“Retain and explain” or restrain and refrain? Culture chiefs raise the alarm on government’s policy to keep problematic statues ahead of crucial meeting

The decision to take down historic William Beckford and John Cass sculptures could go against new UK government policy

Arts Council England launches second round of loans worth £100m with £300m grant applications to follow

Plus, Neville Wakefield on John McCracken's planks

Chancellor Rishi Sunak announces slight boost to culture department's budget, but some institutions face extended closure under new tiered system

Serpentine Galleries, Tate and historian David Olusoga are on the shortlist for £3m research and development funding

Oliver Dowden confirms recipients were "encouraged" to acknowledge fund on websites and social media

The project, planned for 2022, promises £3m in total to successful applications

Survey by The Art Newspaper also reveals that the Serpentine and Barbican have been left in limbo while the Southbank Centre is already £20m in debt

In a letter leaked to The Art Newspaper, the culture minister Oliver Dowden tells directors they must raise their own funds during the pandemic—but how?

Museum trusts in Birmingham and York warn job cuts are in the pipeline

MPs say £1.5bn government support package for the arts sector is “too little too late”

Politician raises concerns over Sigismund Goetze painting in the Foreign Office depicting Africa as a naked boy

Conservative MP Chris Grayling has been named a trustee of the museum

Neil Mendoza is heading up a taskforce to help revive the arts after the coronavirus pandemic

Art trade associations have been lobbying to be recognised as “non-essential retail” in phase two of the lockdown exit roadmap; museums will have to wait until phase three in July

Finance minister Rishi Sunak has attracted criticism for his emergency bailout plan over claims that it discriminates against gig workers

The national arts-funding body will refocus some grant programmes to help individual artists and freelancers withstand lost earnings

Chancellor Rishi Sunak delivers first post-Brexit spending pledges

More than 680 cultural figures and institutions sign open letter over decision they believe "threatens an impoverished future for British creativity"

The Conservative MP for Hertsmere in Hertfordshire replaces Nicky Morgan

Exhibition project You, Me & Cold War Steve: the International Exhibition of the People has already been downloaded 3,000 times with scheduled venues across the globe

Art history academics speak out as impending Brexit deadline threatens European partnership

Boris Johnson gives former MP a peerage in order to keep her in the cabinet, but survival of culture department in the longer term is not assured

Issues raised include the environmental crisis and the future of the Labour party

As the election looms this month and Nicky Morgan announces she is standing down, the department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport prepares for its latest secretary of state

Will artists and institutions participate in “national celebration” planned for 2022?

As UK political parties launch their manifestos, the artist sets out his own guidelines for art world equality

Although Tory announcement calls it the “largest cultural capital programme in a century”, pledge is only quarter of Labour’s £1bn culture fund

Meanwhile, the Liberal Democrats commit to stopping Brexit and protecting arts funding through the National Lottery