NewsMuseums
Here are the US and European museums that have announced when they are reopening
As governments loosen lockdown restrictions, institutions map out ways of seeking to limit the spread of coronavirus
NewsAustralia
‘Broken’ heritage laws: Australia launches investigation after 46,000-year-old Aboriginal rock art is obliterated
Parliamentary enquiry will examine how mining giant Rio Tinto obtained legal right to destroy ancient Juukan Gorge site
NewsUnions
In a virtual rally, Carnegie Museums employees launch union organising drive
Goals include a greater role in decision-making at the four Pittsburgh institutions, which reopened Monday
NewsJob losses
Art Institute of Chicago lays off 51 employees
Cuts come as US museums slash costs in response to loss of revenue
NewsPublic sculpture
Essex’s unlikely sculpture town is set for a renaissance
Built in the wake of the Second World War, Harlow maintains a remarkable collection with pieces by Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth and Rodin
NewsKeith Haring
Once hidden, Keith Haring’s Amsterdam mural is ready for restoration
Conservators will repair paint losses and weatherproof a work that the artist executed “in a sort of frenzy” in 1986
InterviewMusée du Louvre
'I am not too worried by crowd problems': Louvre director predicts visitor numbers will drop by 80%
Jean-Luc Martinez believes that capitalising on the museum's permanent collection will be key to recovery
NewsJob losses
Philadelphia Museum of Art to eliminate more than 20% of its staff
Loss of jobs comes amid plunge in revenue from coronavirus shutdown
NewsMuseums & Heritage
Facebook and Instagram ban trading of historical artefacts
Heritage group Athar were part of a campaign highlighting the social media giants' “black market in antiquities”
NewsInterview
Kaywin Feldman on how America's National Gallery of Art will 'attract the nation and reflect it, too'
The Washington museum's first female director is breaking down old silos and diversifying the staff, collection and exhibitions
NewsMuseums & Heritage
Seattle Art Museum responds gamely to fake news release saying it is dissolving
Institution says announcement that it will be run by organisations led by black and indigenous Americans was “a well-done piece of satire”
Newsdiversity
Curators at Guggenheim demand ‘urgent’ reforms of racial inequities at museum
In a letter to management, they call for minority hiring efforts and an inquiry into the treatment of guest curator
NewsConservation & Preservation
Menokin preservation project offers a literal window onto layers of Virginia history
Structural glass replaces missing walls and floors of a 1769 house, exposing indelible links to slavery
NewsProtests
Protest letter urges New York art institutions to rectify ‘egregious acts’ rooted in white supremacy
Signatories cite “unfair practices”, unequal pay and lack of diversity
Newsracism
In open-letter, Jewish Museum staff ask for greater diversity and transparency
The move follows growing frustration after a Zoom meeting among employees and upper management at the New York institution
NewsAcquisitions
Giuseppe Penone presents two big gifts of drawings to Philadelphia Museum of Art and Centre Pompidou
Arte Povera sculptor hopes that his donations of hundreds of works on paper will start a dialogue
CommentFunding
Museums will need ethical funders all the more after the coronavirus crisis
As institutions reopen their doors to a world that has changed significantly, public scrutiny of private money is not going away
NewsMuseums & Heritage
In numbers: the visitors, ticket sales and fundraising revenue UK national museums can expect as they reopen
We do the sums as the culture sector plans to get back to business
CommentMuseums
Eight ways museums could make the most of the coronavirus crisis
Failure to seize this opportunity to make changes would be a graver error than any breach of etiquette
NewsMuseums & Heritage
Istanbul Museum of Painting and Sculpture plagued by delays after top curators quit
Turkey’s national modern art collection, closed off for much of its 80-year existence, will be hard-pressed to open $25m new building this year
NewsProtests
MCA Chicago renounces future contracts with police until changes are made
Museums calls for policies that “respect black communities”
NewsRacial injustice
MOCA Cleveland apologises to black artist whose show it cancelled
Shaun Leonardo, who depicted victims of police violence, has accused the museum of censorship
AnalysisFunding
UK arts funders unlock crisis grants after coronavirus—but at what cost?
