Secret Curator

To the world:
We are fighting back. Our movement has been silenced by the media here—but we are not backing down. This is what our streets looked like across multiple cities. Tomorrow, there will be more of us! Raise a glass to freedom.

—With love,
Your American allies.

It's hard not to feel overwhelmed by the constant news about what is happening to undocumented people in the US. Every day, I slip a little deeper into despair, The endless fear, trauma, and uncertainty they face is unimaginable, and it weighs heavy on my heart.

They can do what they want with it, but it's dishonest to call it just a casual lean. This is about the DoA and NHRC. Don't strawman the issue.

He was forced out

Smithsonian Museum Director Placed on Leave Amid Pressure Campaign Poet Kevin Young, director since 2021 of the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture, has been placed on leave.

The great poet and museum leader Kevin Young has been fired as director of the Smithsonian NMAAHC

news.artnet.com/art-world/di...

Historians Condemn Executive Order Targeting Smithsonian American historians are defending the Smithsonian after museum is targeted in executive order accusing it of being 'divisive.'

I can’t believe we’re here—an executive order may let political appointees shape Smithsonian exhibits. Because clearly, what fossils and fine art need is government spin. 🏛️🤦‍♂️ #Smithsonian #HistoryMatters #HandsOffOurMuseums #ArtNews

Feeling disheartened working in a museum right now. The political climate makes it harder to find meaning in the work I do, especially when so much of our history is being questioned or disregarded. #MuseumWork #PoliticalClimate #FeelingDown

SCOOP: DOGE notified the Institute of Museum and Library Sciences (IMLS) today that the entire staff is being put on administrative leave effective immediately, I’ve learned from an agency source.

They’ll be cancelling huge swaths of grants/contracts and starting a Reduction in Force (RIF).

Please know that NEH staff are heartbroken about all the cancellations and the impact they will have on your work and communities. We also see all you’re doing to support the agency. Thank you!

Many NEH staff (including me) are waking up this morning to notices that they have been put on admin leave. If you email NEH today and don’t get an answer, that is why.

Life would be SO different right now if Kamala had won. It honestly hurts to think about.

*taps microphone*

The white people loudly suggesting the great Rep. Jasmine Crockett, Vice Ranking Member of the House Oversight Committee, should be President in 2028, are the same who said Stacey Abrams, Karen Bass, Barbara Lee, & Val Demings should’ve been VP & then didn’t support them in races.

🚨UPDATE: Rümeysa Öztürk has now suffered three separate asthma attacks while in DHS custody.

She has not received her required asthma medications—a violation of her fundamental right to medical care.

This is cruelty, it is neglect, and it is a damning moral and legal failure.

Loved the exhibition ‘Lives Less Ordinary: Working-Class Britain Re-seen’ in the beautiful #TwoTemplePlace Artist Kelly O’Brien’s ‘Cleaner No.1’ & ‘Three Generations of Work CV’ resonated with the conversations I’ve had with underrepresented young people recently about their CVs

Why doesn’t she tell journalists to ask Nepali scholars? It’s time to ask hard questions about who gets quoted, who gets invited onto panels, and whose perspective is treated as authoritative.

There’s a real difference between amplifying voices and becoming the voice. When the media and public start treating a white academic as the face of a repatriation movement led by Nepalis, that’s a problem—regardless of intent.

Horrifying

A video recorded by Sudan Tribune yesterday that shows the sheer scale of looting of Sudan National Museum. There are artifacts that have survived every plague, invasion, and occupation for millennia and predate the birth of Christ that have not survived this war.

Totally agree—it will likely be hugely damaging to their cause. This is exactly the kind of optics opponents of repatriation hoped for. Very counterproductive. No question.

In case anyone forgot: Nepali activists are perfectly capable of speaking for themselves—they don’t need a white prof to speak for them.

They’re definitely not doing themselves any favours with this kind of handling—but at the end of the day, the objects are theirs now. Repatriation means giving up control, even when it’s frustrating to watch.

Nearly 400 books have been REMOVED from the U.S. Naval Academy’s library under an executive order targeting DEI. Erasing history and perspectives that reflect America’s diversity weakens the very future leaders they claim they are trying to strengthen!

Please don't cancel me for the controversial thing I'm about to say next...but I don't think President Harris would have crashed the global economy.

Can Congress do anything on tariffs? After they buy on the dip, of course.

This made me cry and it really should not have. It is a document of basic decency. Good for Tufts, may the other institutions grow a spine too.

www.tufts.edu/president/sp...

Groups across the country have received letters notifying them that their grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities have been canceled, raising alarms about serious harm to museums, historical sites, and a wide range of community projects.

i believe that the last election that matters in this country will be the 2026 midterms.

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 ...

Vive la Resistance!

www.theartnewspaper.com/2025/04/03/s...

It’s not just policy—it’s a targeted dismantling of the cultural infrastructure we all rely on.