Advocacy & Public Policy Committee News Alerts v. 12 n. 7, July 2026

Advocacy & Public Policy Committee News support the committee's mission to monitor governmental activities and social justice issues affecting the professional interests of ARLIS/NA and to keep the ARLIS/NA membership informed. The monthly alerts are intended to be conversation starters, help members keep up on public policy issues and alert members to new developments. The articles compiled in the News Alerts bring to the forefront recent news from a range of perspectives designed to elicit discussion; they are not compiled to represent the views of ARLIS as an organization or the members of the Advocacy and Public Policy Committee.

Previous issues can be found here: https://www.arlisna.org/news/appc-news-alert 

Art & Activism 

• Artforum. “Joyce Kozloff, Key Figure in Pattern & Decoration Movement, Comes Out as a Guerrilla Girl.” July 23, 2026. 

• Farfan, Isa. “Texas Covers Up Beloved ‘Black Artists Matter’ Mural in Austin.” Hyperallergic, July 7, 2026. 

• Farfan, Isa. “Venice Arts Workers to Protest During US Ambassador’s Visit.” Hyperallergic, July 9, 2026. 

• Farfan, Isa. “Whitney Museum Screens Taken Over With Gaza Protest Messages.” Hyperallergic, July 8, 2026. 

• Farfan, Isa, and Anna Lee. “Protesters Decry Chinatown Museum’s Acceptance of ‘Jail Money’ at Town Hall.” Hyperallergic, July 22, 2026. 

• Lauter, Devorah. “Trump Skewered in Satirical ‘Iran War Participation Trophy’ Art Installation.” ARTnews, July 15, 2026. 

• Nayyar, Rhea. “Artists Memorialize Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, Houston Man Killed by ICE.” Hyperallergic, July 10, 2026. 

• Nayyar, Rhea. “Guerrilla London Bus Ads Mock Kylie Jenner’s Meta Glasses Campaign.” Hyperallergic, July 15, 2026. 

• Pyle, Phillip. “Activists Sue to Stop Frida Kahlo Works From Leaving Mexico.” Hyperallergic, July 20, 2026. 

• Stromberg, Matt. “A Living Memorial to Palestinian Activist Alex Odeh Takes Flight.” Hyperallergic, July 17, 2026. 

Copyright & Licensing; Open Access

• Farfan, Isa. “Chicago Photographer Accuses Mickalene Thomas of Copyright Infringement.” Hyperallergic, July 9, 2026.

• Solomon, Tessa. “Amid Its Own Copyright Controversy, Midjourney Asks Court to Reveal How Disney Uses AI.” ARTnews, July 6, 2026.

• Thubron, Rob. “Anthropic's landmark $1.5 billion copyright settlement with authors wins final court approval.” TechSpot, July 21, 2026.

Funding 

• Aronoff, Amy. “2026 NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship Program Recipients and Finalists Announced.” New York Foundation For the Arts. July 23, 2026.

• Durón, Maximilíano. “Warhol Foundation Announces $5.2 M. in Grants to 78 Arts Organizations, Including 33 First-Time Grantees.” ARTnews, July 8, 2026. 

• Farfan, Isa. “NYC Mayor Mamdani Approves Record $323M Funding for Culture.” Hyperallergic, July 1, 2026. 

• Frank, Nicholas. “Federal Government Proposes Changes Affecting University Arts Programs, Grants for Arts Organizations.” Glasstire, July 28, 2026.

• Greenberger, Alex. “Steidl, the Art World’s Go-To Photobook Publisher, Faces Insolvency Proceedings in Germany.” ARTnews, July 16, 2026.

Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, Access (IDEA)

• Artforum. “American Museum Of Natural History To Repatriate Native American Hair Clippings.” July 8, 2026. 

• Durón, Maximilíano. “Getty Names Final Round of Grantees for Initiative Focused on Preserving Black Architects’ Work.” ARTnews.Com, July 22, 2026. 

• Growing Thunder, Jessa Rae. “Indigenous Knowledges as Living Histories: What the 250th Narrative Misses.” The Brooklyn Rail, June 25, 2026. 

• Nance-Nash, Sheryl. “Meet the Founders of Black Crown, the Only Active Black-Owned Fine Art Auction House in the US.” ARTnews, July 6, 2026. 

• Rickert, Levi. “Motorola Launches Indigenous Collections App to Help Preserve Ojibwe Language and Culture.” Native News Online, July 30, 2026. 

Intellectual Freedom/Access to Information

• American Library Association. “Federal court permits suit on Trump-halted Digital Equity Act to proceed.” July 22, 2026.

• American Library Association. “Intellectual Freedom Committee Releases New Guidelines to Support Library Staff in Evaluating Digital Content Vendors.” July 7, 2026. 

• op de Beeck, Nathalie. “National Book Ban Bill Introduced in Senate Committee.” Publisher’s Weekly, July 20, 2026.

• Jeffrey, Andrew. “Alberta government gives public libraries Jan. 1 deadline to comply with new restrictions.” CBC News, July 20, 2026.

• Totenberg, Nina, Grady Martin. “Supreme Court lets Texas restrict minors' access to app stores for the time being.” NPR, July 6, 2026.