Unrestricted money from public and private sources is helping to keep hard-hit organisations running, but capital projects could suffer
NewsDisasters & destruction
Mining company Rio Tinto apologises for destruction of 46,000-year-old Aboriginal site
Blasting of two ancient rock shelters at Juukan Gorge was authorised in 2013 by Western Australia state government
NewsMuseums & Heritage
High Museum in Atlanta will open for child summer art camps in June
School-ages visitors will have the run of the institution for a month before it opens to members, front-line and healthcare workers, with public reopening set for 18 July
NewsWalker Art Center
Citing killing, Walker Art Center says it will suspend use of police services for special events
Museum calls for holding Minneapolis officers accountable for excessive force and treating people of colour with respect
NewsOpenings
Netherlands gets first 'startup' museum for new media art
Nxt Museum to open in Amsterdam on 29 August with immersive installations by pioneering artists, designers, technologists and scientists
CommentExhibitions
Must London always win? National Gallery of Scotland cancels Titian show for all the wrong reasons
By bowing out of the Renaissance blockbuster tour, the Edinburgh museum has not only let down the Scottish public but shown its priorities are misplaced
InterviewMaria Balshaw
London's Tate museums set to open early August—here's how it will work
Director of the Tate, Maria Balshaw, tells us about financial concerns, coordinating openings with other institutions, and how many visitors they are expecting
NewsMuseums & Heritage
What would you do to keep your museum afloat? The Garden Museum director is swimming 50 miles in the Atlantic Ocean
The swim from Cornwall to the Isles of Scilly aims to raise £100,000 for the London museum, which is planning shows on Derek Jarman and Lucian Freud
NewsProtests
Nelson-Atkins Museum director pledges to re-establish trust after police use campus to stage response to protests
After asking that squad cars leave the grounds, he says police presence caused deep “hurt”
NewsAntiquities & Archaeology
How Germany’s 4,000-year-old answer to Stonehenge shows that Brexit is 'nonsense'
Pömmelte, sacred site that was used by the ancient Unetice culture, is opening up to tourists
NewsMuseums & Heritage
Amid turbulent US protests, Smithsonian's African American museum opens a conversation about race
Goal of online portal is to spur dialogue about racism and its “corrosive impact”
Interviewcoronavirus
Putting our heads together: the three Guggenheim directors size up post-Covid challenges
With museums in Bilbao and Venice poised to reopen, while New York remains in lockdown, Richard Armstrong, Juan Ignacio Vidarte and Karole Vail talk about weathering the financial crisis
CommentMuseums & Heritage
After Covid-19, museums need to plan ‘must see’ exhibitions instead of blockbusters
The Brooklyn Museum’s director of exhibitions explains how institutions can rethink their offerings going forward
Newscoronavirus
Five European museum directors explain their reopening strategies
From capped visitor numbers to surgical gloves and temperature checks, here's how cultural institutions are getting ready to leave lockdown
NewsMuseums & Heritage
Baltimore Museum of Art diverts $100,000 from cancelled speaker series to help local artists, galleries and audiences
In a fortunate position of financial security, the institution is finding ways to continue its efforts towards accessibility, social justice and equity
NewsAcquisitions
A valentine to New York City, in a gift of 130 urban scenes by Chagall, O'Keeffe, Hockney and other artists
Philanthropic couple’s promised donation to New-York Historical Society boosts collection’s 20th-century holdings
Reviewcoronavirus
Mixed feelings: what it was like to visit the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston in the wake of Covid-19
Glasstire's editor Brandon Zech shares his personal experience attending the museum's reopening this weekend
NewsUnions
Workers at Philadelphia Museum of Art seek to unionise
Entreating management to recognise the union voluntarily, employees emphasise goals of equity, diversity and inclusion
NewsMuseums & Heritage
X-appeal: millennial collectors open private museum in Beijing
Founded by Michael Xufu Huang and Theresa Tse, the X Museum opens in the Chinese capital this weekend after Covid-19 delay
NewsConservation & Preservation
‘A resting time for the art’: with museums shut, US conservators seize on strategies to safeguard their collections
Experts embrace a blend of remote monitoring and on-site tours, while marvelling at diminished levels of dust
CommentMuseums & Heritage
Our mission is to be Miami’s art museum—that’s why we spent $145,000 to buy works from local galleries
Franklin Sirmans, the director of the Perez Art Museum Miami, explains the impetus behind the Collectors Council’s largest group acquisition ever
CommentSustainability
Art museums should use their endowments to help battle climate change
In April, Harvard University announced plans to realign its $40bn endowment to reflect “net zero” greenhouse gas emissions by 2050—other US institutions can do the same
NewsMuseums & Heritage
Director of Akron Art Museum resigns after negative reports on management
Staff members had leveled allegations of racism, sexism and bullying by managers
Newscoronavirus
The Met will not reopen until mid-August at the earliest
The museum also cancels tours, talks, concerts and events through the end of the year
NewsMuseum acquisitions
Nevada Museum of Art acquires Judy Chicago’s full 'fireworks' archive
The museum aims to rewrite the legacy of the historically male-dominated Land Art movement
