The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston has laid off 57 employees, with an additional 56 staff members taking voluntary retirement. The cuts are a direct response to the severe financial impact of the museum's extended closure due to the public health crisis, which has led to massive losses in revenue from admissions, events, and retail.
President Donald Trump's 2021 budget proposal includes plans to eliminate the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), the Institute of Museum and Library Services, and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, labeling them wasteful and not core federal responsibilities. The budget requests $30 million to close the NEA and $33.4 million to end the NEH in fiscal year 2021. This marks the fourth consecutive year the administration has proposed cutting these agencies, despite previous rejections by Congress. Advocacy group Americans for the Arts, led by CEO Robert Lynch, has vowed to work with lawmakers to reject the proposal and instead increase funding.
The U.S. House of Representatives approved a $1.4 trillion national budget that includes $162 million for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), a $7.25 million increase over the previous year. This marks the largest one-year funding bump for the NEA in a decade, despite the Trump administration's repeated proposals to eliminate the agency entirely. The measure passed 297–120 in the Democrat-controlled House and also includes increases for the Institute for Museum and Library Services, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and arts-based programs in the Departments of Veterans Affairs, Defense, and Justice.
A museum visitor at the Heraklion Archaeological Museum on Crete tripped and fell, grabbing a 4,000-year-old Minoan vase to break her fall and completely shattering the artifact. The Greek Culture Ministry reported the visitor suffered minor leg injuries, but restorers are optimistic and believe the vase could be back on display as soon as today. The vase had previously been repaired in antiquity, suggesting it was also damaged thousands of years ago.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute has made a historic shift toward disability and body inclusivity in its annual exhibition, titled "Costume Art." For the first time, the exhibit includes a section called "The Disabled Body," featuring mannequins modeled on disabled bodies, such as those of activist Aimee Mullins, model Aariana Rose Philip, and accessibility consultant Sinéad Burke. Burke and her team at Tilting the Lens consulted on the exhibit for 18 months, suggesting disabled designers like Sugandha Gupta and Helen Cookman, and donated pieces to the permanent collection. The Met Gala also became accessible for the first time since 1948, with wheelchair user Aariana Rose Philip attending as the first ever.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art has opened a new exhibition titled "Costume Art," curated by Andrew Bolton, which aims to collapse the historical hierarchy between fine art and fashion by focusing on the act of dressing and real bodies. The show features nine new mannequin forms representing pregnant, trans, disabled, and larger bodies, largely absent from traditional fashion displays. Models including musician Yseult, Jade O’Belle, Charlie Reynolds, and designer Michaela Stark were 3D-scanned and translated into physical figures by sculptor Frank Benson, with mirrored faces added by Samar Hejazi to reflect viewers. The exhibition also highlights voices and designers outside the European sphere, and the mannequins will become part of the museum's permanent collection.
A major retrospective titled "NIGO: From Japan with Love" opens at the Design Museum in London on May 1, 2026, marking the designer's first major exhibition outside Japan. The show features over 700 objects spanning three decades, including around 600 items from NIGO's personal archive, a reconstruction of his teenage bedroom, vintage clothing, early designs, collaborations, hand-thrown ceramics, and a life-size glass tea house created for the exhibition. The display traces his career from Harajuku street culture through founding A Bathing Ape to his current role as artistic director of Kenzo.
Several Dallas-Fort Worth cultural institutions are launching a series of soccer-themed exhibitions to coincide with the upcoming FIFA World Cup matches at AT&T Stadium. These showcases range from the Arlington Museum of Art’s multi-part historical exploration "More Than a Match" to the Latino Cultural Center’s solo exhibition of Mexican artist Jazzamoart, whose paintings translate the rhythm and emotion of the sport into expressive canvas works.
Artist Ana Teresa Fernández has launched her solo exhibition "Under Pressure" at the National Museum of Mexican Art in Chicago, presenting a multi-disciplinary call to climate action. The exhibit features oil paintings, sculptures such as a silver-feathered Quetzalcoatl made from a hose, and performance-based works that use metaphors like expanding balloons to illustrate the planet's breaking point. A central component of the project involved a community-led "social monument" at Ohio Street Beach, where hundreds of participants used mirrors to flash an S.O.S. signal in Morse code toward the horizon.
The Floyd Memorial Library in Greenport, New York, is hosting an opening reception for the exhibition "Stow Wengenroth The Flacks: The Greenport Group." The show features nearly fifty rarely seen lithographs by Stow Wengenroth, a prominent 20th-century printmaker whose work is held in major institutions like the Met and MoMA. The exhibition also highlights Wengenroth’s creative circle, including doll-maker Edith Flack Ackley and children’s author Marjorie Flack, alongside contemporary commissions by puppet-maker Carmen Campos.