Technology and Digital Privacy

• American Library Association.  “ALA Special Report surveys Generative AI policies for public and academic libraries.” July 6, 2026.

• Cope, Sophia. “The Fourth Circuit Says Border Agents Can Search Your Phone By Hand, No Suspicion Required.” Electronic Frontier Foundation, July 22, 2026.

• Guariglia, Matthew. “Victory! Flock Ends Rollout of Audio “Distress Detection” of Human Voices.” Electronic Frontier Foundation, July 17, 2026.

• Jacobs, Skye. “AI firms are quietly buying and destroying millions of printed books to train their models.” TechSpot, July 29, 2026.

• Jacobs, Skye. “OpenAI may give the US government a 5% stake, following Trump's Intel playbook.” TechSpot, July 2, 2026.

• Kundu, Kishalaya. “Meta's new AI tool can generate images of you using your Instagram photos, and you're opted in by default.” TechSpot, July 8, 2026.

• Thubron, Rob. “Reddit and major publishers consider blocking Google as AI search continues destroying web traffic.” TechSpot, July 22, 2026.

• Whittaker, Zach. “US accuses American of allegedly wiping his phone using a 'duress' password during border search.” TechCrunch, July 24, 2026.

Workplace

• The Electronic Privacy Information Center. “PRESS RELEASE: EPIC and the National Institute for Workers’ Rights Release White Paper on Algorithmic Unionbusting.” July 21, 2026.

• Farfan, Isa. “The Art Institute of Chicago to Cut Its Entire Custodial Staff.” Hyperallergic, July 21, 2026.

• Farfan, Isa. “Former High Museum Executive Pleads Guilty to Embezzlement.” Hyperallergic. July 14, 2026.

• Farfan, Isa. “Legionella Bacteria Found in Cooling Tower at NYC Guggenheim.” Hyperallergic. July 10, 2026.

• Farfan, Isa. “V&A Storehouse Workers Vote to Strike Over “Amazon-Style” Conditions.” Hyperallergic, July 31, 2026.

• Jacobs, Harrison. “ICOM Adopts New Museum Code of Ethics Taking Aim at AI, Colonialism, and Climate Change.” ARTnews, July 10, 2026. 

• Lee, Anna. “Former V&A Academic Programs Head Accuses Museum of “Racist” Behavior.” Hyperallergic. July 23, 2026.

• Lee, Anna. “Long-Contested Guggenheim Abu Dhabi Gets Opening Date.” Hyperallergic. July 31, 2026.

Miscellaneous 

• American Library Association. “American Library Association Delegation to Participate in United Nations High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development.” July 1, 2026. 

• Artforum. “Dozens of Ancient Artifacts Seized from the Metropolitan Museum of Art.” July 1, 2026. 

• Durón, Maximilíano. “California Man Sentenced in Theft of Rare Chinese Manuscripts from UCLA Library.” ARTnews, July 13, 2026.

• Lee, Anna. “Manhattan DA’s Office Returns Three Antiquities to Mexico.” Hyperallergic, July 16, 2026.

Special News Alert: 47th Presidential Administration and Cultural Heritage

• Artforum. “Delay In Appointing Smithsonian Board Members Can Be Traced Back to White House.” July 15, 2026. 

• Artforum. “Federal Advisory Council to Slacken Rules Around Modifying Landmarks.” July 22, 2026. 

• Artforum. “Kennedy Center Violated Government Contracting Norms Under Trump, Whistleblowers Say.” July 13, 2026. 

• Artforum. “U.K. Museums Association Unites With American Alliance of Museums Against Trump.” July 30, 2026. 

• Boucher, Brian. “On Truth Social, Trump Plasters an AI-Generated Golden Bald Eagle on the White House.” ARTnews, July 1, 2026. 

• Farfan, Isa. “Trump Accuses Smithsonian of ‘Anti-White Activism’ in Draconian New Report.” Hyperallergic, July 6, 2026. 

• Farfan, Isa. “Trump Orders Installation of Warning Signs Outside Smithsonian Museum.” Hyperallergic, July 27, 2026.

• Farfan, Isa. “Trump Shrinks Utah National Monuments by 90%.” Hyperallergic, July 16, 2026. 

• Farfan, Isa. “Trump Whitewashes George Washington’s Slavery History in New Display.” Hyperallergic, July 20, 2026. 

• Farfan, Isa. “Trump’s Border Expansion Threatens 6,000-Year-Old Cave Paintings.” Hyperallergic, July 30, 2026.

• Lee, Anna. “Trump Regilds DC Statues Mar-a-Lago Style.” Hyperallergic, July 30, 2026.

• Solomon, Tessa. “Appeals Court Denies President Trump’s Request to Restore Name to Kennedy Center.” ARTnews, July 9, 2026. 

• Solomon, Tessa. “‘Do You Love America?’: Smithsonian Museum Leader Grilled Over Gender, Diversity, Patriotism at Congressional Hearing.” ARTnews, July 21, 2026. 

• Tsioulcas, Anastasia. “Smithsonian chief emphasizes 'accuracy and integrity' after White House report.” NPR. July 9, 2026. 

This issue of News Alerts was compiled by Caroline Clavell, Torie Quiñonez, Madison Sussman, and Sarah Wade.