It was a week of federal pressure on the arts and institutional turbulence. The Institute of Museum and Library Services quietly rewrote its grant guidelines to require applicants to align with presidential “vision statements” — the ideological strings that will now come attached to federal cultural funding (Artnet). A University of North Texas gallery showing anti-ICE artwork was shuttered without notice — the artist found out from students who told him the windows had been covered (Hyperallergic). A Philadelphia slavery exhibition, removed by executive order last month, was restored by Friday after the city sued and a federal judge set a deadline (AP). And CBS lawyers ordered Stephen Colbert to cancel a planned interview, mid-taping, with a Texas state legislator; the clip went viral online at ten times the show’s usual ratings (The New York Times).
Institutional news was grim across the board. The Met Opera announced its smallest season since moving to Lincoln Center in 1966 — heavy on Aïda, Bohème, and Tosca — the same day its embattled general manager Peter Gelb announced he’ll retire in 2030 (AP, OperaWire). The San Antonio Philharmonic scrapped the rest of its season after losing its music director and getting locked out of its venue (San Antonio Current). The Barbican’s arts director is out after just 18 months (The Guardian). And in Fresno, $1.5 million in public arts grants was allegedly embezzled — the city has since removed the granting authority from the arts council (The Fresno Bee).
The week also brought an unusual number of major deaths: actor Robert Duvall at 95 (Washington Post), documentary filmmaker Frederick Wiseman at 96 (AP), radio interviewer Michael Silverblatt at 73 (Los Angeles Times), baritone José Van Dam at 85 (Moto Perpetuo), and Philadelphia mosaic artist Isaiah Zagar at 86 (Philadelphia Inquirer). On an odder note: Judy Chicago called working with Google on a commission “a nightmare” and walked (Chicago Sun-Times).
My weekly essay on the week’s top stories — AJ Chronicles — is here. I dig a little deeper into the bigger meaning of the Met Opera’s contraction.
All of the week’s stories below.
