fears of growth in illicit art trade amid US dumping kleptocracy teams

Street artist Victor ‘Marka27’ Quiñonez wins Frieze Impact Prize

The New York-based artist, who marries elements of graffiti and Mexico’s modernist murals, is rewarded with a solo stand at Frieze Los Angeles

Mentions of ‘transgender’ and ‘queer’ removed from US government website dedicated to Stonewall National Monument

Other pages on the National Park Service site related to diversity, equity and inclusion also appear affected

Trump fires US National Archivist and purges board of the Kennedy Center

The president is infusing his political agenda into officially nonpartisan national institutions across Washington, DC

Covering up displays about women and people of colour was ‘a mistake’, Maryland's National Cryptologic Museum says

A photograph of exhibits at the museum covered with brown paper, seemingly in response to President Trump’s anti-DEI order, caused an uproar on social media

NEA shuts down arts grant for ‘underserved communities’ amid flurry of Trump executive orders

The Trump administration's shifting priorities rejects diversity, equity and inclusion in arts organisations

White House art collection adds Carmen Herrera painting

The acquisition, announced by former first lady Jill Biden, makes Herrera the first Latin American woman to have work in the White House collection

Trump disbands presidential committee on the arts and the humanities

The US president dissolved the committee in an executive order reversing Joe Biden’s own executive order reviving it

President Trump revives plans for sculpture park dedicated to ‘American heroes’

Statues of George Washington and Frederick Douglass will join those of more contemporary heroes like celebrity chef Julia Child and Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek

Comment | Censorship in the US is rearing its ugly head again—but the art world isn't taking it lying down

As anxieties grow about a new era of cultural repression, artists and institutions are finding ways to come together and push back

Smithsonian Institution and US National Gallery of Art close diversity offices following President Trump's executive order

A Trump executive order has led the largely government-funded institutions to roll back their diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives

Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, pathbreaking Native American artist, has died, aged 85

A champion of contemporary Indigenous artists, prolific creator across a range of media and relentless critic of dominant US ideology, Smith received institutional support and success late in life

Architects denounce Trump's call for ‘traditional and classical’ architecture

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) has criticised an executive order signed by the new president, claiming his plans could harm local communities

How a controversial bust of Winston Churchill made its way back to the Oval Office

President Donald Trump has returned the statue—one of an identical pair—to his office, but it has not been a simple journey

Donald Trump begins second term as US president following fundraising galas at Washington museums

Trump spoke to donors at the National Building Museum one day after JD Vance hosted supporters at the National Gallery of Art

Elizabeth Catlett bust of Martin Luther King Jr goes on view for first time in 40 years

The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco recently acquired the work, which is being exhibited at the de Young Museum ahead of Martin Luther King Jr Day

Does Trump’s return spell boom or bust for the NFT art market?

Experts are sceptical that the NFT market will ever rebound to its 2021 levels, but the crypto asset sector may still manage to take over the art world one way or the other

Trump claims he will replace the head of the US National Archives

The agency’s previous leader raised concerns in 2022 about Trump’s handling of documents after his first term in office