“More than 140 Chicago artists and cultural leaders are calling on Mayor Brandon Johnson to address ‘dysfunction’ within the city’s Cultural Affairs department (under commissioner Clinée Hedspeth), arguing that staffing turmoil is leading to delays in grant payments and other key functions.” - Chicago Sun-Times
The idea that American history is polyphonic and unflinching, a warts-and-all story relevant to all Americans, is so deeply embedded in the Smithsonian that it is hard to imagine how it could comply with Trump’s demands. - Washington Post
"You use a pay phone in a different way than you use a cellphone. It's not in your pocket. You go and do this goodbye in a place that's different from where you do most of your business. You hear a dial tone. That's the sound of waiting." - Los Angeles Times (MSN)
It’s never been easy or cheap for global acts to tour here, but visa fees are up and wait times have risen substantially over the last year. Under the new Trump administration, anecdotal stories of foreign tourists, scientists and activists being denied entry or taken into federal custody have rattled outspoken acts. - Los Angeles Times
Philip Kennicott on the administration’s attitude toward the Smithsonian's African-American and Indian Museums: “Simply put, Trump would like the actual practice of history — a complex process of research, interpretation and ongoing revision — to resemble the more limited, and often distorted, sense of history offered by statues, monuments and memorials.” - The Washington Post (Yahoo!)
Proponents say that reaching the 100 million target would give Canada the centres of gravity it needs for such clusters to form; critics say the plan is nothing more than a corporate push for more profits, backed by multinationals like McKinsey & Company and BlackRock. - The Walrus
The loss of potentially thousands of such grants has left recipients reeling and prompted some organizations to mobilize, as millions of dollars of previously approved funding were stripped from state humanities councils, museums, historic sites, archives, libraries, educators and media outlets. - Washington Post
"Unfortunately I had to cancel all my upcoming events in the United States as I felt unsafe traveling, especially after watching students and university professors abducted on the street just in front of other people." - CBC
“The (NPS) on Monday appeared to restore its original webpage on the history of the Underground Railroad after it was met with backlash for deleting a prominently featured photo of abolitionist and women’s suffragist Harriet Tubman, as well as segments of text describing the horrors of slavery.” - The Washington Post (MSN)
The latest target is San Francisco’s Dream Keeper Initiative, introduced in 2021 at the height of the “defund the police” movement... But now, a variety of theaters, media companies and other entities say the city is reneging on promised grants — a total of more than $14 million affecting 38 recipients — without explanation. - San Francisco Chronicle
State Rep. John Fitzpatrick pushed to zero out funding for some other groups in the state, calling them “slackers” and “no-shows,” while awarding St. Timothy’s Summer Music Festival — whose GuideStar listing shows Fitzpatrick’s wife as principal officer — 2½ times the amount of money it applied for. - Daily Montanan
By caving to Trump’s demands and failing to protect international students, the letter says, Columbia has participated in an “authoritarian assault on universities” aimed at “destroying their role as sites of teaching, research, learning, and activism essential to building a free and fair world.” - Hyperallergic
These advisories are vague. They do not instruct anyone not to visit the United States, as they might Iran or North Korea. But they are acknowledging that Trump’s border-enforcement efforts are unpredictable enough to have introduced a new variable in tourism decisions. - The Atlantic
The Kennedy Center was once the place where politics, the arts and debate met. Historically, it has been a propellant of diversity and inclusion. But now it is a place of division. Which is why what’s happening there is not only significant for the venue, but across all of America’s artistic landscape. - The Stage
