Advocacy & Public Policy Committee News v. 11 n. 6, June 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 

Art & Activism

• Nayyar, Rhea. “Artist Covers Transphobic Billboard With Giant Dachshund Drawing.” Hyperallergic, June 4, 2025. 

• Pontone, Maya. “Nan Goldin Sells Prints to Support At-Risk Trans People.” Hyperallergic, June 12, 2025.

• Solomon, Tessa. “Climate Activist Hurls Pink Paint at Picasso Painting at Montreal Museum.” ARTnews, June 20, 2025.

• Stromberg, Matt. “Nadya Tolokonnikova Builds a Prison of Her Own.” Hyperallergic, June 10, 2025. 

Copyright & Licensing; Open Access

• Booth, Robert. “London AI Firm Says Getty Copyright Case Poses ‘Overt Threat’ to Industry.” The Guardian, June 9, 2025.

• Brittain, Blake. “Anthropic Wins Key US Ruling on AI Training in Authors’ Copyright Lawsuit.” Reuters, June 24, 2025. 

• Brittain, Blake. “Microsoft sued by authors over use of books in AI training.” Reuters, June 25, 2025.

• Field, Hayden. “Disney and Universal sue Midjourney for making AI ripoffs of their biggest characters.” The Verge, June 11, 2025.

• Noble, Tori. “Two Courts Rule On Generative AI and Fair Use — One Gets It Right.” Electronic Frontier Foundation, June 26, 2025. 

• Tiku, Nitasha. “AI firms say they can’t respect copyright. These researchers tried.” The Washington Post, June 5, 2025. [paywall]

• Veltman, Chloe. “In a first-of-its-kind decision, an AI company wins a copyright infringement lawsuit brought by authors.” NPR, June 25, 2025.

• Yang, Angela. “Federal Judge Rules Copyrighted Books Are Fair Use for AI Training.” NBC News, June 24, 2025.

Funding

• Guido, Laura. “'We had lots of dreams'; Idaho's library system ends, restructures programs amid federal funding cuts.” Idaho Press, June 14, 2025.

• Peet, Lisa. “United for Libraries, Penguin Random House Announce Small and Rural Library Grants.” Library Journal, June 18, 2025.

• Sierra, Antonio. “Grant County moves to cut funding for its only public library.” Oregon Public Broadcasting, June 5, 2025.

• Tebben, Susan. “Funding stream Ohio libraries opposed included in Senate budget proposal.” Ohio Capital Journal, June 16, 2025.

Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, Access (IDEA)

• Davis, Damien. “We’re Not Your Pride Publicity Stunt.” Hyperallergic, June 2, 2025. 

• Hirugami, Erika. “LA Museums Have Failed Undocumented Immigrants.” Hyperallergic, June 15, 2025. 

• Nayyar, Rhea. “An Archive of Lesbian History Right in the Heart of Brooklyn.” Hyperallergic, June 1, 2025.

• Schuessler, Jennifer. “A Mecca for Black History Turns 100.” The New York Times, June 12, 2025. [paywall]

Technology and Digital Privacy

• Alajaji, Rindala. “California’s Corporate Cover-Up Act Is a Privacy Nightmare.” Electronic Frontier Foundation, June 25, 2025.

• Adams, Geraldine Kendall. “AI scraper bots are disrupting online collections, report finds.” Museums Journal, June 26, 2025.

• Brodkin, Jon. “Ted Cruz bill: States that regulate AI will be cut out of $42B broadband fund.” Ars Technica, June 6, 2025.

• Edwards, Benj. “Anthropic destroyed millions of print books to build its AI models.” Ars Technica, June 25, 2025.

• Lawson-Tancred, Jo. “Can A.I. Restore a Renaissance Painting? Yes, Says This MIT Student.” Artnet News, June 12, 2025

• O’Brien, Matt. “OpenAI and Microsoft are teaming up with Harvard’s libraries to train AI models on 600-year-old books.” Fortune, June 12, 2025.

