Facing $15M Budget Deficit, CalArts Lays Off 12 Workers 

A round of layoffs at the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) this summer is raising alarms at one of the best-known arts schools in the country as the institution grapples with rising costs.  The Santa Clarita-based private arts school laid off 12...

Smithsonian Latino Gallery Quietly Closes for Nine Months

The Molina Family Latino Gallery at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, which has served as the home of the nascent Latino museum, will stay closed until April 2026. (all images courtesy Felipe Galindo) On Friday morning, August 22, illustrator Felipe...

World’s Largest Van Gogh Collection Faces Uncertain Future

Since 1973, Vincent van Gogh masterpieces including his beloved sunflowers, wistful wheatfields, and self-portraits have been housed in Amsterdam’s Van Gogh Museum. The institution was established via a historic 1962 agreement between the painter’s nephew and the...

Pennsylvania Museum Sues Trump Administration Over Grant Cuts

A Pennsylvania art museum is suing the Trump administration after the government terminated a $750,000 federal grant for collection conservation earlier this year. The Woodmere Art Museum in Philadelphia filed a lawsuit yesterday, August 26, against President Donald...

Africa Wants a More Accurate World Map

The African Union, an intergovernmental organization of 55 African countries, endorsed a version of the world map that more accurately reflects the continent’s scale earlier this month, as first reported by Reuters. The union said it would back the Correct the...

A Landmark Raphael Retrospective Is Coming to The Met

Raphael, “The Virgin and Child with Infant Saint John the Baptist in a Landscape (The Alba Madonna)” (1509–11) (image courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington) “How generous and kind Heaven sometimes proves to be,” mused Italian Renaissance artist and...

Amy Sherald Speaks Out on Cancelling Her Smithsonian Show

Amy Sherald, the painter most widely known for her portrait of former First Lady Michelle Obama, detailed her decision to withdraw her exhibition from the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery (NPG) amid concerns over censorship at the institution in a new...

US Parks Agency Fires Ranger Who Displayed Trans Pride Flag in Yosemite

As the Trump administration ramps up efforts to erase LGBTQ+ voices and communities of color from the historical narrative, Yosemite National Park has terminated the employment of a park ranger after they displayed a transgender pride flag on a landmark rock formation...

Colorado Town Settles With Native Artist Who Brought Free Speech Lawsuit

Húŋkpapȟa Lakȟóta painter Danielle SeeWalker has settled a civil rights lawsuit with the town of Vail, Colorado, more than a year after the municipality cancelled her artist residency over a pro-Palestine artwork. Brought by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)...

Dust Storm Blows Away Ukrainian Artwork at Burning Man

Ferocious desert stormwinds have swept away a colossal Ukrainian artwork within hours of its installation at the annual Burning Man cultural festival in Nevada. A visual metaphor for the impending threat of war, the 50-foot-tall (~15.2-meter-tall) inflatable “Black...

Why Did Eco-Activists Get Years in Prison for Only $588 in Damages?

Vincent van Gogh says a little soup is fine, as a treat. (edit Hrag Vartanian/Hyperallergic) In October 2022, many members of the public were shocked when two environmental activists threw Andy Warhol’s favorite soup muse at a Vincent van Gogh painting. New evidence...