Vasari Art Codex

article news schedule Nov 14, 2025 visibility 11 link 17 artists, 2 galleries

trustees bolt palm springs art museum director hire 1234761292

Trustee Patsy Marino resigned from the Palm Springs Art Museum board just one week after Christine Vendredi was appointed director on September 29, 2024. In a resignation letter reported by the Los Angeles Times, Marino alleged that the hiring committee failed to interview any outside candidates, despite two "exceptional" candidates being considered, and cited "inappropriate interference" by the executive committee, individual trustees, and museum staff. Two other board members also left the 22-member body, though the museum claims their departures were unrelated. Vendredi, previously chief curator and interim CEO, has a background in luxury brand management at Louis Vuitton and holds multiple advanced degrees but no prior museum directorship experience.

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trending_up market schedule Nov 14, 2025 visibility 8 link 6 artists, 1 gallery

auction houses tapping into jewelry boom brooklyn public library launches art lending program paris photo returns morning links for november 14 2025 1234761805

Christie's incoming global head of jewellery, Max Fawcett, predicts a strong London Jewels sale, citing a 'purple patch' for the division after achieving $87.7 million in New York and a sold-out Magnificent Jewels sale in Geneva. Heritage Auctions, Phillips, and Sotheby's also report record jewellery and watch sales, with demand outstripping supply. Separately, the Brooklyn Public Library has launched an experimental art-lending program alongside its exhibition 'Letters for the Future,' featuring works by 35 artists that patrons can borrow. The article also notes the return of Paris Photo to the Grand Palais, archaeological discoveries in Italy, and updates on trans-inclusivity guidance for UK museums.

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museum exhibitions schedule Nov 12, 2025 visibility 6 link 7 artists, 1 gallery

dolce and gabbana exhibition ica miami february 1234761299

Italian fashion house Dolce & Gabbana announced that its exhibition “From the Heart to the Hands” will travel to the Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami, opening February 6, 2026, and running through June 14. Curated by fashion historian Florence Müller, the show features over 300 pieces from the brand’s archival and recent collections, including its Alta Moda, Alta Sartoria, and Alta Gioielleria lines, displayed in immersive rooms inspired by art, architecture, folklore, and the dolce vita. The exhibition also includes collaborations with visual artists such as Quayola, Alberto Maria Colombo, Obvious, Vittorio Bonapace, and Felice Limosani.

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article news schedule Nov 12, 2025 visibility 5 link 2 artists, 1 gallery

qatar to build gulfs largest art storage facility anish kapoor threatens legal action after us border agents pose next to bean sculpture morning links for november 12 2025 1234761234

Qatar is planning to build the Gulf region's largest full-service art storage and logistics facility near Hamad International Airport, in a partnership between QC+ (a strategic partner of Qatar Sports Investments and Art Basel) and Gulf Warehousing Company. The complex will offer secure storage, conservation services, and private viewing rooms, allowing artworks to be stored and traded without entering Qatar's customs territory, similar to freeports in Geneva, Luxembourg, and Singapore. Separately, British artist Anish Kapoor is considering legal action after US border patrol agents posed for a photo in front of his Cloud Gate sculpture in Chicago, which he condemned as emblematic of 'fascist America.' Kapoor previously sued the US National Rifle Association for using the sculpture in a 2017 video.

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person people schedule Nov 11, 2025 visibility 9 link 7 artists, 2 galleries

wadsworth atheneum president allison blais 1234761174

The Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art in Hartford, Connecticut, has appointed Allison Blais as its new president and CEO, effective January 2026. Blais, currently executive vice president and chief strategy and operations officer at New York’s 9/11 Memorial & Museum, will succeed Jeffrey N. Brown, who held the role for five years. The announcement was made by board chair Duffield Ashmead IV MD, who praised Blais's experience with large-scale capital projects and stakeholder engagement. Blais, a Connecticut native, expressed her long familiarity with the Wadsworth and her enthusiasm for working with museum director Matthew Hargraves.

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article news schedule Nov 5, 2025 visibility 14 link 15 artists, 1 gallery

zohran mamdani mayor new york city art world responds 1234760198

Zohran Mamdani won the New York City mayoral election, prompting a wave of reactions from the art world. Artists, curators, and critics expressed hope and joy, with figures like Siddartha Mitter calling it a "beacon of civic renewal," while others like Jerry Saltz offered cautious support. Artists such as Aria Dean, Martine Syms, and Salman Toor were involved in his campaign, and El Museo del Barrio was the only institution to officially endorse him. However, some voices, like the market-oriented account Jerry Gogosian, criticized his socialist policies as potentially harmful to the art market.