The National Museum of Mexican Art in Chicago is currently hosting "Under Pressure," a solo exhibition by Mexican-born artist Ana Teresa Fernández. The show features a diverse range of media, including oil paintings, sculptures like a silver-feathered Quetzalcoatl made from a hose, and performance-based works that use metaphors like expanding balloons to illustrate the fragility of the environment. A central component of the project involved a community-led "social monument" at Ohio Street Beach, where hundreds of participants used mirrors to signal an S.O.S. in Morse code toward the horizon.
The Alpharetta Arts Center is hosting a solo exhibition of works by Cuban-born, Atlanta-based artist Alexi Torres through April 18. The showcase features a diverse range of media, including intricate oil paintings that mimic woven textures, bronze sculptures, and embroideries that explore themes of spiritual connection and human consciousness. Torres, who follows lunar cycles for his creative process, utilizes symbolic imagery such as a scarlet wicker Buddha and a Statue of Liberty rendered in baseball stitching to convey complex narratives.
Baltimore’s art scene is hosting a dense schedule of events from April 14–20, 2026, featuring major lectures, exhibition openings, and multimedia performances. Highlights include a talk by Dr. Denise Murrell at the Baltimore Museum of Art regarding Matisse’s time in Martinique, a lecture on Afrofuturism by Dr. Myers Perry at Goucher College, and the opening of Douriean Fletcher’s jewelry exhibition at the Walters Art Museum. Other notable events include the "More Than Trust" group show at Design Distillery and the Baker Artist Award Finalist Showcase at Current Space.
The Albuquerque Museum is hosting a retrospective of Chicana artist Delilah Montoya, titled "Delilah Montoya: Activating Chicana Resistance." The exhibition's centerpiece is "Detention Nation," an immersive installation created in collaboration with the Sin Huellas Artist Collective that simulates the conditions of ICE detention centers. The work features cyanotype images of detainees on prison cots, chain-link fencing, and displays of meager government-issued personal items alongside the official National Detainee Handbook.
Hastings Contemporary has launched its inaugural biennial open exhibition, titled "Odyssey," featuring 151 works selected from over 2,500 submissions by artists across Sussex. The exhibition explores themes of journeying and the local coastal landscape, showcasing a diverse range of media including enamel on aluminium, woodcuts, and ceramics. While the show has been a financial success for the gallery, it has sparked local debate regarding the high volume of rejected entries and the ethics of submission fees.
The Lexicon Art in New Delhi is set to host "Dvaita (द्वैत): Dualities," a group exhibition curated by architect and artist Ankon Mitra opening on April 18, 2026. Featuring the work of 11 contemporary artists, the show explores the philosophical concept of dualism through contrasting elements such as light and shadow, geometric and amorphous forms, and gold and silver. The exhibition design moves away from the traditional white cube format, instead utilizing the gallery space to create a physical "dance of dualities" that reflects India’s layered cultural realities.
The National Gallery of Australia has officially opened the 'Ngura Pulka – Epic Country' exhibition, a major showcase of works by 52 artists from the APY Art Centre Collective. The show was originally postponed in 2023 following allegations published in The Australian that white staff members had improperly interfered with the creation of the paintings. After multiple investigations by government bodies and a review by the NGA cleared the artworks of creative interference, the collective is moving forward with the exhibition while pursuing a $4.4 million defamation lawsuit against the newspaper.
The Sarah Bouchard Gallery in Woolwich is hosting "La Chimera del Oro," a solo exhibition of new ink works and historical graphite drawings by 91-year-old Argentinian artist Josefina Auslender. The exhibition explores the metaphorical "chimera" of wealth and success, contrasting the allure of material gain with the rigorous, honest pursuit of artistic integrity. The new series introduces vibrant gold, yellow, and orange tones into Auslender’s traditionally dark, monochromatic palette.
The National Museum of Women in the Arts is hosting "Making Their Mark: Works From the Shah Garg Collection," a comprehensive exhibition featuring eight decades of abstract art created by women. The show includes approximately 80 pieces by nearly 70 artists, spanning a diverse range of media including painting, sculpture, ceramics, and textiles. By showcasing works that often blur the lines between figuration and abstraction, the exhibition highlights how female artists have consistently acted as trailblazers in a genre historically associated with men.
Phoenix-based painter Eliza McLamb is marking a quarter-century of artistic practice with a major retrospective at the Phoenix Art Museum. Titled "Eliza McLamb: 25 Years of Color and Emotion," the exhibition features over 40 abstract works produced between 1996 and 2021, showcasing her signature emotive style and deep connection to the Sonoran Desert.
