Benjamin Sutton

Zohran Mamdani drags the Democratic Party into the future This was a local race with national implications, whether the party's leaders liked it or not.

A 34-year state democratic socialist assemblyman from Queens, Mamdani became the city’s first ever Muslim mayor—and the first immigrant mayor in half a century.

Philadelphia Art Museum’s director ousted following divisive rebrand Sasha Suda had been in the role for three years, but board members complained of a lack of transparency around the institution's recent rebranding

Sasha Suda, the director of the Philadelphia Art Museum (fka the Philadelphia Museum of Art), has been ousted following a divisive rebrand: www.theartnewspaper.com/2025/11/04/p...

Where do New York City’s mayoral candidates stand on the arts? While it is not a central topic in their campaigns, Andrew Cuomo, Zohran Mamdani and Curtis Sliwa have all addressed issues relevant to artists and arts workers

🗽 It's election day in New York City. 🗳️ Here's where the three leading candidates for mayor stand on arts and culture: www.theartnewspaper.com/2025/10/23/n...

More than 1,000 objects stolen from Oakland Museum of California in storage facility break-in Museum leaders and investigators believe stolen objects may soon start to turn up at area pawn shops and second-hand stores

More than 1,000 objects—including Native American baskets, modernist jewelry, daguerreotypes, scrimshaw and more—were stolen from the Oakland Museum of California's off-site storage site in a robbery: www.theartnewspaper.com/2025/10/30/o...

Trump fires all members of fine arts commission that reviews construction projects in Washington, DC The White House plans to install new Commission of Fine Arts who “are more aligned with President Trump’s ‘America First’ policies”

Trump has fired all six members of the federal Commission of Fine Arts and will replace them with appointees who "are more aligned with President Trump’s ‘America First’ policies", per a White House spokesperson www.theartnewspaper.com/2025/10/29/p...

$9.5bn terminal at New York's JFK Airport will feature art by Yinka Shonibare, Firelei Báez, Tomás Saraceno and others Seven monumental public art commissions will land at the airport’s massive new terminal

The vast new terminal one at JFK Airport will include site-specific commissions by Yinka Shonibare, Kelly Akashi, Tomás Saraceno, Ilana Savdie, Julie Curtiss, Firelei Báez and Woody De Othello www.theartnewspaper.com/2025/10/27/j...

Science museum files lawsuit to have Pérez Art Museum Miami’s billboard removed According to the Frost Museum of Science next door, the Pamm’s large digital billboard—subject of a previous dispute with the city that was settled last month—violates state laws

Big drama over a big billboard: the Phillip and Patricia Frost Museum of Science is suing the Florida Department of Transportation and seeking the removal of a digital billboard erected by its neighbor, the Pérez Art Museum Miami. www.theartnewspaper.com/2025/10/24/p...

In Los Angeles, decommissioned Confederate statues confront contemporary art by Kara Walker, Torkwase Dyson and others in a powerful new show on race and memory.

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BTS member RM will exhibit art collection at SFMoMA The museum will display around 200 works from RM’s personal collection and the museum’s holdings

He don't need permission to curate: BTS member RM will show art from his personal collection at SFMoMA next year. www.theartnewspaper.com/2025/10/03/b...

Trump fires members of group that advises National Endowment for the Humanities All but four members of the National Council on the Humanities were informed via email that their positions had been terminated

Trump administration fires most members of council that advises National Endowment for the Humanities on grants, medals and projects—including Trump's patriotic sculpture park. www.theartnewspaper.com/2025/10/02/t...

US government shutdown will force federally funded museums to close in a few days Most of Washington, DC’s top attractions will shutter by the beginning of next week unless US lawmakers reach an agreement to fund the government

The US National Gallery of Art and Smithsonian Institution museums will stay open for a few more days but, assuming the government shutdown lasts past the weekend, they will be forced to close: www.theartnewspaper.com/2025/10/01/u...

"You-sill-okma"—rolls off the tongue!

University of California, Irvine completes takeover of Orange County Museum of Art As part of the acquisition, the institution has been renamed the UC Irvine Langson Orange County Museum of Art

UC Irvine has finalized its takeover of the Orange County Museum of Art—henceforth to be known as the UC Irvine Langson Orange County Museum of Art. www.theartnewspaper.com/2025/09/29/u...

Participants withdraw from Chicago Architecture Biennial over sponsor’s investment in weapons manufacturer In a letter to the biennial’s organisers, more than 20 participants wrote that Crown Family Philanthropies’ “sponsorship is incompatible with the values of our work”

Nine participants in this year's Chicago Architectural Biennial have withdrawn amid objections to a sponsor's stake in a military contractor that has sold weapons to the Israeli army: www.theartnewspaper.com/2025/09/24/c...

Japanese museum’s collection of Western art could bring $60m at auction The Kawamura Memorial DIC Museum of Art will sell off its treasures this autumn at Christie’s in New York

The private Kawamura Memorial DIC Museum of Art in Japan is offloading 80 works from its collection at Christie's this autumn, led by a Monet waterlily painting expected to bring upwards of $40m: www.theartnewspaper.com/2025/09/19/c...