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trending_up market schedule Oct 28, 2025 visibility 7 link 4 artists, 1 gallery

meet the 20 collectors joining artnews top 200 collectors list 1234757486

ARTnews has added 20 new collectors to its prestigious Top 200 Collectors list for 2025, reflecting the expanding global reach of serious art collecting. The new cohort includes figures from Latin America, the Gulf region, Southeast Asia, and the United States, such as Catherine Petitgas, Ariel Marcelo Aisiks, Sara Alireza, Faisal Tamer, Basma Al Sulaiman, Sheikh Hamad bin Abdullah Al Thani, Purat “Chang” Osathanugrah, Belinda Tanoto, Andreas Teoh, artist Rashid Johnson, Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation president Wendy Fisher, Napster cofounder Sean Parker, Fanatics founder Michael Rubin, and Oscar L. Tang and Agnes Hus-Tang, who donated $125 million to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Several new additions are second-generation collectors, and many have built private spaces to show their collections, such as Alexander Petalas’s Perimeter in London, Osathanugrah’s upcoming Dib Bangkok, and Basma Al Sulaiman’s virtual museum BASMOCA.

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museum exhibitions schedule Oct 27, 2025 visibility 12 link 35 artists, 1 gallery

biennale of sydney 2026 artist list 1234758937

The Biennale of Sydney has announced the full artist list for its 2026 edition, titled 'Rememory,' which opens on March 14, 2026. The exhibition is curated by Hoor Al Qasimi, president and director of the Sharjah Art Foundation, marking her second major biennial after the Aichi Triennale. The show will feature over 60 artists and collectives, with a heightened focus on Indigenous art through a partnership with the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, facilitating 15 commissions by First Nations artists. Notable participants include Emily Jacir, Tuan Andrew Nguyen, and many others from diverse global backgrounds.

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article news schedule Oct 22, 2025 visibility 10 link 7 artists, 1 gallery

obama presidential center new york times interview 1234758401

Barack Obama discussed the Obama Presidential Center, set to open spring 2025 on Chicago's South Side, in a New York Times interview. The four-building complex will include a museum, library, auditorium, basketball court, gardens, and commissioned works by 25 artists, including Julie Mehretu, Maya Lin, Nick Cave, Jenny Holzer, Kiki Smith, and Richard Hunt. Designed by Tod Williams and Billie Tsien Architects, the centerpiece is an eight-story granite museum nicknamed "the Obamalisk," featuring an 83-foot-tall abstract glass work by Mehretu. Obama emphasized the center's role as a public space to inspire community action, not a presidential mausoleum.

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trending_up market schedule Oct 22, 2025 visibility 8 link 4 artists, 2 galleries

joel shapiro ellen phelan lennox hill home sale 4 75 million 1234758379

The Manhattan duplex of the late sculptor Joel Shapiro and his wife, painter Ellen Phelan, has been listed for $4.75 million. Located in a 1907 Lenox Hill building on East 67th Street, the home was purchased in the early 2000s and renovated with beveled glass doors, brass hardware, and a sculptural staircase. The listing is held by Eileen Angelo and Max Collins of Sotheby’s International Realty. The couple also owned a lakeside estate in Westport, New York, called Kenjockety, which is also on the market, reduced from $5.49 million to $4.8 million.

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person people schedule Oct 13, 2025 visibility 3 link 1 artist, 1 gallery

joan weinstein vice president getty wide program planning 1234756895

The Getty has appointed Joan Weinstein, current director of the Getty Foundation, to the newly created role of vice president for Getty-wide program planning. Weinstein will continue as foundation director until a successor is named, and in her new position she will develop strategy across the institution’s four divisions: the Museum, Research Institute, Conservation Institute, and Foundation, focusing on art historical scholarship and community partnerships. She is best known for co-directing PST ART, a major Southern California cultural collaboration, and has overseen significant relief funds for artists affected by wildfires and the COVID-19 pandemic.

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article policy schedule Oct 12, 2025 visibility 9 link 3 artists, 1 gallery

smithsonian closes museums government shutdown 1234756500

The Smithsonian Institution has been forced to close its 21 museums in Washington, D.C., indefinitely due to a continuing U.S. government shutdown that began on October 1. The National Gallery of Art had already closed the previous weekend. The Smithsonian had initially used its own funds to stay open, first planning to close on October 6 and then extending operations through October 11, but the ongoing shutdown—stemming from disagreements between Democrats and Republicans over health care policy—has now made closure unavoidable. The shutdown also threatens upcoming programming, including a planned Grandma Moses survey at the Smithsonian American Art Museum and a portraiture competition exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery, which has already been postponed.

