US politics

US participation in 2026 Venice Biennale in limbo amid Trump's arts defunding

The administration's delays and disavowal of diversity initiatives have put the US Pavilion at the world's biggest biennial behind schedule

Leaderscomment

Comment | Losing federal funding for emergency heritage conservation in the US is a disaster

The Foundation for Advancement in Conservation’s National Heritage Responders programme has channelled federal funding and support from local organisations to help communities struck by natural disasters to preserve their culture

The NEA is on Trump’s chopping block again, amid Doge review

The US president continues to strongarm his way into power over American culture

To make up for NEH grants cancelled by Trump, Mellon Foundation gives $15m to US humanities organisations

The emergency funds will go to humanities councils in all 50 states and six US territories

Art trade seeks answers on when, where and how Trump’s tariffs could hit

Collectors are cancelling purchases from and travel to the US, auction houses are rescheduling sales and uncertainty reigns

US politicsanalysis

‘It’s much more extreme’: US institutions and artists enter a new culture war

The Trump administration’s efforts to slash funding and influence programming have pushed cultural workers to organise

Trump’s Garden of American Heroes seeks artists for its 250 statues

Meanwhile, Americans of all political stripes disapprove of the president’s cultural takeover while Max Hollein says Trump’s new anti-DEI rules “do not apply” to the Met

Democratic lawmakers urge J.D. Vance to save the Smithsonian from Trump

Four members of the House of Representatives wrote a letter to the US Vice-President to articular their "great concern over [the Smithsonian's] future"

Trump administration will use humanities grant money to build patriotic sculpture park

Funds from cancelled National Endowment for the Humanities grants will help realise one of the US president’s pet projects

Union and association representing museum and library workers sue Trump administration

The American Library Association and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees are suing to block the elimination of the Institute of Museum and Library Services

National Gallery of Art marking 250th anniversary of US with loans to ten museums across the country

The initiative, already underway and continuing through May 2026, comes as the Trump administration has pressured arts funders and institutions to prioritise semiquincentennial projects

‘We are in uncharted territory’: Trump’s tariffs scramble art trade

There is widespread confusion about whether or not new US tariffs—and those imposed by trading partners in retaliation—apply to art and antiques

National Endowment for the Humanities cancels grants as Trump administration redirects agency’s resources

State humanities councils and other grantees received notices from the NEH and Doge this week that their grants were being cancelled immediately

‘We cannot remain silent’: Museums in Los Angeles brace for Trump’s immigration crackdown

Faced with anti-immigrant policies, institutional leaders are providing “know your rights” guidance

Smithsonian leader: institution will continue to operate ‘free of partisanship’ following Trump attack

Smithsonian secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III has affirmed in a memo to staff that the institution will “remain steadfast in our mission to bring history, science, education, research and the arts to all Americans”

‘We can’t predict the future or what will happen’: Trump’s slashing of US foreign aid hits heritage conservation

Restoration and preservation projects in countries from Sierra Leone to Ukraine are now at risk following US government’s sudden cuts to aid funding

US museums seek to provide safe spaces for LGBTQ+ communities amid government rollbacks of their rights

As Republicans and the Trump administration target DEI initiatives and queer and trans communities, vocal leaders at a few institutions are standing firm

Trump’s targeting of universities and cuts to Department of Education put US art schools on alert

All but the most elite art schools risk losing crucial funding through grants and federally supported student financial aid programmes

Comment | The 1930s all over again? Trump and ‘Entartete Kunst’ revisited

There are alarming echoes of the notorious Nazi-organised exhibition in America today—but we also need to acknowledge the differences between the world today and 1930s Europe

Trump aims to remove ‘improper ideology’ from Smithsonian with new executive order

Vice President JD Vance will oversee the removal of “divisive, race-centered ideology” and deny funding to exhibitions that “degrade shared American values”

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