Artists Jennifer Packer and Marie Watt receive $250,000 Heinz Awards Both artists will receive a cash prize of $250,000

The artists Jennifer Packer and Marie Watt have received this year's Heinz Awards for the Arts and will each get unrestricted cash prizes of $250,000 www.theartnewspaper.com/2025/09/16/a...

Amid heightened immigration enforcement, US artist residencies report cancellations, funding cuts and a growing reluctance among international artists to take part.

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Christie’s expects Elaine Wynn’s collection to bring $75m, while her record-breaking Bacon triptych goes to Lacma Wynn, who died in April, owned trophy works by Lucian Freud, Richard Diebenkorn, Joan Mitchell and others

More than a dozen works from the collection of late casino billionaire Elaine Wynn are headed to Christie's, but its crown jewel—which she bought from Christie's for what at the time (2013) was the most ever paid for an artwork at auction—is going to LACMA: www.theartnewspaper.com/2025/09/09/e...

Artist’s doobie-ous Snoop Dogg collaboration tokes in $148,100 at auction The artist Erica Kovitz used the remainders of blunts smoked by Tha Doggfather to make a series of mixed-media works

Happily not-vetoed headline of the day: “Artist’s doobie-ous Snoop Dogg collaboration tokes in $148,100 at auction” www.theartnewspaper.com/2025/08/21/s...

President Trump has criticised the Smithsonian Institution, claiming it focuses “too much on how bad slavery was,” as the White House launches a review of the museum group’s programming.

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No Shade: Illegally Parked Cop Cars Are Why We Can't Have Nice Trees A Hell Gate investigation reveals that the Parks Department has canceled tree plantings near NYPD precincts where cops park on the sidewalk.

A Hell Gate data analysis found the Parks Department cancels tree plantings near NYPD precincts due to cops parking on the sidewalk.

Satirical protest campaign claims a man is trapped inside Anish Kapoor's Chicago Bean sculpture A group of black-clad protesters recently gathered at “Cloud Gate” to raise awareness and call for the release of the man they claim lives inside the sculpture

All the news that's fit to pinto: a group of activist-satirists claims a man is trapped inside Anish Kapoor's "Cloud Gate" (aka the Bean) in Chicago www.theartnewspaper.com/2025/08/11/c...

Timing definitely not ideal as Princeton gets ready for its big reopening moment

Museums in New York and Los Angeles receive collection of 63 modern works Works by Cézanne, Manet, Degas, Van Gogh and others from the Pearlman Foundation are headed to the Brooklyn Museum, Los Angeles County Museum of Art and New York’s Museum of Modern Art

The Brooklyn Museum, Lacma and MoMA are splitting the 63 remaining works in the stellar collection of the Pearlman Foundation (sorry, Princeton Art Museum, where the collection has been housed for almost 50 years, nothing for you): www.theartnewspaper.com/2025/08/04/p...

Construction of Trump ballroom at the White House to begin in September The East Wing of the White House will be "modernized" as part of the project, with aides to first lady Melania Trump temporarily relocated.

Ballroom budget = 1 NEH annual budget.

He overran the Kennedy Center, paved over the Rose Garden, and now this. 🙄🙄

www.usatoday.com/story/news/p...

US Senators propose anti-money-laundering legislation for the art market The Art Market Integrity Act proposed by a bipartisan group of US lawmakers would bring US regulation in line with Europe and the UK

A bipartisan group of six US Senators has proposed new legislation that would require dealers, auction houses and other art market businesses to comply with anti-money-laundering and counter-terrorism financing guidelines: www.theartnewspaper.com/2025/07/25/a...

Trump pulls US out of ‘woke’ Unesco The State Department says that Unesco membership does not square with its “America-first” outlook

Trump withdraws US from UNESCO, again: www.theartnewspaper.com/2025/07/23/t...

Comment | Now is the time to fight for US arts funding The Trump administration’s defunding of the arts has more than symbolic significance

"Arts & culture contribute $1.2 trillion to the US economy, support 5.4 mil jobs and account for 4.2% of the gross domestic product—more than agriculture, transportation and outdoor recreation. These aren’t just feel-good programmes, they’re an economic engine that strengthens every sector." #NEH

Trump’s bill to cut taxes and social safety net programmes includes $40m for patriotic sculpture park The president’s signature bill, approved by the US Senate on 1 July, is expected to add trillions of dollars to the national debt

Trump's bill boosting spending on the military and immigration enforcement while cutting social safety net programs and clean energy subsidies also includes $40m for his patriotic sculpture park project: www.theartnewspaper.com/2025/07/01/t...

The Abominable Sadism of “Alligator Auschwitz” Slated to open this week, Florida’s new detention center will have more than a little in common with a Nazi concentration camp.

"The people who wind up there will be mainly chosen by ethnicity, and almost certainly be convicted of no crime. The lawmakers’ goal is not merely confinement but suffering." www.thenation.com/article/poli...