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article culture schedule Sep 9, 2025 visibility 3 link 6 artists, 1 gallery

jason wu the robert rauschenberg foundation collaborate new york fashion week 1234751178

Fashion designer Jason Wu has collaborated with the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation to create a Spring 2026 collection titled "COLLAGE," inspired by the late artist's work and presented during New York Fashion Week. The collection draws on ten works from the foundation's holdings, including pieces from Rauschenberg's "Hoarfrost" series (1974–76) and "Airport Suite" (1974), with Wu granted rare access to study the artist's use of fabric and collage. The collection will be shown alongside a major Rauschenberg piece on September 14, 2025, and will be available for purchase in February 2026.

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article news schedule Sep 8, 2025 visibility 10 link 7 artists, 2 galleries

british museum bayeux tapestry marilyn monroe morning links 1234751057

British Museum director Nicholas Cullinan has written to the Guardian to reassure the public that the nearly 900-year-old Bayeux Tapestry will be safely transported from France to the UK for a landmark loan exhibition scheduled from September 2026 to July 2027. The unprecedented agreement, seen as a diplomatic gesture between France and Britain, has sparked protests from French art historians who claim President Emmanuel Macron ignored expert warnings that the tapestry is too fragile to move; a petition against the loan has gathered over 71,000 signatures. Cullinan insists that rigorous planning and due diligence by experts on both sides of the Channel are underway to ensure safe transport and conservation.

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article policy schedule Aug 21, 2025 visibility 11 link 7 artists, 1 gallery

trump slavery museums smithsonian comments meaning 1234749760

President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social criticizing the Smithsonian and museums nationwide, claiming they focus excessively on negative aspects of U.S. history such as slavery. He described these institutions as the last remaining segment of 'WOKE' culture. The article counters his remarks by highlighting the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC), which presents both the horrors of slavery and themes of survival, liberation, and perseverance through objects like Harriet Tubman's handkerchief and artworks by Jacob Lawrence and Alison Saar. It also references the 2022 exhibition 'Afro-Atlantic Histories' at the National Gallery of Art, which balanced depictions of violence with messages of freedom and resilience.

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museum exhibitions schedule Jul 28, 2025 visibility 7 link 4 artists, 1 gallery

sam barsky sweaters kohler r u still painting 1234748203

Sam Barsky, a self-taught knitter who learned from a library book in 1999 after dropping out of nursing school due to chronic illness, creates intricate pictorial sweaters entirely freehand without patterns. His sweaters depict landscapes and landmarks—such as Central Park, the London Bridge, and the Twin Towers—and he often photographs himself wearing them at the actual sites. His first museum solo exhibition, “It’s Not the Same Without You,” recently closed at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center in Wisconsin, and his work also appeared in the group show “R U Still Painting???” in Manhattan alongside artists like assume vivid astro focus and Uri Aran.

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article news schedule Jul 24, 2025 visibility 6 link 5 artists, 1 gallery

morning links july 23 2025 1234748160

Sotheby's Upper East Side headquarters at 1334 York Avenue faces financial uncertainty after its tenant, Weill Cornell Medicine, scaled back plans for a research center due to federal healthcare budget cuts. The National Institutes of Health funding freeze has reduced Weill Cornell's projected grants from over $300 million in 2024 to $130 million this year, leading to potential layoffs and halted construction. S&P Global estimates the building has lost nearly half its value since 2020, now worth $443 million, and has assigned Sotheby's a speculative B- credit rating amid declining global art sales. Separately, Italy's culture minister Alessandro Giuli demanded historian Ernesto Galli della Loggia resign from the Council of National Committees after he criticized the government's cultural policies, sparking a public feud. Art Basel Miami Beach announced 285 exhibitors for its 2025 edition, and a UK report showed only one percent of artworks with deferred export licenses were acquired by museums in 2024-25, a sharp decline from previous years.

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museum exhibitions schedule Jul 12, 2025 visibility 11 link 14 artists, 2 galleries

must see site santa fe international cecilia alemani once within a time 1234746679

Curator Cecilia Alemani has organized the latest edition of the SITE Santa Fe International, titled "Once Within a Time," inspired by Godfrey Reggio's 2022 film of the same name. The exhibition, which opened in 2025, centers on storytelling and features Reggio's trippy 55-minute film alongside works by over a dozen artists, including Helen Cordero, D.H. Lawrence, Louise Bonnet, Norman Zammitt, Joseph Yoakum, John McCracken, Karla Knight, and Ali Cherri. The show extends beyond SITE Santa Fe to multiple venues across New Mexico, such as the New Mexico Military Museum, a hotel, and a cannabis shop, weaving together themes of eros, energy, the military, and the state's archetypes like UFOs, Land art, and Native spirituality.

