United States

Florida arts organisations devastated by Ron DeSantis's funding cuts

Right-wing governor's decision to slash entire $32m budget leaves smaller organisations fighting for survival

Mellon Foundation launches $25m fund to support culture along the US-Mexico border

The inaugural Frontera Culture Fund will contribute to 32 arts and community organisations

Beatriz da Costa’s pigeon-based eco-art project takes flight again in Los Angeles

The late artist's ‘interspecies’ collaboration, PigeonBlog, is launching on 19 October as part of PST Art

How artists are helping US communities prepare for environmental emergencies

A Federal Emergency Management Agency programme is using art to raise awareness of flood risks and build resilience in communities

Biggest-ever Indigenous art show to tour North America

Opening at the National Gallery of Art, Washington DC, next year, The Stars We Do Not See will include highlights that are "globally recognised as undisputed masterpieces"

California College of the Arts contemplates major changes amid $20m deficit

The school, fresh off a campus expansion, is reassessing its course offerings, considering layoffs and exploring possible mergers to reverse the effects of declining enrollment

Leaderscomment

The US needs an independent commission for Nazi loot claims

‘If an artwork is located in the US, its fate cannot be decided in any other state, and any wrong decisions cannot be corrected elsewhere’

Arts centre ‘on a margin’ is adapting and thriving

The Alabama Contemporary Art Center is putting on an ambitious series of touring shows while its home base is closed for renovation

Obituariesfeature

Remembering Thomas Hoepker, a leading documentary photographer and editor of news reportage

Hoepker used long-form pictorial narratives to deliver nuanced takes on complex realities in a communist East Germany and capitalist United States

Technologycomment

Where is the big museum blockbuster on AI?

Even the science-themed PST Art exhibitions, opening in Los Angeles in September, avoid the tech revolutions of our day

Dia at 50: a new era

A look at the past, present and future of the famed New York contemporary-art institution, which started out with an ambitious mission to create massive public works and has morphed into a museum for the 21st century

US pavilion features first Indigenous artist to have solo show

Jeffrey Gibson mixes Native American motifs with modern materials to investigate issues of identity and history

Boston science museum brings climate action to the fore with year-long initiative

Year of the Earthshot features more than 1,000 interdisciplinary programmes that explore climate solutions, from immersive exhibitions to a project with Unesco and four World Heritage Sites—and an online cooking show

US museums blame falling visitor numbers for staff redundancies

Institutions including the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art have let staff go

Black museums face greater peril in the climate crisis

The Association of African American Museums outlines heightened issues facing Black cultural centres, including old infrastructure, coastal locations and lack of access to funds and resources

Nevada lithium mine threatens cultural sites

The US federal government’s manoeuvres to boost domestic lithium extraction are raising fears from tribal communities about archaeological and environmental impacts

Obituariesfeature

Remembering Henry Kissinger, master of art politics, whose Cold War diplomacy still had resonance in 2023

Kissinger, one of the most photographed men of his time, with an instantly recognisable pair of spectacles, was a powerful graphic gift to artists including Philip Guston

Installations by Theaster Gates and James Little reinvigorate riverfront park in Memphis

The public space on the banks of the Mississippi, which honours a Black skiff boat operator who saved 32 people from drowning, features work by Theaster Gates and James Little

Museumscomment

Why do US museum workers want to quit?

Employees in the sector increasingly find their jobs exhausting and unfulfilling—but how can they avoid burnout at work?

MoMA raises ticket price to $30 as US museums face tough choices on entry fees

Many of the biggest art museums in New York and elsewhere have raised the price of general admission to $30, while others continue to pursue free-entry policies

Race to save Marcel Breuer’s 'magical' retreat on Cape Cod

The architect’s son is selling the Modernist summer house and a trust hopes to raise the funds to buy it

Lawnews

US drag show laws are a threat to artistic freedom and an attack on LGBTQ communities, say critics

A wave of local and state legislation “protecting” minors from drag shows has been denounced as a morally subjective, an anti-queer dog whistle, and likely to lead to the censorship of performance art

Bitter row rages over ownership of marble sculpture of Indigenous man

Restitution dispute between Chrysler Museum of Art in Virginia and Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association came close to a deal in 2020

'Go outside and protect what already exists': AI-generated dawn chorus of songbirds has a sinister edge

Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg's immersive collaboration with Superblue highlights declining numbers of songbirds

The Buffalo AKG Art Museum reveals its $230m transformation

More than three years after it closed, the museum in upstate New York has made major upgrades across its campus and added more than 500 works to its collection

Booksreview

Origins of US photographer William Eggleston’s trailblazing images go on display in new book

Ninety previously unseen photographs from the early 1970s reveal the foundations of his practice

Is the graphic designer who refuses to create websites for same-sex couples an artist?

US Supreme Court justices debate whether obliging a Colorado woman to create wedding websites for same-sex couples violates her free speech rights as an artist

Charleston reckons with its role in the international slave trade through its museums

The historic Charleston Museum and the forthcoming International African American Museum will explore the city's painful past

US considers rejoining Unesco despite more than $616m membership debt and Israel-Palestine controversies

America left the United Nations heritage organisation in 2019 after its members voted to accept Palestine as a member state

US government withholds art made by detainees at Guantánamo Bay

Five years ago, a landmark exhibition of art created by detainees began touring the US. But a government U-turn has blocked works from leaving the prison, raising the question: whose art is it?