France Passes Historic Law for Restituting Colonial-Era Art, American Folk Art Museum Workers Protest, and More: Morning Links for May 8, 2026
France's Parliament unanimously passed a historic law easing the restitution of artworks looted during the colonial era (1815–1972), fulfilling President Emmanuel Macron's 2017 promise to return African heritage. The law streamlines the process by replacing the need for individual parliamentary acts for each item with a committee-based review system involving experts from France and the requesting country, plus government representatives. Separately, workers at the American Folk Art Museum in New York protested for better wages and benefits outside the museum's annual gala, while Indonesian-born artist Dian Suci won the 2025–27 Max Mara Art Prize for Women. A federal judge also ruled that the US DOGE Service's cuts to National Endowment for the Humanities grants were unconstitutional, citing discriminatory use of ChatGPT to cancel funding for projects mentioning diversity, equity, and inclusion.