NewsDigital Age
DIY curating: UK galleries mount virtual shows on lockdown using new digital tool
Art UK's Curations initiative enables “anyone anywhere with internet access” to create an exhibition using the national image database
Newscoronavirus
After two-month shutdown, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston is reopening this weekend
Institution adopts new policies to foster “the safest possible conditions”
CommentDeaccessioning
Why the Association of Art Museum Directors’s move on deaccessioning matters so much
Decision to relax rules on selling art exposes chinks in a fortress
NewsInternational Council of Museums
Happy International Museum Day! Why today's digital event matters now more than ever
Suay Aksoy, president of Icom, says museums closed by Covid-19 lockdowns "need to champion themselves because their survival may depend on it"
NewsArt & Technology
With a haunting sculpture, the Met expands its push into augmented reality
Curator provides audio narration for 3D experience of a Taíno religious figure
BlogAdventures with Van Gogh
Van Gogh Museum to reopen on 1 June, but with only a tenth of its usual visitors
Closure is having a catastrophic impact on the finances of the museum, which normally gets half its income from ticket sales
NewsMuseum acquisitions
While in lockdown, UK's Sainsbury Centre acquires major works by sculptor Elisabeth Frink
Acquisition from the artist's estate heralds a wave of works being dispersed across UK public collections
NewsSocial media
Long lost families reunited: social media campaign uncovers the links between objects across UK museums
Galleries on lockdown connect online during coronavirus pandemic using #CollectionsUnited
InterviewLabour
‘You can’t exactly walk a picket line in a pandemic’: New York union leader Maida Rosenstein on the crisis for museum workers
The president of the main museum union talks to us about what the organisation has been doing to secure jobs in the wake of coronavirus
NewsMuseums
Blockbuster Edward Hopper show is relaunched as Swiss museums come out of 'recent slumber'
Museums in South Korea and Hong Kong have also started reopening after coronavirus lockdowns
NewsConservation & Preservation
Gainsborough's newly restored Blue Boy awaits the end of lockdown
Closed by coronavirus, Huntington Library posts online video reflecting on 18-month conservation treatment of dazzling portrait
FeatureSecond World War
What can we learn from museums during the Second World War?
On the 75th anniversary of VE Day, we look back at how art institutions adapted to wartime constraints, from tours without pictures to child's play
Analysiscoronavirus
Russian museums in crisis: State Hermitage projects losses of almost half its annual revenue after closing for two months
Loss of tourism and oil market crash because of coronavirus pandemic wreak havoc as institutions seek state help
NewsDisasters & destruction
The disaster of being hit by an earthquake in a time of Covid-19
Over a third of Zagreb’s museums are unsafe or dangerous to use
NewsFunding
England's museums look to Arts Council to secure £250m government bailout
Cultural institutions bracing for a fall in visitors and shrinking revenue will need huge increase in public funding to recover after reopening
FeatureMuseums & Heritage
The show must go on: what American curators are up to in isolation
How have curators been filling their time while their museums remain closed? Creatively, it turns out
NewsMet Gala
With its May gala derailed, the Met offers entertainment for online visitors
Museum provides a preview of its delayed Costume Institute exhibition, posts video of gala highlights and invites audiences to photograph themselves in red-carpet attire
NewsDiscoveries
Cache of Russian avant-garde works surfaces in regional museum's basement
Art historian Andrey Sarabyanov is planning a new exhibition of forgotten pieces by Kandinsky, Rodchenko and Stepanova
NewsSocial media
#CuratorBattle: Twitter tussle reveals museums' prettiest, creepiest and sassiest objects
UK's Yorkshire Museum has been encouraging international institutions to share the most unusual items in their collections
NewsMuseums & Heritage
China’s Giacometti and Picasso museum delayed by coronavirus
Launch of Beijing venue combining works by both artists is postponed—and some loans in doubt
NewsMuseums & Heritage
Moscow’s new GES-2 arts centre delays grand opening to 2021
Coronavirus uncertainty postpones Ragnar Kjartansson exhibition, but power plant museum still aims to welcome locals this year
NewsChina
Beijing reopens Forbidden City in time for May Day holiday
State museums in the Chinese capital will reopen with crowd control measures for "golden week" of travel
Newscoronavirus
One-way visitor traffic and a ban on audio tours: guidelines for reopening museums emerge
Brussels museums release their planned safety measures along with the museum ethics organisation Cimam
NewsMuseums & Heritage
Lockdown drives digital boom at French museums—but where's the business model?
Podcasts, social media channels and virtual exhibitions are experiencing unprecedented traffic but do not make up for lost revenue
NewsArt & Technology
If the sea destroys Venice, can digital technology rebuild it?
The Art Newspaper is co-hosting a live YouTube discussion on digital innovations and the preservation of cultural heritage on 1-3 May
CommentMuseums & Heritage
Institutions need to follow artists’ lead to make a material impact on the world
Museums can learn a lot from artists like Mark Bradford, Shan Wallace and Rick Lowe about how to more effectively engage with their communities
Christopher Bedford and Katy Siegel