Advocacy & Public Policy Committee News v. 11 n. 5, May 2025

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 

Special News Alert: Trump Administration and Cultural Heritage

National Endowment for the Arts

• Aton, Francesca. “Arts Directors Exit the National Endowment for the Arts.” ARTnews.com, May 8, 2025.

• Aton, Francesca. “National Endowment for the Arts Cancels Grants After Trump’s Proposed Elimination of Agency.” ARTnews.com, May 3, 2025. 

• Aton, Francesca. “US Regional Arts Organizations Decry National Endowment for the Arts Cuts.” ARTnews.com, May 8, 2025. 

• Carrigan, Margaret, and Boucher, Brian. “All the Arts Organizations Impacted by NEA Funding Cuts.” Artnet News, May 8, 2025.

• Dorsen, Annie. “NEA GRANT TERMINATION TRACKER.” Google Docs. Accessed May 13, 2025.

• Greenberger, Alex. “Trump Moves to Reappoint Mary Anne Carter as NEA Head.” ARTnews.com, May 8, 2025. 

• “NEA Retracts Grants After Trump Threatens to Dismantle Organization.” Artforum, May 5, 2025. 

• Paulson, Michael. “Trump Seeks to Eliminate the National Endowment for the Arts.” The New York Times, May 2, 2025.

National Endowment for the Humanities

• Aton, Francesca. “DOGE Sued in Oregon over ‘Disruption and Attempted Destruction’ of NEH.” ARTnews.com, May 16, 2025. 

• Aton, Francesca. “The Authors Guild Sues the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Department of Government Efficiency.” ARTnews.com, May 13, 2025. 

• Aton, Francesca. “Trump Aims to Eliminate NEH and NEA in New 2026 Budget Proposal.” ARTnews.com, May 2, 2025. 

• Schuessler, Jennifer. “Lawsuit Against Humanities Endowment Offers Details on DOGE.” The New York Times, May 2, 2025.

Libraries & Information Professions

• Carruth, Sydney. “Tribal communities risk losing local libraries and the history they hold amid DOGE cuts.” NBC News, May 11, 2025.

• Limbong, Andrew. “States win a legal injunction against President Trump, pausing library funding cuts.” NPR, May 6, 2025.

• Myers, Steven Lee. “Trump Administration Cancels Scores of Grants to Study Online Misinformation.” The New York Times, May 15, 2025.

• Peet, Lisa. “IMLS Staff Returning to Work; Lawsuits Continue with Some Success, Some Administrative Pushback.” Library Journal, May 23, 2025.

• Peet, Lisa. “Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden Is Fired.” Library Journal, May 12, 2025.

• Peet, Lisa. “Library Collection Decisions Not Protected by First Amendment Says Fifth Circuit Court.” Library Journal, May 29, 2025.

• Price, Gary. “Report: ‘5th Circuit Rules Texas Library Patrons Have No First Amendment Right to Information.’” Library Journal infoDOCKET, May 23, 2025. 

• Rich, Hallie. “Leadership Limbo at the Library of Congress.” Library Journal, May 23, 2025.

Museums & the Art World

• Di Liscia, Valentina, and Isa Farfan. “Museums Cautiously Optimistic as Some Federal Grants Reinstated.” Hyperallergic, May 21, 2025.

• Farfan, Isa. “Congress Members Demand Investigation Into Trump’s Smithsonian Mandate.” Hyperallergic, May 13, 2025. 

• Greenberger, Alex. “Lenders Accuse Smithsonian’s African American History Museum of ‘Unjust’ Removals of Objects.” ARTnews.com, May 19, 2025. 

• Hernández, Javier C. “Alarmed by Trump, Kennedy Center Workers Push to Unionize.” The New York Times, May 15, 2025.

• Ho, Karen K. “Major Art Patrons Donated to Trump Inauguration: Report.” ARTnews.com, May 2, 2025.

• Ho, Karen K. “Trump Appoints Former ‘Real Housewives’ Cast Member to Holocaust Museum Board.” ARTnews.com, May 8, 2025. 

• Jackson, Marilyn. “How Trump’s Funding Cuts Could Erase 250 Years of Museum History.” Artnet News, May 15, 2025.

• Mackey, Robert. “Trump Says He Fired National Portrait Gallery Chief in Latest Conflict with Arts.” The Guardian, May 30, 2025.

• Nayyar, Rhea. “US Government Calls for Venice Biennale Proposals Focused on ‘American Values.’” Hyperallergic, May 5, 2025.

• Villa, Angelica. “Lawmakers Seek Probe into Trump’s Executive Order Targeting Museum Content.” ARTnews.com, May 7, 2025.

Art & Activism

• Breihan, Brian. “Brian Eno Calls On Microsoft To Cease Partnership With Israel, Will Donate Windows ‘95 Chime Fee To Victims In Gaza.” Stereogum, May 21, 2025.

• Farfan, Isa. “Critic Renounces NYU Degrees After School Punishes Pro-Palestine Student.” Hyperallergic, May 15, 2025. 

• Farfan, Isa. “Massive Artwork for Trans Visibility Unveiled on National Mall.” Hyperallergic, May 20, 2025. 