• Peters, Jay. “YouTube search gets its own version of Google’s AI Overviews.” The Verge, June 26, 2025.

• Robertson, Adl. “US removes ‘safety’ from AI Safety Institute.” The Verge, June 4, 2025.

• Roth, Emma. “WhatsApp rolls out AI-generated summaries for private messages.” The Verge, June 25, 2025.

Miscellaneous

• Boucher, Brian. “Whitney Museum ‘Pauses’ Its Storied Independent Study Program.” Artnet News, June 2, 2025.

• Cancio, Kathleen. “Field Museum Workers Win Hard-Earned Contract.” AFSCME, June 11, 2025. 

• Lowinger, Rosa. “Free Clinic Teaches Angelenos How to Repair Damaged Art.” Hyperallergic, June 12, 2025. 

• Nayyar, Rhea. “San Francisco Art Institute Becomes Free Experimental Studio Program.” Hyperallergic, June 6, 2025. 

• Pontone, Maya. “Ringling Museum Will Stay Under Florida State University, for Now.” Hyperallergic, June 20, 2025. 

Special News Alert: 47th Presidential Administration and Cultural Heritage

IMLS Defunding

• Aton, Francesca. “Proposed 2026 Federal Budget Includes Defunding of Institute of Museum and Library Services.” ARTnews, June 3, 2025. 

• Aton, Francesca. “Judge Rules Cuts at Institute of Museum and Library Services Allowed as Lawsuits Proceed.” ARTnews, June 9, 2025.

• Peet, Lisa. “Judge Denies ALA’s Motion to Block Dismantling of IMLS.” Library Journal, June 12, 2025.

• Aton, Francesca. “Trump Administration Violated Law by Withholding Institute of Museum and Library Services Funds, Government Agency Reports.” ARTnews, June 18, 2025. 

Museum Personnel

• Aton, Francesca. “Trump Administration Lays Off Two-Thirds of NEH’s Staff.” ARTnews, June 13, 2025.

• DePillis, Lydia, Graham Bowley, and Robin Pogrebin. “Trump Cuts Leave Few Caretakers for a Massive Federal Art Collection.” The New York Times, June 8, 2025. [paywall]

• News Desk. “Trump Claims to Sack Director of National Portrait Gallery.” Artforum, June 2, 2025.

• Greenberger, Alex. “National Portrait Gallery Director Reports to Work After Trump Said He Fired Her.” ARTnews, June 5, 2025.

• News Desk. “Smithsonian Board Reaffirms Autonomy after Trump Moves to Fire National Portrait Gallery Director.” Artforum, June 10, 2025. 

• Farfan, Isa. “National Portrait Gallery Director Quits After Trump ‘Firing.’” Hyperallergic, June 13, 2025. 

• Farfan, Isa. “Museum of the American Latino Could Vanish Under Trump.” Hyperallergic, June 17, 2025. 

Miscellaneous

• Cassady, Daniel. “Mystery Artists Return with Trump Dance Sculpture on the National Mall.” ARTnews, June 27, 2025.

• Ho, Karen K. “These Are the US Art Schools Most Dependent on International Students.” ARTnews, June 2, 2025.

• Lonsdorf, Kat. “U.S. will review social media for foreign student visa applications.” NPR, June 19, 2025.

• Pontone, Maya. “Trump’s New Portrait Is as Perverse as His Second Term.” Hyperallergic, June 3, 2025. 

• Press Release. “Privacy Victory! Judge Grants Preliminary Injunction in OPM/DOGE Lawsuit.” Electronic Frontier Foundation, June 9, 2025. 

• Simon, Ed. “Donald Trump’s Cultural Revolution.” Hyperallergic, June 8, 2025. 

• Small, Zachary and Switzerland. “Politics Looms Over the World’s Biggest Contemporary Art Fair.” The New York Times, June 20, 2025. [paywall]

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