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article policy schedule Jul 1, 2025 visibility 3 link 12 artists, 1 gallery

president trumps budget bill includes 40 m for statues at new national garden of heroes 1234746576

President Trump's proposed spending legislation, known as the "Big Beautiful Bill," includes $40 million for the procurement of statues for the National Garden of American Heroes. The funds, appropriated to the National Endowment for the Humanities for fiscal year 2025 and available through 2028, will support life-size statues of 250 historical figures, with selected artists receiving up to $200,000 per statue. The garden, first announced in a 2020 executive order, is a priority for the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence and requires realistic depictions in materials like marble or bronze.

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article news schedule Jun 12, 2025 visibility 8 link 7 artists, 5 galleries

kennedy center audience boos trump french carpenters sentenced for selling fake 18th century chairs moca stays closed morning links for june 12 2025 1234745004

The Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles (MOCA) has extended the closure of its Geffen Contemporary space through the weekend as National Guard troops continue to confront anti-ICE protesters nearby. The museum cited safety concerns for staff and visitors, and also halted Pussy Riot member Nadya Tolokonnikova's durational performance 'POLICE STATE,' which had continued even after the initial shutdown on June 8. In other news, two Frenchmen—expert Bill Pallot and carpenter Bruno Desnous—were sentenced to suspended prison sentences and fines for selling fake 18th-century furniture, including chairs falsely attributed to Queen Marie Antoinette, duping the Château de Versailles and a Qatari prince. Meanwhile, President Donald Trump was booed by the audience at a Kennedy Center performance of Les Misérables, and Tamara de Lempicka's painting 'La Belle Rafaëla' (1927) is headed to auction at Sotheby's London with a high estimate of £9 million.

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article news schedule Jun 10, 2025 visibility 3 link 7 artists, 1 gallery

smithsonian stands up to trump moca closes its geffen branch amid protests is putins daughter dealing art morning links for june 10 2025 1234744759

The Smithsonian Institution publicly affirmed its independence from the Trump administration after President Donald Trump attempted to fire National Portrait Gallery director Kim Sajet, citing her perceived criticism of him. Sajet has continued reporting to work, and the Smithsonian's Board of Regents backed Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch's authority over personnel decisions, while also directing him to ensure exhibits remain nonpartisan. Separately, Los Angeles's Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) closed its Geffen branch early on June 8 as National Guard troops clashed with anti-ICE protesters, though Russian artist Nadya Tolokonnikova continued her durational performance "Police State" inside the closed museum. The protests unfolded in front of Barbara Kruger's 1990 mural "Questions," which Kruger said was a prophetic commentary on the current political moment.

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article policy schedule May 30, 2025 visibility 5 link 4 artists, 1 gallery

national portrait gallery director fired trump 1234743964

President Donald Trump announced on Truth Social that he had fired Kim Sajet, director of the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., citing her as a "highly partisan person" and a "strong supporter of DEI." Sajet had led the museum since 2013, and her termination follows a series of executive orders targeting the Smithsonian Institution, including one in March that criticized "anti-American ideology" at its museums. The museum currently features the exhibition "America’s Presidents," which includes a portrait of Trump with a caption referencing his impeachments and the January 6 Capitol attack. The National Portrait Gallery did not respond to requests for comment, and no replacement has been named.

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article culture schedule May 30, 2025 visibility 6 link 9 artists, 1 gallery

the phoenician scheme wes anderson renoir art collecting 1234743890

Wes Anderson's new film *The Phoenician Scheme* features a protagonist, Zsa-Zsa Korda (played by Benicio del Toro), who is a jet-setting high roller with a vast but neglected art collection housed in a 16th-century palazzo. The collection includes authentic masterpieces such as an 1889 Renoir portrait once owned by Greta Garbo, a 1942 Magritte, and a 17th-century van Schooten still life, alongside replicas like a Peter Paul Rubens. The film, now playing in New York and Los Angeles, uses these artworks as props and backdrops, reflecting the protagonist's indifference to his possessions amid his shady business schemes and fractured family relationships.

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article news schedule May 29, 2025 visibility 5 link 1 artist, 1 gallery

centre pompidou brazil satellite 1234743858

The Centre Pompidou will open its first South American satellite in Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil, in November 2027, backed by Paraná state officials. Designed by Paraguayan architect Solano Benítez, the museum will feature exhibition galleries and research facilities, highlighting South American artists alongside works from the Pompidou’s permanent collection of around 150,000 objects. This expansion comes as the Paris flagship closes for five years starting September 2024 for a $280 million renovation.

