The Whitney Museum of American Art has suspended its prestigious Independent Study Program (ISP) for the next academic year, reports the Art Newspaper. The decision comes after the programme’s current artists, curators and scholars accused the museum of censorship after the cancellation of a performance about the ongoing war in Gaza last month. Art Net reports that an email from museum director Scott Rothkopf sent to the ‘Whitney ISP Community’ on Monday tied the suspension to the retirement of the program’s former director Ron Clark, who led the ISP from its inception in 1968 to 2023. More than 360 faculty, alumni and ‘friends’ of the ISP have signed an open letter of solidarity with the current cohort, which states that the Whitney’s censorship goes against ‘the very values it cites as its guiding principles’.
On 30 May, President Trump posted on social media platform Truth Social that he had fired Kim Sajet, the director of the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C, describing her as ‘a highly partisan person, and a strong supporter of DEI, which is totally inappropriate for her position’. The New York Times reports that it is unclear whether the president has the legal grounds to fire Sajet, as the gallery is part of the Smithsonian Institution, which, despite receiving most of its funding from Congress, is not under federal control. On 3 June, further reports from the New York Times stated that the Smithsonian was yet to comment on the president’s authority to dismiss Sajet.
Several UK cultural institutions, including the British Museum, National Gallery and the Victorian and Albert Museum, have signed an open letter defending funding from corporate sources. Authored by CEOS of Sadlers Wells, Alistair Spalding and Britannia Morton, and published in the Financial Times on 23 May, the letter comes one year after nine arts festivals boycotted sponsorship from investment firm Baillie Gifford. Sadlers Wells has also faced criticism over its corporate affiliations; pro-Palestianian groups are urging the organisation to drop Barclays Bank as a sponsor over its links to companies involved in the Israeli arms industry.
Simon Wallis is the new secretary and chief executive of the Royal Academy of Arts in London. He joins after 17 years as the founding director of the Hepworth Wakefield in Yorkshire. Before this, he was the director of Chisenhale Gallery in London and held curatorial positions Kettle’s Yard, the ICA London and Tate Liverpool. In a statement announcing his appointment on Friday, Wallis said he was excited to join the ‘unique and deeply valued institution’. He succeeds Axel Rüger, who resigned in October last year after his appointment as director of the Frick Collection in New York. Wallis will start his new role in September.
John Booth is the new chairman of the Royal Drawing School in London. He takes over the role from Charles Saumerez Smith, who has chaired the school’s board since 2019 and recently announced that he would be stepping down. In addition to his new position, Booth will continue as chairman of the National Gallery, vice president of the King’s Trust, and as a trustee of a several other charities.
Daniel Lelong, the French gallerist who co-founded Galerie Lelong in Paris and New York, has died at the age of 92. Born in Nancy, France in 1933, Lelong trained as a lawyer and was hired by gallerist Aimé Maeght in 1961 as a legal advisor. During this time, Lelong formed close relationships with many 20th-century artists on the gallery’s roster, including Joan Miro and Francis Bacon. After Maeght’s death in 1981, Lelong co-founded Galerie Maeght-Lelong with the critic Jacques Dupin and gallerist Jean Frémon, and they opened a second space in New York City. Renamed Galerie Lelong & Co in 1987, the gallery represents artists such as Yoko Ono and Andy Goldsworthy. In a statement announcing his death, Galerie Lelong said that it was ‘dedicated to continuing [Lelong’s] legacy of leadership and growth, and belief in the vitality of art.’