• Farfan, Isa. “Senate Republican Deploys Law Used in McCarthy Era Against Pro-Palestine Nonprofit.” Hyperallergic, April 30, 2025. 

• Greenberger, Alex. “Art Historian Protests Restoration of Louisville Monument Graffitied in 2020: ‘Our City Is Hostile to Anti-Police Protests.’” ARTnews.com, May 23, 2025.

• Huston, Gabrielle. “Local artist explores Chinese-Canadian immigration as LAC's new creator in residence.” CBC, May 11, 2025.

• Raicovich, Laura. “How to Be a Culture Worker in Times Like These.” ARTnews.com, May 30, 2025.

• Solomon, Tessa. “Protestors Visit the Whitney After Cancelation of Pro-Palestine Performance.” ARTnews.com, May 24, 2025.

• Zaru, Deena. “Minneapolis Group Works to Preserve 2020 Protest Art after George Floyd’s Death.” ABC News, May 26, 2025.

Copyright & Licensing; Open Access

• Brittain, Blake. “Judge in Meta Case Warns AI Could ‘obliterate’ Market for Original Works.” Reuters, May 1, 2025. 

• Cassady, Daniel. “Magnum Photographer Says Kanye West’s Use of KKK Image on ‘Cuck’ Album Cover Was ‘Unauthorized.’” ARTnews.com, May 2, 2025. 

• Copyright and Artificial Intelligence, Part 3: Generative AI Training (Pre-Publication Version). United States Copyright Office, May 2025. 

• Di Liscia, Valentina. “Harvard Relinquishes Photographs of Enslaved People in Historic Settlement.” Hyperallergic, May 28, 2025.

• Grynbaum, Michael M., and Cade Metz. “Amazon and The New York Times Announce an A.I. Licensing Deal.” The New York Times, May 29, 2025. 

• Pontone, Maya. “Lil Nas X Did Not Steal a Photographer’s Poses, Court Rules.” Hyperallergic, May 27, 2025.

Funding

• Farfan, Isa. “Foundations and Donors Step in to Fill the Federal Art Funding Gap.” Hyperallergic, May 26, 2025.

• Monares, Freddy. “Dolly Parton's Imagination Library seeks donations after Washington state cuts funding.” KNKX Public Radio, May 6, 2025.

• Schladen, Marty. “Ohio libraries win big Tuesday.” Ohio Capital Journal, May 8, 2025.

• Solomon, Tessa. “Amid NEA Dismantling, Warhol and Frankenthaler Foundations Announce $800,000 Fund.” ARTnews.com, May 8, 2025. 

Intellectual Freedom/Access to Information

• Angeleti, Gabriella. “Artists Accuse Whitney Museum of Censorship for Cancelling Pro-Palestine Performance,” The Art Newspaper, May 20, 2025. 

• Di Liscia, Valentina. “Whitney Museum Cancels Performance About Palestinian Mourning.” Hyperallergic, May 19, 2025.

• NCAC. “Contemporary Culture Requires Artistic Freedom—Especially in Times of Political Crisis.” National Coalition Against Censorship, May 29, 2025. 

• Pontone, Maya. “High School Teacher Reprimanded for Showing Jewish Dissent Poster.” Hyperallergic, May 26, 2025.

Technology and Digital Privacy

• Hill, Kashmir. “The Professors Are Using ChatGPT, and Some Students Aren’t Happy About It.” The New York Times, May 14, 2025.

• Nield, David. “AI Detects an Unusual Detail Hidden in a Famous Raphael Masterpiece.” ScienceAlert, May 5, 2025.

• Press Release. “ALA Disappointed by Senate Vote to Block Hotspot Funds." ALA, May 14, 2025.

• Whitwam, Ryan. “The Gmail App Will Now Create AI Summaries Whether You Want Them or Not.” Ars Technica, May 30, 2025.

Workplace

• Asefaw, Selina. “We Love to Sea It: Independence Seaport Museum Workers Say Yes to a Union.” AFSCME, May 28, 2025. 

• Lessing, Lauren. “How a Misleading Statistic Became a Roadblock for Equity in Museums.” Artnet News, May 26, 2025.

• Nayyar, Rhea. “School of Visual Arts Faculty Are Officially Unionized.” Hyperallergic, May 22, 2025. 

• Oprea, Mark. “Cleveland Museum of Natural History Staff Plan to Unionize Amid Claims of Toxic Work Environment.” Cleveland Scene, May 5, 2025.

• Villa, Angelica. “SFMOMA Cuts Nearly 30 Staffers Citing Financial Challenges.” ARTnews.com, May 7, 2025.

• Walsh, Molly. “Cleveland Museum of Natural History Workers Cite Understaffing, Other Concerns in Push to Unionize.” Cleveland, May 12, 2025. 

Miscellaneous

• Dixon, Jennifer A. “SLA Announces Decision To Dissolve.” Library Journal, May 2, 2025.

• Nelson, George. “Art Experts Demand Russia Be Ejected from ICOM for Violating Code of Ethics.” ARTnews.com, May 6, 2025.

This issue of News Alerts was compiled by Michele Jennings, Stephanie Kays, Torie Quiñonez, and Annie Sollinger.