The CAMP Gallery in North Miami is hosting "Under the Red Tent," an immersive fiber art exhibition presented in collaboration with Red Thread Art Studio Miami. Featuring over 20 women artists, the show transforms the gallery into a monochromatic red environment where threads are suspended, woven, and draped to create a tactile sanctuary. The exhibition launched on International Women’s Day and functions as an evolving space that integrates a living oral history archive alongside physical textile works.
Russia is set to return to the Venice Biennale for the first time since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, presenting a project titled "The tree is rooted in the sky" focused on folklore and multilingual cultures. The Russian pavilion, commissioned by Anastasia Karneeva and supported by Putin’s cultural envoy Mikhail Shvydkoy, will feature a filmed three-day festival. The Biennale organizers defended the inclusion, citing a policy of non-censorship for any country recognized by Italy that owns a pavilion in the Giardini.
The Monterey Museum of Art is hosting "Landscape ReEnvisioned," a group exhibition featuring six contemporary photographers who move beyond traditional West Coast landscape traditions. Curated by Helaine Glick, the show presents works by Debra Achen, Tony Bellaver, Adrienne Defendi, Charlotte Schmid-Maybach, Brian Taylor, and Vincent James Waring. These artists utilize diverse mediums—including cyanotypes, gum bichromate prints, tapestries, and sculptures—to address the urgent realities of climate change, wildfires, and environmental degradation.
The BYU Museum of Art (MOA) has unveiled a meticulously restored gypsum cast replica of Lorenzo Ghiberti’s Renaissance masterpiece, the "Gates of Paradise." The restoration project spanned a decade and involved approximately 13,000 hours of labor, largely performed by BYU students who repaired damage and applied gold leaf to the ten ornate panels. The restored work is now the centerpiece of the exhibition "Gilded Paradise," which features immersive projections of Florence and will remain on view through October 2026.
Gideon Appah has launched his debut New York solo exhibition, 'Beneath Night and Day', at Pace Gallery. The show features a new body of work from his 'Swimmers and Surfers' series, which explores themes of leisure, vulnerability, and the psychological space between night and day. Inspired by the coastal life of Ghana’s Busua and Kokrobite beaches, the exhibition also includes archival materials like movie stills and newspaper clippings to provide insight into the artist's creative process.
Newcastle Art Gallery is launching its opening weekend celebrations with a street party, live music, and interactive art experiences. A unique highlight offers three attendees the chance to win a bespoke tattoo inspired by the Gallery's collection, to be inked by a local artist during the festivities.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art is hosting a virtual exhibition tour of "Seeing Silence: The Paintings of Helene Schjerfbeck," led by Dita Amory, Robert Lehman Curator in Charge, and Max Hollein, Marina Kellen French Director and CEO. The exhibition highlights the Finnish painter Helene Schjerfbeck (1862–1946), who is celebrated in Nordic countries for her highly original style but remains relatively unknown elsewhere. Featuring nearly 60 works, including loans from the Finnish National Gallery / Ateneum Art Museum and private collections, the show traces her evolution from traditional realism to a spare, abstract style developed in isolation.
The Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) at the University of Pennsylvania is hosting "Mavis Pusey: Mobile Images," the first museum retrospective of Jamaican-American artist Mavis Pusey (1928-2019). Curated by Hallie Ringle and Kiki Teshome, the exhibition spans five decades and features over 60 works, including seven paintings shown publicly for the first time. Pusey, who studied at the Art Students League and worked at Robert Blackburn's Printmaking Workshop, was known for her geometric abstraction at a time when many Black artists focused on figuration. The show will travel to the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles and the Studio Museum in Harlem.
The Denver Art Museum will host the international touring exhibition "DIVAs" from October 2026 to January 2027, making it the only U.S. venue for the show. Organized by the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the exhibit features over 200 objects including costumes and accessories worn by icons such as Lady Gaga, Rihanna, RuPaul, Prince, Tina Turner, and Marilyn Monroe. Highlights include Rihanna's 2018 Met Gala gown by John Galliano for Maison Margiela and Tina Turner's Bob Mackie "Flame Dress" from 1978. The ticketed event will take place in the Hamilton Building.
An exhibition opening at Strawberry Hill House in London on November 1 will explore the history of a jewel-encrusted Ottoman dagger long believed to have belonged to Henry VIII. Curator Silvia Davoli has uncovered that the dagger was actually made in late 16th-century Istanbul, decades after Henry's death, and was mistakenly attributed to the king by 18th-century engraver George Vertue. The dagger was owned by Horace Walpole, then passed through several hands before being stolen in a 1946 heist at Hever Castle, where it was kept by the Astor family. Though the original dagger remains missing, the exhibition will display two similar Ottoman daggers from Welbeck Abbey and Vienna's Kunsthistorisches Museum.