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museum exhibitions schedule May 23, 2025 visibility 1 link 4 artists, 1 gallery

frida kahlo museum mexico city casa roja 1234743461

A new museum dedicated to Frida Kahlo will open in Mexico City's Coyoacán district this September, housed in the Casa Roja, a private residence purchased by Kahlo's parents and passed down through the family. The property was gifted by the artist's grandniece Mara Romeo Kahlo, and the museum was designed by the New York–based Rockwell Group. Adán García Fajardo has been appointed director, and the project is funded by the newly established nonprofit Fundación Kahlo, chaired by public relations veteran Rick Miramontez. The museum will explore Kahlo's early life, inspirations, and cultural influences, and will feature rotating contemporary art exhibitions focused on Mexican, Latin American, and women artists.

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trending_up market schedule May 15, 2025 visibility 9 link 7 artists, 1 gallery

met receives photography collection walter artur 1234742347

The Metropolitan Museum of Art has received a promised gift of more than 6,500 photographic works from German American collector Artur Walther and the Walther Family Foundation. The collection spans 19th-century vernacular photography to contemporary video, with strengths in African studio photography, German post-war photography, Chinese conceptual art, and early vernacular images. Artists represented include Malick Sidibé, Zanele Muholi, Ai Weiwei, Thomas Struth, and Bernd and Hilla Becher. A selection will debut when the Michael C. Rockefeller Wing reopens this month, with further displays planned for the Oscar L. Tang and H.M. Agnes Hsu-Tang Wing opening in 2030.

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article news schedule May 13, 2025 visibility 4 link 3 artists, 4 galleries

heft gallery opens in new york city ai art 1234741940

Adam Heft Berninger has opened Heft, a new gallery on Manhattan's Lower East Side, dedicated to artists who work with systems-based practices such as generative code, machine learning, and scanners. Berninger, who previously worked with MoMA and the Public Art Fund and ran the curatorial platform Tender, emphasizes that the gallery is not an "AI art" gallery but a contemporary art space where technology serves as a tool for artistic methodology rather than a defining label. He argues that misconceptions about AI art can only be overcome through in-person viewing, and that the scarcity of galleries focused on this kind of work globally—countable on two hands—presents an opportunity.

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museum exhibitions schedule May 12, 2025 visibility 13 link 21 artists, 1 gallery

superfine met museum costume institute black dandy 1234740801

The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute will open "Superfine: Tailoring Black Style" on May 10, an exhibition tracing over 300 years of Black dandyism. The show features around a dozen paintings, fashions, works on paper, photography, sculpture, and decorative objects, including a 1758 portrait of Roch Aza, a ten-year-old enslaved boy from Martinique, depicted in elegant livery alongside his enslaver. The exhibition examines how well-dressed Black figures appeared in European art as symbols of their owners' wealth and status during the transatlantic slave trade, and how subsequent generations have reappropriated and subverted that imagery.

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trending_up market schedule Apr 26, 2025 visibility 1 link 12 artists, 1 gallery

rare basquiat sothebys contemporary auctions in new york 1234739897

Sotheby's will auction a rediscovered early Jean-Michel Basquiat painting from 1981, unseen for 36 years, with a $10–15 million estimate at its Contemporary Evening Auction in New York this May. The sale also features major works from three tightly held private collections: the estate of Barbara Gladstone, the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation, and Daniella Luxembourg's 'Im Spazio' group, alongside top lots by Lucio Fontana, Robert Rauschenberg, Frank Stella, and Ed Ruscha. The Modern Evening Auction includes a Pablo Picasso musketeer portrait and a Georgia O'Keeffe painting, with combined estimates for both sales reaching up to $525.2 million.

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article policy schedule Apr 25, 2025 visibility 3 link 13 artists, 1 gallery

national endowment for humanities sculpture garden trump 1234739893

The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) has announced a new grant program to fund statues for President Trump’s National Garden of American Heroes, a sculpture garden first proposed in 2021. The garden will feature life-size statues of 250 notable Americans, with a location still to be determined. Selected artists, who must be U.S. citizens, can receive up to $200,000 per statue, which must be made of traditional materials like marble or bronze and depict figures in a realistic style. The application deadline is July 1, and the project is jointly funded by the NEH and the National Endowment for the Arts with a total of $34 million, drawn from federal grants originally allocated to other cultural programs but later canceled by the administration.

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