Washington, DC

Trump layoffs leave more than 26,000 government-owned artworks in limbo

Nearly half the art and historic preservation workers at the General Services Administration have been put on leave and are expected to be terminated

Washington, DC demolishes Black Lives Matter mural and plaza

The street mural, just steps from the White House, is being removed after a Republican legislator threatened to withhold federal funding for DC unless the area was renamed "Liberty Plaza"

How artists have used the ‘uncanny’ as a feminist strategy

The eerie and uncomfortable new show at the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, DC comes at a poignant moment for women in the US

Art Museum of the Americas cancels shows of Black and LGBTQ+ artists amid Trump’s DEI crackdown

The Washington, DC institution had been due to open exhibitions about queer identity and the African diaspora in the Americas this month

Trump fires US National Archivist and purges board of the Kennedy Center

The president is infusing his political agenda into officially nonpartisan national institutions across Washington, DC

NEA shuts down arts grant for ‘underserved communities’ amid flurry of Trump executive orders

The Trump administration's shifting priorities rejects diversity, equity and inclusion in arts organisations

President Trump revives plans for sculpture park dedicated to ‘American heroes’

Statues of George Washington and Frederick Douglass will join those of more contemporary heroes like celebrity chef Julia Child and Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek

Smithsonian Institution and US National Gallery of Art close diversity offices following President Trump's executive order

A Trump executive order has led the largely government-funded institutions to roll back their diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives

Donald Trump begins second term as US president following fundraising galas at Washington museums

Trump spoke to donors at the National Building Museum one day after JD Vance hosted supporters at the National Gallery of Art

Trump claims he will replace the head of the US National Archives

The agency’s previous leader raised concerns in 2022 about Trump’s handling of documents after his first term in office

Climate activists who dumped red powder on US Constitution at National Archives sentenced to prison

Donald Zepeda and Jackson Green were also involved in the paint attack on Degas’s ballerina and writing “Honor Them” on a wall last year at the National Gallery of Art

Smithsonian receives $40m from the Lilly Endowment

The money will be used for programming related to the semiquincentennial of the US in 2026

Prizesnews

President Biden awards National Medal of Arts to artists including Mark Bradford, Carrie Mae Weems and Alex Katz

It's the highest honour awarded by the US federal government to artists in a wide range of disciplines and art patrons

Darren Walker elected board president of US National Gallery of Art

Walker has led the New York-based Ford Foundation for the past 11 years

Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Latino gets $2m donation from PepsiCo

The soft drink company's gift will support the planning, designing and building of the museum's future complex in Washington, DC

Smithsonian Institution launches $2.5bn fundraising campaign

The campaign, timed to coincide with the semiquincentennial of the United States in 2026, is the most ambitious fundraising undertaking for a cultural organisation on record

Refik Anadol's AI tribute to Czech composer Antonín Dvořák takes the stage in Washington, DC

The work, on view this month at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts’ Reach Plaza, is “not about replacing or erasing him, about remembering him”, Anadol says

Hottest Abe: wax statue of Lincoln loses its head amid US heat wave

The artist Sandy Williams IV’s wax replica of the Lincoln Memorial melted during the East Coast heat wave

Two climate activists charged for pouring red powder on National Archives display of the US Constitution

The Valentine’s Day protest was carried out by members of the environmental group Declare Emergency

The Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum opens its first (digital) exhibition

Launching on International Women's Day, 'Becoming Visible' focuses on five historical women whose achievements have been glaringly overlooked

The Smithsonian's Hirshhorn Museum acquired more than 80 works over the past year

Ranging from painting to installation and beyond, the latest additions to the museum's holdings include contemporary voices as well as legends like Nam June Paik and Robert Irwin

Temporary monument brings a feminist timeline of history to Washington, DC’s National Mall

Artist Tiffany Shlain’s sculpture “Dendrofemonology” chronicles women’s achievements stretching back 50,000 years, on the eve of an election in which women’s rights are at stake

Federally funded museums in the US brace for government shutdown

The Smithsonian Institution and National Gallery of Art are making plans for continuing operations amid a government shutdown that appears increasingly likely

The National Museum of Women in the Arts reopens after $67.5m makeover

The Washington, DC, museum opens on 21 October with an ambitious show of previously unseen large-scale sculptures and immersive installations

New stained-glass windows by Kerry James Marshall unveiled at Washington, DC's National Cathedral

The new works replace those depicting Confederate generals that were removed in 2017

Awardsnews

Artists including Sheila Hicks and Hank Willis Thomas receive US State Department's Medal of Arts

Medals were presented to five visual artists by First Lady Jill Biden at a ceremony in Washington, DC

Jenny Holzer to project quotes about democracy in DC to celebrate Art in Embassies anniversary

The work will appear on the facades of two museums on the Mall, a “very resonant location for democracy in America”

National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC apologises to visitor with a disability who was forcibly removed

Celeste Tooth, a student and artist, was escorted off the museum premises following a disagreement with a guard over their backpack

Monuments to overlooked histories are coming to Washington, DC’s National Mall

New public art show will bring alternative monuments by Derrick Adams, Wendy Red Star, vanessa german and others to the busiest national park in the US