m hka remains museum smak
The government of Belgium's Flanders region has reversed its controversial plan to close the M HKA contemporary art museum in Antwerp and transfer its collection to the SMAK museum in Ghent. Under a new plan called "M HKA 2.0," the museum will retain its collection, its museum status, and continue its programming, while SMAK will be operated by the regional government.
Unionized staff at Ohio State University's Wexner Center for the Arts, organized as Wex Workers United, have officially called for the renaming of the arts center and other campus buildings named after billionaire benefactor Les Wexner. The union argues that Wexner's name, due to his decades-long association with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein—who had power of attorney over Wexner's fortune—harms artists and community members. The call follows similar demands from the Ohio Nurses Association regarding the Wexner Medical Center and ongoing student protests, including an April 10 action where students covered Wexner's name on the art center's façade with a black tarp. OSU spokesperson Chris Booker noted that over 500 renaming requests have been filed under the university's official review procedure, while OSU President Ted Carter has emphasized that name changes require fact-finding and cannot be based on supposition.
A Confederate heritage group, the Georgia Division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, has filed a lawsuit against Stone Mountain Park in Georgia, challenging a new exhibition that examines the site's history of slavery, segregation, and white supremacy. The group argues that the exhibition, commissioned by the Stone Mountain Memorial Association and developed by Warner Museums, violates state law by repurposing the park away from its original mandate to honor the Confederacy. The exhibition, funded with $11 million from the Georgia legislature in 2023, is not yet open to the public but has already sparked backlash from heritage groups.
A French parliamentary report published on 13 May, following the October 19 heist of the crown jewels at the Louvre, issues a damning assessment of the country's museum security and management. The commission heard around 100 testimonies and examined some 2,000 museums, dedicating a special chapter to the Louvre. It blames former director Laurence des Cars's leadership for a "dysfunctional drift" that prioritized contemporary art interventions and fashion shows over basic infrastructure and collection protection, allowing the heist to occur. The report lists rising threats including riots, burglaries, cyberattacks (which forced the National Museum of Natural History in Paris to cancel an exhibition after a ransomware attack in July 2025), and terrorist plots. It proposes 40 recommendations, including raising budgets by an estimated €20–25 billion over a decade, enhancing staff training, and overhauling museum leadership.
The city of Austin, Texas, is set to remove a 'Black Artists Matter' street mural and a rainbow crosswalk after Governor Greg Abbott directed the Texas Department of Transportation to comply with a federal order from President Donald Trump. The July 1 directive from Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy requires states to eliminate political messages and artwork from roadways, citing driver and pedestrian safety. Austin Mayor Kirk Watson has identified about 16 locations that may be affected and warned that non-compliance could jeopardize $175 million in state and federal grant funding. The mural, painted in June 2020 in Austin's historically Black East side neighborhood by local artists with the Austin Justice Coalition and Capitol View Arts, was created in response to the police killing of George Floyd and the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement.
State legislatures across the US have continued to fund their arts and humanities agencies for fiscal year 2026, with aggregate spending totaling $649.2 million across 50 states and four territories—a 7.4% decrease from 2025 levels. While 29 states increased their arts funding, others saw significant cuts, including New Hampshire (90% reduction), Hawaii (74.9% drop), and Missouri (59.7% decline). The data comes from the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies (NASAA), which notes an uncertain fiscal environment but highlights that overall state investment in the arts is being sustained despite federal pressures.