Glenn Lowry, the longtime director of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), delivered a farewell speech in June 2025 at MoMA's Party in the Garden, implicitly addressing the Trump administration's attacks on cultural institutions. He urged the museum to defend values of pluralism, freedom of expression, and minority rights, warning that the coming years would present consequential choices not seen since World War II. The article notes that while Trump has not directly targeted MoMA, he has threatened the Smithsonian Institution, and artist Amy Sherald canceled a National Portrait Gallery survey alleging censorship. Under Lowry, MoMA mounted a 2017 exhibition critical of Trump's travel ban, but has otherwise avoided explicit political programming.
This matters because Lowry's departure marks the end of a 30-year era at one of the world's most influential museums, and his successor Christophe Cherix now faces an increasingly politicized climate for cultural institutions. The article highlights the broader tension between museums' commitments to pluralistic values and political pressure from the Trump administration, which has already led to censorship claims and threats to federal museums. MoMA's response—or lack thereof—will set a precedent for how major art institutions navigate government hostility while maintaining their curatorial independence.